Dell Avamar for Oracle 19.10 User Guide

Performing an on-demand backup

An on-demand backup is a user-initiated backup of Oracle data on a client. You can perform an on-demand backup for the first backup of the client immediately after you install the Avamar client software. Perform an on-demand backup before system maintenance, software installations, or software upgrades.

1. In the AUI navigation pane on the left, click , and then click Asset Management.
   The Asset Management window is displayed.
2. In the domain tree, select the domain that contains the Oracle server.
   A list of Avamar clients is displayed in the pane below the domains list.
3. In the list of clients, select the client that runs the Oracle server.
   You can only view clients in the domain for the login account. To view all clients, log in to the root domain.
4. Click BACKUP.
   The Backup wizard is displayed. In the Plugin pane, a list of plug-ins that are installed on the Oracle server is displayed.
5. In the Plugins pane, perform the following steps:
   1. Select the Oracle RMAN plug-in for the platform.
   2. Browse to and select one or more databases for the backup.
   3. Click NEXT.
   The Basic Configuration pane is displayed.
6. In the Basic Configuration pane, complete the following fields:
   1. Select the backup retention policy settings:
      • To automatically delete this backup from the Avamar server after a specific amount of time, select Retention period. Specify the number of days, weeks, months, or years for the retention period.
      • To automatically delete this backup from the Avamar server on a specific calendar date, select End date and browse to that date on the calendar.
      • To keep this backup until this client remains active in the Avamar server, select No end date.
   2. In the Avamar encryption method list, select the encryption method to use for data transfer between the client and the Avamar server during the backup.
      The encryption technology and bit strength for a client/server connection depends on several factors, including the client operating system and Avamar server version. The Avamar Product Security Guide provides additional information.
   3. In the Optionally select a proxy to perform backup list, select the proxy.

      The default setting is Automatic, which enables the Avamar server to choose the best proxy for this operation.

   4. Click NEXT.
      The More Options window is displayed.
7. In the More Options pane, set the plug-in options:
   1. To view advanced options, select Show Advanced Options.
   2. Leave the Oracle Instance Name field blank. The Avamar Plug-in for Oracle determines the Oracle instance name when you browse and select a target to back up.
   3. (Optional) For Oracle 12c and later, if the Oracle user has SYSBACKUP privileges (instead of SYSDBA), select SYSBACKUP privilege.
      1. Type the username to use to authenticate the Oracle database. This user is with SYSDBA (or SYSBACKUP) privileges.
      2. Type the password for the account.
      3. Select the number of channels to allocate during the backup from the Number of RMAN Channels list. The maximum number is 10.
      Backup options provides more information about the Number of RMAN Channels option.
8. Select one or more backup options:
   1. To back up the entire Oracle database, select Back up database.
   2. To back up only the archive logs, select Back up archive logs. Archive backups are always full backups no matter which backup level that you choose.
   3. To automatically delete archive logs after a successful database backup, select Delete archive logs after backup
      NOTE:The selection of multiple options is cumulative. To back up the entire database and the archive logs, select Back up database and Back up archive logs.
   4. (Linux and UNIX only) If the application bitness and operating system bitness are not the same, select the appropriate setting from the Media Management Library Bitwidth list.
      If the application bitness and operating system bitness are the same, leave the Media Management Library Bitwidth set to Automatic, the default setting.
      NOTE:The Management Library Bitwidth option does not apply to Windows platforms.
   5. To prevent a multiple target backup from continuing after one of the backups fails, select Exit a multiple target backup when any one backup fails.
   6. Type the number of files that RMAN can open concurrently per channel in the Filesperset field. The default value is 1.
   7. (Advanced option) To write maximum information to log files, select Enable debugging message. Selecting this option creates large log files.
   8. (Advanced option) Leave the NLS_DATE_FORMAT field blank.
   9. (Advanced option) Select the appropriate option from the Enhanced Data Deduplication list:
      • To use the global enhanced data deduplication setting already set on the server, select Default. This is the default setting.
      • To back up the datafile without using enhanced data deduplication, select Disabled.
      • To use enhanced data deduplication for the backup, select Enabled.
9. Select a backup level:
   • Full backup backs up all the data in the database datafile when you select the Back up database option.
   • Level 0 backup backs up all datafile.

     Perform a level 0 backup before you perform a level 1 (differential or cumulative) backup.
     

   • Level 1 differential backup backs up only changed blocks of the database.
   • Level 1 cumulative backup backs up all database blocks that have changed since the most recent level 0 backup.
   NOTE:The Avamar Plug-in for Oracle supports incremental (level 0 and level 1) backups for Oracle 11 g and later. To improve level 1 (differential or cumulative) backup performance, enable the Block Change Tracking feature. Enabling Block Change Tracking provides more information.
10. (Optional) If you use a recovery catalog, select the Use recovery catalog check box, and then complete the following steps:
    1. In the Recovery Catalog Server Name field, type the recovery catalog service entry.
    2. In the Recovery Catalog User Name field, type the recovery catalog username.
    3. In the Recovery Catalog Password field, type the recovery catalog password.
    NOTE:The Use recovery catalog option uses the values in the Recovery Catalog Server Name, Recovery Catalog User Name, and Recovery Catalog Password fields to form a recovery catalog server connection string for RMAN.
11. (Advanced option) Complete options in the Preprocessing Script group box:
    1. In the Run user-defined script at beginning of backup field, type the name of a preprocessing script.
       The preprocessing script must be in the /avamar/etc/scripts directory on the client.
    2. To stop processing the script when the script returns a nonzero status code, select Exit backup if script fails.
    Preprocessing and postprocessing scripts and attributes provides more information about using scripts.
12. (Advanced option) Complete the Postprocessing Script options:
    1. In the Run user-defined script at end of backup field, type the name of a postprocessing script.
       The postprocessing script must be in the /avamar/etc/scripts directory on the client.
    2. To exit the script with an exit code from the script rather than with the standard avoracle exit code, select the Exit process with if script failure exitcode check box.
       Preprocessing and postprocessing scripts and attributes provides more information about using scripts.
    3. To store the backup on a Data Domain system instead of the Avamar server, select Store backup on Data Domain system, and then select the Data Domain system from the list.
    4. From the Encryption method to Data Domain system list, select the encryption method to use for data transfer between the client and the Data Domain system during the backup.
13. Click FINISH.
    The following status message is displayed:

    Backup initiated.