How to Switch the Default Channel From One to Another

Let's say, our RMAN is currently running on the channel 'SBT_TAPE' by default. We're planing to switch the default channel to DISK before tapes for shortening recovery time. Especially, the destination for the backup pieces is DB_RECOVERY_FILE_DEST which is recommended by Oracle.

Configure DEVICE TYPE DISK, if necessary.

There already has a default device type settings for disk (but not for sbt), you can suppress it if the default setting does not meet your requirements.

RMAN> CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE DISK PARALLELISM 2 BACKUP TYPE TO BACKUPSET;

new RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE DISK PARALLELISM 2 BACKUP TYPE TO BACKUPSET;
new RMAN configuration parameters are successfully stored

Configure a channel for DEVICE TYPE DISK, if necessary.

RMAN> CONFIGURE CHANNEL DEVICE TYPE DISK MAXPIECESIZE 2G;

new RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE CHANNEL DEVICE TYPE DISK MAXPIECESIZE 2 G;
new RMAN configuration parameters are successfully stored

RMAN> SHOW CHANNEL;

RMAN configuration parameters for database with db_unique_name ORCL are:
CONFIGURE CHANNEL DEVICE TYPE DISK MAXPIECESIZE 2 G;

Did you see that? I configure the disk channel without the modifier FORMAT (e.g. FORMAT '/disk1/ora_df%t_s%s_s%p'). This will make the backup destination goes to DB_RECOVERY_FILE_DEST.

Change the DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE from 'SBT_TAPE' into DISK.

RMAN> SHOW DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE;

RMAN configuration parameters for database with db_unique_name ORCL are:
CONFIGURE DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE TO 'SBT_TAPE';

RMAN> CONFIGURE DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE TO DISK;

old RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE TO 'SBT_TAPE';
new RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE TO DISK;
new RMAN configuration parameters are successfully stored

RMAN> SHOW DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE;

RMAN configuration parameters for database with db_unique_name ORCL are:
CONFIGURE DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE TO DISK;

Clear the device type for 'SBT_TAPE'.

RMAN> CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE 'SBT_TAPE' CLEAR;

old RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE 'SBT_TAPE' PARALLELISM 3 BACKUP TYPE TO BACKUPSET;
RMAN configuration parameters are successfully reset to default value

Of course, you can also switch back to SBT_TAPE by this procedure.