Mazharuddin Ehsan (8/2/2008)
I think logical backup and recovery using the exp and imp utilities are also very useful and important as it allows to take backup of selected objets in the schema (with or without data).
I'm sorry but I have to strongly disagree, not just me... the whole Oracle community would if they find their way to this forum.
Here is why, you cannot recover a database from an export dump therefore export is not a form of backup. Oracle does not considers exp/imp a form of backup, just a tool to move data around like you would do via BCP in the SQL Server world.
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Pablo (Paul) Berzukov
Author of Understanding Database Administration available at Amazon and other bookstores.
Disclaimer: Advice is provided to the best of my knowledge but no implicit or explicit warranties are provided. Since the advisor explicitly encourages testing any and all suggestions on a test non-production environment advisor should not held liable or responsible for any actions taken based on the given advice.