With the Backup and Recovery Console you can backup a database while the database is open and actively being used. User-managed backups (commonly referred to as cold backups) require you to shut down or place the database in backup mode preventing users from writing to the database. In contrast, the Backup and Recovery Console’s utilization of RMAN provides the ability to create reliable backups at any time. This is a powerful feature that will enable users to stay productive 24 hours a day and still have a reasonable backup and recovery solution in the event that there is an issue.