B
RMAN Compatibility

This section contains these topics:

About RMAN Compatibility

The following table describes the components of an RMAN environment. Each component has a release number associated with it.

Component	Release Number Refers to ...
RMAN client	Version of RMAN client (displayed when you start RMAN)
Recovery catalog database	Version of Oracle database
Recovery catalog schema in recovery catalog database	Version of RMAN client used to create the recovery catalog
Target database	Version of Oracle database
Auxiliary database	Version of Oracle database

For example, you can use a release 9.0.1 RMAN client with:

A release 9.0.1 target database
A release 9.0.1 duplicate database
A release 8.1.7 recovery catalog database whose catalog tables were created with RMAN release 9.0.1

Determination of Catalog Schema Version

To determine the current release of the catalog schema, you must run a SQL query.

Use SQL*Plus to connect to the recovery catalog database as the catalog owner. For example, enter:
```
% sqlplus rman/rman@catdb
```
Query the rcver catalog table. For example, run this query:
```
SQL> SELECT * FROM rcver; 

     VERSION 
     ------------ 
     08.01.05
     09.00.01
```
If multiple versions are listed, then the last row is the current version, and the rows before it are prior versions. In the preceding example, the current catalog schema version is 09.00.01 and the previous version was 08.01.05.

RMAN Compatibility Matrix

In general, the rules of RMAN compatibility are as follows:

You can create 8.X or 9.X RMAN catalog schema in any Oracle database release 8.1.X (or higher) and Release 10g RMAN catalog schema in any Oracle database release 9.0.1 (or higher).
The recovery catalog schema version must be greater than or equal to the RMAN client version.
Ideally, the versions of the RMAN client and the target database should be the same (although there are other legal combinations, listed in Table B-1).
While backing up a Release 10g database using the 9.X RMAN client, you cannot include a controlfile that was created using compatible=10.0.0 in a datafile backupset. The workaround is to turn controlfile autobackup ON.

Table B-1 shows version requirements for RMAN components. Note the following conventions when interpreting this table:

">=8.1.7" means 8.1.7, 9.0.1, 9.2.0 and 10.1.0 and their patches
">=8.0.6" means 8.0.6, 8.1.7, 9.0.1, 9.2.0 and 10.1.0 and their patches

When using an older version of the RMAN client with a newer version of the database, you do not get the features of the newer version. For example, when using the Oracle9i RMAN client to back up an Oracle Release 10g database, you will not have access to features like the flash recovery area, flashback database, TSPITR with an RMAN-managed auxiliary instance, or recovery through resetlogs.

Table B-1 RMAN Compatibility Table

Target/Auxiliary Database	RMAN client	Catalog Database	Catalog Schema
8.0.6	8.0.6	>=8.1.7	>=8.0.6
8.1.7	8.0.6.1	>=8.1.7	>=8.1.7
8.1.7	8.1.7	>=8.1.7	>=RMAN client
8.1.7.4	8.1.7.4	>=8.1.7	8.1.7.4
8.1.7.4	8.1.7.4	>=8.1.7	>= 9.0.1.4
9.0.1	9.0.1	>=8.1.7	>= RMAN client
9.2.0	>=9.0.1.3	>=8.1.7	>= RMAN client
10.1.0	>=9.0.1.3	>=9.0.1	>= RMAN client

RMAN Compatibility: Scenario

Assume that you maintain a production databases of the following releases:

8.1.7
9.0.1
9.2.0
10.1.0

You want to record metadata about these databases in a single recovery catalog database. According to Table B-1, you can use a single 9.2.0 recovery catalog database with a 10.1.0 catalog schema for all target databases.

The solution for this combination of target databases is to do the following:

Use a single 9.2.0 catalog database to store all metadata.
Use a single 10.1.0 catalog schema for all databases.
Ensure that the version of the RMAN client used to back up each target database matches the release of the target database being backed up.

B RMAN Compatibility