PowerProtect Data Manager Appliance 5.15.0.0 Oracle RMAN User Guide

Considerations for self-service backups in a Data Guard environment

In an Oracle Data Guard environment, you must run the self-service backups without connecting to the recovery catalog. Synchronize the recovery catalog with the control file in separate RMAN sessions at regular intervals, outside of the backup sessions. This operation updates the recovery catalog with the current metadata from the target database control file. You can run the resync catalog command to initiate a full resynchronization of the recovery catalog.

When you use the primary mode protection strategy, always perform the Data Guard backups from the primary database. When you use the standby mode, always perform the Data Guard backups from the same physical standby database. Perform non-full backups from the database where the latest full backup was performed. After a new database assumes the role of the preferred database for backups, perform the next backup of the database as a full backup.

To enable the self-service backups for an Oracle Data Guard configuration, you must add the setting of the Oracle RMAN agent parameter DBUNIQUE_NAME in the ALLOCATE CHANNEL line in the RMAN script.

You must set the DBUNIQUE_NAME parameter in the RMAN script to the Oracle DB_UNIQUE_NAME value of the database, which you obtain by running the SQL query SELECT DB_UNIQUE_NAME FROM V$DATABASE. For example, the following SQL query displays the DB_UNIQUE_NAME value DGUARD:

SQL> SELECT DB_UNIQUE_NAME FROM V$DATABASE;

DB_UNIQUE_NAME
------------------------------
DGUARD

ALLOCATE CHANNEL C1 TYPE SBT TRACE 5 PARMS 'SBT_LIBRARY=/home/oracle/opt/dpsapps/rmanagent/lib/libddobk.so, SBT_PARMS=(RMAN_AGENT_HOME=/home/oracle/opt/dpsapps/rmanagent/, STORAGE_UNIT=/PLC-RAC-DG-blrv136g138-e8e4e, BACKUP_HOST=hostname1.lss.emc, ORACLE_HOME=/u02/software, DBUNIQUE_NAME=DGUARD)';

Considerations for all self-service backups

To perform a self-service or manual backup of an Oracle database, you must create and run an RMAN backup script. The following example shows how to generate the backup scripts.

To identify the storage unit and DD hostname, run the ddutil -s command on the Oracle client. For example, run the following command in the $RMAN_AGENT_HOME/bin directory:

./ddutil -s

Only if the autobackup is enabled for the protected database and you have created a self-service protection policy for Oracle, complete the required top-level directory changes:

1. Log in to the Oracle host as an Oracle user.

2. To obtain the top-level directory information, run the following command:

   $RMAN_AGENT_HOME/bin/ddutil -s
   
   PowerProtect DD hostname: 10.125.136.106
   
      FC service name: None
      FC service enabled: false
   
      Storage Unit: oracle-self_policy-blrv034d018-R-df3c7
      Top Level Path: PLCTLP-4eb04bd9-b825-4e72-b668-14e9aacaa522
      Protection Policy Name: self_policy
   
              User: oracle-self-blrv034d018-R-df3c7
              Type: PROTECTION

3. To complete the changes to the control file configuration for the Oracle database, run the following RMAN command. The command includes the top-level pathname from the ddutil -s command output:

   CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE 'SBT_TAPE' TO
   './PLCTLP-4eb04bd9-b825-4e72-b668-14e9aacaa522/%F';

4. Similarly, in the existing backup scripts that you use for backups, change the format specification accordingly. For example:

   BACKUP INCREMENTAL LEVEL 0 DATABASE INCLUDE CURRENT CONTROLFILE FORMAT
   './PLCTLP-4eb04bd9-b825-4e72-b668-14e9aacaa522/OCK/Automated_data_%d_%I_%u_%p';

   After you complete these changes, all the database backup pieces including the autobackups will be written under the top-level directory created in the storage unit.

   NOTE:

   If changing the backup scripts or the control file format is not a feasible option, then create the .disable.tlp file under the $RMAN_AGENT_HOME/settings directory. Alternatively, add the IGNORE_TLP_SU_DIR=TRUE environment variable setting in the ALLOCATE CHANNEL command of the existing backup scripts. In both of these cases, the backup pieces are not written under the top-level directory that the protection policy creates.

