<p>Using Oracle 10g with our testing server what is the most efficient/easy way to backup and restore a database to a static point, assuming that you always want to go back to the given point once a backup has been created.</p>

<p>A sample use case would be the following</p>

<ol>
<li>install and configure all software</li>
<li>Modify data to the base testing point</li>
<li>take a backup somehow (this is part of the question, how to do this)</li>
<li>do testing</li>
<li>return to step 3 state (restore back to backup point, this is the other half of the question)</li>
</ol>

<p><strong>Optimally this would be completed through sqlplus or rman or some other scriptable method.</strong></p>

You could use a feature in Oracle called
Flashback
which allows you to create a restore point, which you can easily jump back to after you've done testing.
Quoted from the site,
Flashback Database is like a 'rewind
  button' for your database. It provides
  database point in time recovery
  without requiring a backup of the
  database to first be restored. When
  you eliminate the time it takes to
  restore a database backup from tape,
  database point in time recovery is
  fast.