# Common parameters for RMAN procedures
<a name="Appendix.Oracle.CommonDBATasks.CommonParameters"></a>

You can use procedures in the Amazon RDS package `rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util` to perform tasks with RMAN. Several parameters are common to the procedures in the package. The package has the following common parameters.


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| Parameter name | Data type | Valid values | Default | Required | Description | 
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | 
|  `p_directory_name`  |  varchar2  |  A valid database directory name.  |  —  |  Yes  |  The name of the directory to contain the backup files.  | 
|  `p_label`  |  varchar2  |  `a-z`, `A-Z`, `0-9`, `'_'`, `'-'`, `'.'`  |  —  |  No  |  A unique string that is included in the backup file names.  The limit is 30 characters.   | 
|  `p_owner`  |  varchar2  |  A valid owner of the directory specified in `p_directory_name`.  |  —  |  Yes  |  The owner of the directory to contain the backup files.  | 
|  `p_tag`  |  varchar2  |  `a-z`, `A-Z`, `0-9`, `'_'`, `'-'`, `'.'`  |  NULL  |  No  |  A string that can be used to distinguish between backups to indicate the purpose or usage of backups, such as daily, weekly, or incremental-level backups. The limit is 30 characters. The tag is not case-sensitive. Tags are always stored in uppercase, regardless of the case used when entering them. Tags don't need to be unique, so multiple backups can have the same tag. If you don't specify a tag, then RMAN assigns a default tag automatically using the format `TAGYYYYMMDDTHHMMSS`, where *YYYY* is the year, *MM* is the month, *DD* is the day, *HH* is the hour (in 24-hour format), *MM* is the minutes, and *SS* is the seconds. The date and time refer to when RMAN started the backup. For example, a backup might receive a tag `TAG20190927T214517` for a backup that started on 2019-09-27 at 21:45:17. The `p_tag` parameter is supported for the following Amazon RDS for Oracle DB engine versions: [\[See the AWS documentation website for more details\]](http://docs.amazonaws.cn/en_us/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/Appendix.Oracle.CommonDBATasks.CommonParameters.html)  | 
|  `p_compress`  |  boolean  |  `TRUE`, `FALSE`  |  `FALSE`  |  No  |  Specify `TRUE` to enable BASIC backup compression. Specify `FALSE` to disable BASIC backup compression.  | 
|  `p_include_archive_logs`  |  boolean  |  `TRUE`, `FALSE`  |  `FALSE`  |  No  |  Specify `TRUE` to include archived redo logs in the backup. Specify `FALSE` to exclude archived redo logs from the backup. If you include archived redo logs in the backup, set retention to one hour or greater using the `rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.set_configuration` procedure. Also, call the `rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.crosscheck_archivelog` procedure immediately before running the backup. Otherwise, the backup might fail due to missing archived redo log files that have been deleted by Amazon RDS management procedures.  | 
|  `p_include_controlfile`  |  boolean  |  `TRUE`, `FALSE`  |  `FALSE`  |  No  |  Specify `TRUE` to include the control file in the backup. Specify `FALSE` to exclude the control file from the backup.  | 
|  `p_optimize`  |  boolean  |  `TRUE`, `FALSE`  |  `TRUE`  |  No  |  Specify `TRUE` to enable backup optimization, if archived redo logs are included, to reduce backup size. Specify `FALSE` to disable backup optimization.  | 
|  `p_parallel`  |  number  |  A valid integer between `1` and `254` for Oracle Database Enterprise Edition (EE) `1` for other Oracle Database editions  |  `1`  |  No  |  Number of channels.  | 
|  `p_rman_to_dbms_output`  |  boolean  |  `TRUE`, `FALSE`  |  `FALSE`  |  No  |  When `TRUE`, the RMAN output is sent to the `DBMS_OUTPUT` package in addition to a file in the `BDUMP` directory. In SQL\$1Plus, use `SET SERVEROUTPUT ON` to see the output. When `FALSE`, the RMAN output is only sent to a file in the `BDUMP` directory.   | 
|  `p_section_size_mb`  |  number  |  A valid integer  |  `NULL`  |  No  |  The section size in megabytes (MB). Validates in parallel by dividing each file into the specified section size. When `NULL`, the parameter is ignored.  | 
|  `p_validation_type`  |  varchar2  |  `'PHYSICAL'`, `'PHYSICAL+LOGICAL'`  |  `'PHYSICAL'`  |  No  |  The level of corruption detection. Specify `'PHYSICAL'` to check for physical corruption. An example of physical corruption is a block with a mismatch in the header and footer. Specify `'PHYSICAL+LOGICAL'` to check for logical inconsistencies in addition to physical corruption. An example of logical corruption is a corrupt block.  |