The Recovery Appliance metadata database, which resides on the Recovery Appliance, manages the backup metadata for all protected databases registered with the Recovery Appliance and also contains the Recovery Appliance catalog. Every protected database that stores backups on the Recovery Appliance must use the Recovery Appliance catalog. However, protected databases can use the Recovery Appliance catalog without also using the Recovery Appliance as a backup repository. Protected database administrators connect to the Recovery Appliance catalog using the same Recovery Appliance user that is used for backup and recovery operations.

After you enroll a protected database with a Recovery Appliance, you must register it with the Recovery Appliance catalog. Registering the protected database stores backup metadata for the protected database in the Recovery Appliance catalog. Existing backup metadata that is currently stored in the protected database's RMAN recovery catalog must be imported into the Recovery Appliance catalog.