Prior to deploying the Portal for operational use and periodically after installation (at least once a month is recommended), it is recommended that you perform a cold backup of the Oracle database. In addition to monthly cold backups, it is also recommended that you take a cold backup after a significant software upgrade to re-capture the updated database schema.

This off-line, cold backup means that you will physically copy or back up the Oracle database data files to another location. This cold backup will simplify the restore process, in the event of unanticipated data loss. With a cold backup, you simply have to restore the files and then import the most recent database export.