Once grouped, these objects can be backed up and recovered as one entity. Alert conditions are errors or prompts to which the DBA must respond. Using the console, the DBA can examine the error conditions shown in the output of any sub-job and also can respond to prompts. Answers to prompts are sent to the waiting sub-job on the database server host. Additionally, backups can be synchronized to generate a consistent recovery point across database servers.
Synchronized backups are three-phase commands.
During the first phase, all transactions active against target objects are quiesced, and the objects are switched to read-only mode to prevent subsequent transaction updates. During all phases, queries are still possible. The backup takes place in the second phase. The third phase is used to release the objects and switch them back to read-write mode. Answers to prompts flow back from the console through the server to the waiting agent.