untilClause

Syntax

Text description of the illustration untilClause.gif

Purpose

A subclause that specifies an upper limit by time, SCN, or log sequence number for various RMAN operations.

Restrictions and Usage Notes

When specifying dates in RMAN commands, the date string must be either:

• A literal string whose format matches the NLS_DATE_FORMAT setting.
• A SQL expression of type DATE, for example, 'SYSDATE-10' or "TO_DATE('01/30/1997', 'MM/DD/YYYY')". Note that the second example includes its own date format mask and so is independent of the current NLS_DATE_FORMAT setting.

Following are examples of typical date settings in RMAN commands:

BACKUP ARCHIVELOG FROM TIME 'SYSDATE-31' UNTIL TIME 'SYSDATE-14';
RESTORE DATABASE UNTIL TIME "TO_DATE('09/20/00','MM/DD/YY')";

Keywords and Parameters

Syntax Element	Description
UNTIL TIME = 'date_string'	Specifies a time as an upper limit. RMAN selects only files that can be used to recover up to but not including the specified time. For example, LIST BACKUP UNTIL TIME 'SYSDATE-7' lists all backups that could be used to recover to a point one week ago.
UNTIL SCN = integer	Specifies an SCN as an upper limit. RMAN selects only files that can be used to recover up to but not including the specified SCN. For example, RESTORE DATABASE UNTIL SCN 1000 chooses only backups that could be used to recover to SCN 1000.
UNTIL SEQUENCE = integer THREAD = integer	Specifies a redo log sequence number and thread as an upper limit. RMAN selects only files that can be used to recover up to but not including the specified sequence number. For example, REPORT OBSOLETE UNTIL SEQUENCE 8000 THREAD 1 reports only backups that could be used to recover through log sequence 7999.

Examples

Performing Incomplete Recovery Until a Log Sequence Number: Example

This example assumes that log sequence 1234 was lost due to a disk failure and the database needs to be recovered by using available archived redo logs.

RUN
{
  SET UNTIL SEQUENCE 1234 THREAD 1;
  RESTORE CONTROLFILE TO '?/oradata/cf.tmp';
  RESTORE CONTROLFILE FROM '?/oradata/cf.tmp'; # restores to all CONTROL_FILES locations
  ALTER DATABASE MOUNT;
  RESTORE DATABASE;
  RECOVER DATABASE;  # recovers through log 1233
  ALTER DATABASE OPEN RESETLOGS;
  # you must add new tempfiles to locally-managed temporary tablespaces after restoring
  # a backup control file
  SQL "ALTER TABLESPACE temp ADD TEMPFILE ''?/oradata/trgt/temp01.dbf'' REUSE";
}

Performing Incomplete Recovery to a Specified SCN: Example

This example (which assumes a mounted database) recovers the database until a specified SCN:

RUN
{
  ALLOCATE CHANNEL ch1 TYPE sbt;
  RESTORE DATABASE;
  RECOVER DATABASE UNTIL SCN 1000;  # recovers through SCN 999
  ALTER DATABASE OPEN RESETLOGS;
}

Reporting Obsolete Backups: Example

This example assumes that you want to be able to recover to any point within the last week. It considers as obsolete all backups that could be used to recover the database to a point one week ago:

REPORT OBSOLETE UNTIL TIME 'SYSDATE-7';