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BACKGROUND_DUMP_DEST

An initialization parameter that specifies the location of both the alert log and all background process trace files.

background process

Any Oracle process spawned by the database server other than user session processes. These include parallel query slave processes and job slave processes, as well as the standard background processes (PMON, SMON, DBWR, and so on).

backup piece

A physical file stored in a Recovery Manager (RMAN) format that belongs to a backup set. Usually there is only one backup piece per backup set unless the MAXPIECESIZE option is utilized.

backup sets

A Recovery Manager (RMAN) backup of datafiles, control files, and/or archive logs that are produced by the RMAN BACKUP command.

baseline

A range of snapshots preserved for future comparison. A baseline generally represents a specific workload and is defined during a normal execution of that workload. Later, it can be used for comparison if the workload encounters performance issues.

block change tracking

The process of recording blocks that have been modified since the last backup and storing them in a block change tracking file. See also block change tracking file.

block change tracking file

The file that records the changes that occur to blocks in the Oracle database when block change tracking is enabled. See also block change tracking.

block corruption

When a block on a physical disk becomes unreadable (physically corrupted) or inconsistent (logically corrupted) so that the data is unusable.

Block Media Recovery (BMR)

Used to recover an individual or a group of corrupt blocks in a datafile.

BMR

See Block Media Recovery.

byte semantics

The treatment of character strings as a sequence of bytes.