Traditionally, the best practice for mission-critical Oracle Database backup and recovery was to use storage-led, purpose-built backup appliances (PBBAs) such as Data Domain, integrated with RMAN, Oracle’s automated backup and recovery utility. This disk-based backup approach solved two problems: 1) It enabled faster recovery (from disk versus tape); and 2) It increased recovery flexibility by storing many more backups online, enabling restoration from that data to recover production databases; and provisioning copies for test/dev.

At its core, however, this approach remains a batch process that involves many dozens of complicated steps for backups and even more steps for recovery.

Oracle’s Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance (RA) customers report that total cost of ownership (TCO) and downtime costs (e.g. lost revenue due to database or application downtime) are significantly reduced due to the simplification and, where possible, the automation of the backup and recovery process.