Example of a backup script under Linux (CentOS/RedHat/Oracle).
This script exports all data (exluding some specific tables) from a set of schemas, exports a few Apex applications and their workspace, makes a .tar.gz file out of all these files plus the backup script file(s), and copies the resulting .tar.gz file to a remote backup location.
The script can be run as root - user oracle is probably also possible but root is easier.

Note that this script copies the export file to OneDrive, which is what I happen to use, but of course any other (network/cloud) storage option is fine.
If you want to use OneDrive, the info at https://www.maketecheasier.com/sync-onedrive-linux/ is very helpful.

The script now uses SQLcl. In Apex 22.1 APEXExport has been deprecated (and later it was desupported). So while it still seems to work I have switched to SQLcl. And once again, I spent way too much time figuring out how to do that, just because Oracle (and every other website I looked at) refuses to supply a working example...

Info on downloading and installing SQLcl: https://www.oracle.com/database/sqldeveloper/technologies/sqlcl/download/.
I chose /home/oracle as the installation directory; just update the script below if yours is different.

Steps:

Create the parameter file "backup.parm" for expdp: dumpfile=expdp.dmp exclude=TABLE:"IN ('PBY_DATA_TABLE', 'PBY_QTABLE', 'PBY_IMDB_TITLES')" directory=backup_dir logfile=backup.log schemas=DEV_OWNER,ESB_OWNER,ISR_AUTH,ISR_CORE,ISR_MONITOR,ISR_OWNER,ISR_TRACE,ISR_USER,LOG_OWNER,SMS_1_OWNER,SMS_1_POS,SMS_1_WS,PLPDF reuse_dumpfiles=y

Create the parameter file "backup.sqlcl" for SQLcl: apex export -applicationid 25384 apex export -expWorkspace -workspaceId 1680771009338522 exit

Create the backup script "backup.sh" itself:
Note that (depending on the database version you use) you may have to change the values for ORACLE_HOME & APEX_HOME, and also change the CLASSPATH path to point to another version of the ojdbc jar file.
#!/bin/bash export ORACLE_HOME=/opt/oracle/product/21c/dbhomeXE export NLS_LANG=AMERICAN_AMERICA.AL32UTF8 export PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin/java:$ORACLE_HOME/bin:$PATH export JAVA_HOME=/usr/bin/java export APEX_HOME=$ORACLE_HOME/apex export CLASSPATH=$ORACLE_HOME/jdbc/lib/ojdbc8.jar:$APEX_HOME/utilities:$CLASSPATH:. LOGFILE=/backup/backup.log UP=`ps -ef|grep -i pmon|grep -v grep|wc -l` if [ "$UP" -ge "1" ] then cd /backup rm -f *.gz rm -f *.dmp expdp system/password@XEPDB1 parfile=backup.parm /home/oracle/sqlcl/bin/sql system/rhino1@XEPDB1 @backup.sqlcl 2>&1 | tee -a $LOGFILE tar czf - *.sql *.dmp *.sh *.log *.parm > export_apex.tar.gz 2>&1 | tee -a $LOGFILE mv export_apex.tar.gz export_apex_$(date +%Y_%m_%d).tar.gz rm -f ./OneDrive/DMZ-DB-08/export_apex_*.tar.gz cp export_apex_*.tar.gz ./OneDrive/DMZ-DB-08/ onedrive --synchronize --upload-only --no-remote-delete 2>&1 | tee -a $LOGFILE rm -f *.sql *.dmp # Verify if an Oracle error has been raised if grep -q ORA- $LOGFILE then echo "ERROR: An Oracle error has occurred, check $LOGFILE" exit 1 fi else echo "ERROR: Database is not running. Backup will be skipped." 2>&1 | tee $LOGFILE exit 1 fi

Execute as OS user root (oracle may also work, see above): ./backup.sh

You can rebuild a database very easily (and fast) on a new server, by restoring its data files from the "oradata" directory. Nothing new, but I was quite amazed at how smoothly this works.

Provided you took care of these steps, restore is a breeze:

• Your backup of the datafiles in the "oradata" directory was made with the DB shut down normally.
• The server you are restoring to is either (a backup of) the exact same server you backed up, or a new server that has Oracle installed in the exact same way (same oracle home, instance name, etc.). Hostname, network configuration etc. can be different.

As an example, I did the following to restore an XE 11g database (from a dead server to a new virtual machine):

• Stop the database:
  As root: /etc/init.d/oracle-xe stop
• Move the new ("empty") database files to /tmp, just in case:
  As oracle: cd /u01/app/oracle/oradata/XE
  As oracle: mkdir /tmp/xe_new_backup
  As oracle: mv *.dbf /tmp/xe_new_backup/
• Restore the original data files and make sure oracle:dba is the owner (make sure oracle:dba is correct for you, change to the owner of the new ("empty") data files if needed):
  As root: cd /u01/app/oracle/oradata/XE
  As root: cp /backup/oradata/XE/*.dbf .
  As root: chown oracle:dba *.dbf
• Finalize:
  As oracle: cd /u01/app/oracle/oradata/XE
  As oracle: sqlplus sys/password as sysdba
  As oracle: SQL> startup mount
  As oracle: SQL> recover database until cancel
  As oracle: SQL> alter database open resetlogs;
• Stop & start database:
  As root: /etc/init.d/oracle-xe stop
  As root: /etc/init.d/oracle-xe start

More info: https://community.oracle.com/thread/874166?start=0&tstart=0