Creation of Virtual Full Backups
To create a virtual full backup, Recovery Appliance converts an incoming incremental level 1 backup into a virtual representation of an incremental level 0 backup. A virtual full backup appears as an incremental level 0 backup in the recovery catalog. From the user's perspective, a virtual full backup is indistinguishable from a non-virtual full backup. Using virtual backups, Recovery Appliance provides the protection of frequent level 0 backups with only the cost of frequent level 1 backups.
Note:
Recovery Appliance provides storage services, but not virtual full backups, for RMAN-encrypted backups (see "Archival and Encrypted Backups"). These backups are stored in their original encrypted format. Recovery Appliance can store, archive, and retrieve them just as it can for unencrypted RMAN backup sets.