Using "backup location", I do not need to connect to target database, but how do I know what "until time" is available in the backup pieces? one way is to find the backup piece information from target database by using "list backup...", but what if I do not have the target database at all? while, I can arbitrarily give a time, then RMAN will tell me what is the time in those back pieces, nice! Steps captured! 1.create the RAC database using dbca 2.create spfile='+oradata/bcfw/spfileBCFW.ora' from pfile='/tmp/pfile.ora'. alter system set cluster_database=false scope=memory 3.srvctl start instance -d dbname -i dbname1 -o nomount 4.export NLS_DATE_FORMAT='yyyymmdd hh24:mi:ss' 5.rman> duplicate database /* the backup was done using this: RUN { ALLOCATE CHANNEL ch11 TYPE DISK MAXPIECESIZE 1G; BACKUP as COMPRESSED backupset FORMAT '/u01/dba/jsun/%d_D_%T_%u_s%s_p%p' DATABASE PLUS ARCHIVELOG FORM