B.2 RMAN Compatibility Matrix

In general, the rules of RMAN compatibility are as follows:

You can create 8.X or 9.X RMAN catalog schema in any Oracle database release 8.1.X (or higher) and Release 10g RMAN catalog schema in any Oracle database release 9.0.1 (or higher).
The recovery catalog schema version must be greater than or equal to the RMAN client version.
Ideally, the versions of the RMAN client and the target database should be the same (although there are other legal combinations, listed in Table B-1). The RMAN client cannot be of a greater version than the target or auxiliary database.
While backing up a Release 10g database using the 9.X RMAN client, you cannot include a control file that was created using compatible=10.0.0 in a datafile backupset. The workaround is to turn control file autobackup ON.

Table B-1 shows version requirements for RMAN components. Note the following conventions when interpreting this table:

">=8.1.7" means 8.1.7, 9.0.1, 9.2.0 and 10.1.0 and their patches
">=8.0.6" means 8.0.6, 8.1.7, 9.0.1, 9.2.0 and 10.1.0 and their patches

When using an older version of the RMAN client with a newer version of the database, you do not get the features of the newer version. For example, when using the Oracle9i RMAN client to back up an Oracle Release 10g database, you will not have access to features like the flash recovery area, flashback database, TSPITR with an RMAN-managed auxiliary instance, or recovery through resetlogs.

Table B-1 RMAN Compatibility Table

Target/Auxiliary Database	RMAN client	Catalog Database	Catalog Schema
8.0.6	8.0.6	>=8.1.7	>=8.0.6
8.1.7	8.0.6.1	>=8.1.7	>=8.1.7
8.1.7	8.1.7	>=8.1.7	>=RMAN client
8.1.7.4	8.1.7.4	>=8.1.7	8.1.7.4
8.1.7.4	8.1.7.4	>=8.1.7	>= 9.0.1.4
9.0.1	9.0.1	>=8.1.7	>= RMAN client
9.2.0	>=9.0.1.3 and <= target database executable	>=8.1.7	>= RMAN client
10.1.0	>=9.0.1.3 and <=target database executable	>=9.0.1	>= RMAN client
10.2.0	>=9.0.1.3 and <=target database executable	>=9.0.1	>= RMAN client

B.2.1 Cross-Version Compatibility of Recovery Catalog Exports and Imports

Exports of the recovery catalog are often used as a way to backup its contents. When planning to use Oracle export utilities to back up the recovery catalog, refer to Oracle Database Utilities for details on compatibility issues surrounding the use of database exports across versions of Oracle. Exports from a later version of Oracle cannot be imported into databases running under earlier versions of Oracle. You must export your recovery catalog data using the export utility from the earliest version of Oracle that you need to use for a recovery catalog.

For example, if you want to export recovery catalog data from a 9.2.0.5 database and you expect to import it into an 8.1.7.4 version of Oracle for disaster recovery, you must use the export utility from the 8.1.7.4 release of Oracle to perform the export operation. Otherwise, the import operation will fail.