A Simple Example With V$BACKUP

I tested this in an Oracle 12.1 database. The V$BACKUP view tells you if a datafile is in hot backup mode. I started off with none of the datafiles in hot backup mode so they were all shown as NOT ACTIVE:

SQL> select file#, status from v$backup

  2  /

 

     FILE# STATUS

---------- ------------------

         1 NOT ACTIVE

         2 NOT ACTIVE

         3 NOT ACTIVE

         5 NOT ACTIVE

         6 NOT ACTIVE

 

SQL>

I put the USERS tablespace into hot backup mode and its datafile changed to ACTIVE in V$BACKUP until I took the tablespace out of hot backup mode:

SQL> alter tablespace users begin backup

  2  /

 

Tablespace altered.

 

SQL> select file_id from dba_data_files

  2  where tablespace_name = 'USERS'

  3  /

 

   FILE_ID

----------

         6

 

SQL> select file#, status from v$backup

  2  /

 

     FILE# STATUS

---------- ------------------

         1 NOT ACTIVE

         2 NOT ACTIVE

         3 NOT ACTIVE

         5 NOT ACTIVE

         6 ACTIVE

 

SQL> alter tablespace users end backup

  2  /

 

Tablespace altered.

 

SQL> select file#, status from v$backup

  2  /

 

     FILE# STATUS

---------- ------------------

         1 NOT ACTIVE

         2 NOT ACTIVE

         3 NOT ACTIVE

         5 NOT ACTIVE

         6 NOT ACTIVE

 

SQL>

… and when I put the whole database into hot backup mode, all the datafiles were shown as ACTIVE:

SQL> alter database begin backup

  2  /

 

Database altered.

 

SQL> select file#, status from v$backup

  2  /

 

     FILE# STATUS

---------- ------------------

         1 ACTIVE

         2 ACTIVE

         3 ACTIVE

         5 ACTIVE

         6 ACTIVE

 

SQL> alter database end backup

  2  /

 

Database altered.

 

SQL> select file#, status from v$backup

  2  /

 

     FILE# STATUS

---------- ------------------

         1 NOT ACTIVE

         2 NOT ACTIVE

         3 NOT ACTIVE

         5 NOT ACTIVE

         6 NOT ACTIVE

 

SQL>