Oracle 26ai Tablespace Recovery - Exercise

A storage failure has damaged the datafiles of the permanent CUSTOMER tablespace in the House-O-Pets application PDB, PETSPDB. The CDB and PDB remain open. The current control file, SPFILE and online redo logs are intact. Your goal is to recover all committed changes.

Assume ARCHIVELOG mode, usable disk backups known to RMAN, and every required archived and online redo log. The original file locations are writable after storage repair. CUSTOMER is neither SYSTEM nor an active undo or temporary tablespace. Use a configured disk channel and an authorized administrative connection directly to PETSPDB. For encrypted files or backups, the required keystore or decryption credentials must also be available.

1. Describe how you will verify the target PDB, affected files, backup availability, required redo, storage and access before recovery.
2. Write the RMAN commands to take CUSTOMER offline, restore it to its original paths, and recover it. Separate the final ONLINE command from the restore/recover block so the administrator can inspect the result first.
3. Describe the evidence you must inspect before returning the tablespace to service and the application check afterward. Explain why this scenario does not require OPEN RESETLOGS.
4. Suppose instead that the files were healthy and a user dropped a table. Explain why the same complete-recovery procedure would not reverse that logical error, and name an appropriate alternative to investigate.
5. Explain what an optional recovery catalog contributes and what it cannot replace.