Backing Up Data Tablespaces 

Especially with large databases it can be important to keep the volume of data to be backed up or restored as small as possible. Index definitions are stored in the SYSTEM tablespace as a matter of course. Therefore indexes can always be recreated. You do not have to back up pure index tablespaces during a database backup.

To make a backup of all tablespaces except for pure index tablespaces start BRBACKUP with the command option -m all_data ( m|-mode) or set the relevant init<DBSID>sap profile parameter backup_mode = all_data .

During the backup BRBACKUP indicates all pure index tablespaces, so that BRRESTORE recognizes these and the restore process can also be carried out from a complete backup ( -m all ) excluding the pure index tablespaces: brrestore -m all_data ( -m|-mode).

After restoring the backed up data tablespaces both the index tablespaces and the indexes must be newly created with the definitions in the SYSTEM tablespace. This action is automatically carried out by SAPDBA during the recovery.

Backup of Large Oracle Databases

SAPDBA Database Recovery