snip

cdavis10717@comcast.net wrote:
> Thank you for your helpful reply, I appreciate it.
>
> May I ask you more about using RMAN, since I have concerns about
using
> and maintaining it.

Someone (Joel?) appears to have put out some good answers to your
questions already.

Think about buying the RMAN book written by Robert Freeman, and read it
several times.

Start slowly and do some experimentation on a test system first.

It will not seem so weird after a while!