Back-ups should be taken regularly. This will minimize downtime if there is an emergency. Access to the application areas should not be at the operating system level. On-line archival of redologs should be set up from the date of going live. It is recommended that:

• Backup of all database related files viz., data files, control files, redologs, archived files, init.ora, config.ora etc should be taken at the end of the day.
• The tape can be recycled every week by having day-specific tapes.
• On-line backup of archived redo-log files onto a media to achieve to the point recovery in case of crash, shutdown etc.(recycled every day).
• Complete export of database and softbase should be done atleast once in a week and this can be stored off-site (media can be recycled in odd and even numbers).
• Complete backup of the Oracle directory (excluding the database related files) to be taken once in a month. This media can be recycled bimonthly.
• When the database is huge, incremental exports and on-line tablespace backups are recommended.

The above strategy may be improvised by the Oracle DBA, depending on the local needs. The backup operations are to be logged and tapes to be archived in fireproof storages.