4 obtar

This chapter describes obtar, which is the underlying Oracle Secure Backup engine for backing up and restoring data. obtar is a descendent of the original Berkeley UNIX tar(1) command. The obtar command-line interface conforms to the POSIX 1003.2 standards for UNIX command lines as follows:

Options are single letters preceded with a dash, as in -c.
If an option requires an argument, then it follows the option and can be separated from the option with a space, as in -c argument.
Multiple options can be combined after a single dash as long as no more than one of the options requires an argument. If one of the options requires an argument, then this option must appear last in the group. For example, if -c takes an argument, then you might specify -vPZc argument.

The command-line interfaces differ from the POSIX 1003.2 standards in that you cannot use a filename that begins with a dash as the argument to an option. For example, obtar returns an error if you attempt to specify -c ./-myfile.

Table 4-1 explains the basic obtar modes. The description of each mode includes the most common options. "obtar Options" describes additional options.

Table 4-1 obtar Modes

Option	Description
obtar -c	Creates a one-time backup image of the directories and files specified on the command line.
obtar -g	Creates backup images for the directories and files specified in a backup description file (BDF). The syntax for BDFs is described in "Backup Description File Syntax".
obtar -x	Restores directories and files.
obtar -t	Lists the contents for a backup image.
obtar -z	Displays a backup image or volume label on the volume in the specified drive.
obtar -zz	Displays a list of the backup images contained on the volume.
obtar -Xlabel	Writes a volume label to the tape contained in the specified drive.
obtar -Xunlabel	Removes the volume label from the tape contained in the specified drive.
obtar -Xreuse	Marks the volume contained in the specified drive as being reusable.