   In an Oracle RAC environment, create the .disable.tlp file on each node of the system under the $RMAN_AGENT_HOME/settings directory.

Specify the storage unit, top-level pathname, and DD hostname in the RMAN backup script.

The following example shows an RMAN script that performs a full backup of the database and its archive logs in separate statements:

connect target username/password;

run {
SET CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE 'SBT_TAPE' TO
'./PLCTLP-2cb0204e-2d6b-4318-84d0-989780fcf1d6/%F';
ALLOCATE CHANNEL CH0 TYPE 'SBT_TAPE' PARMS 'SBT_LIBRARY=/home/oracle/opt/dpsapps/rmanagent/lib/libddobk.so, ENV=(STORAGE_UNIT=plc-aix-mnode-blrv041a201-0c648, BACKUP_HOST=hostname1.lss.emc, RMAN_AGENT_HOME=/home/oracle/opt/dpsapps/rmanagent)';
BACKUP CURRENT CONTROLFILE FORMAT './PLCTLP-2cb0204e-2d6b-4318-84d0-989780fcf1d6/Automated_controlfile_%T_%d_%I_%u_%p';
BACKUP ARCHIVELOG ALL DELETE INPUT FORMAT './PLCTLP-9477032e-549f-40cf-9574-b713cc737dab/Automated_arch_%T_%d_%I_%u_%p';

release channel CH0;
}

The libddobk.so library location and the RMAN_AGENT_HOME, STORAGE_UNIT, and BACKUP_HOST settings must be specified in the allocate channel command. All other parts of the script are standard RMAN commands.

To increase the parallelism of the backup, you can allocate more channels:

connect target username/password;

run {
SET CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE 'SBT_TAPE' TO
'./PLCTLP-2cb0204e-2d6b-4318-84d0-989780fcf1d6/%F';
ALLOCATE CHANNEL CH0 TYPE 'SBT_TAPE' PARMS 'SBT_LIBRARY=/home/oracle/opt/dpsapps/rmanagent/lib/libddobk.so, ENV=(STORAGE_UNIT=plc-aix-mnode-blrv041a201-0c648, BACKUP_HOST=hostname1.lss.emc, RMAN_AGENT_HOME=/home/oracle/opt/dpsapps/rmanagent)';
ALLOCATE CHANNEL CH1 TYPE 'SBT_TAPE' PARMS 'SBT_LIBRARY=/home/oracle/opt/dpsapps/rmanagent/lib/libddobk.so, ENV=(STORAGE_UNIT=plc-aix-mnode-blrv041a201-0c648, BACKUP_HOST=hostname1.lss.emc, RMAN_AGENT_HOME=/home/oracle/opt/dpsapps/rmanagent)';
ALLOCATE CHANNEL CH2 TYPE 'SBT_TAPE' PARMS 'SBT_LIBRARY=/home/oracle/opt/dpsapps/rmanagent/lib/libddobk.so, ENV=(STORAGE_UNIT=plc-aix-mnode-blrv041a201-0c648, BACKUP_HOST=hostname1.lss.emc, RMAN_AGENT_HOME=/home/oracle/opt/dpsapps/rmanagent)';
ALLOCATE CHANNEL CH3 TYPE 'SBT_TAPE' PARMS 'SBT_LIBRARY=/home/oracle/opt/dpsapps/rmanagent/lib/libddobk.so, ENV=(STORAGE_UNIT=plc-aix-mnode-blrv041a201-0c648, BACKUP_HOST=hostname1.lss.emc, RMAN_AGENT_HOME=/home/oracle/opt/dpsapps/rmanagent)';
BACKUP INCREMENTAL LEVEL 0 DATABASE FORMAT
'./PLCTLP-2cb0204e-2d6b-4318-84d0-989780fcf1d6/Automated_data_%T_%d_%I_%u_%p';
BACKUP ARCHIVELOG ALL NOT BACKED UP 1 TIMES FORMAT
'./PLCTLP-2cb0204e-2d6b-4318-84d0-989780fcf1d6/Automated_arch_%T_%d_%I_%u_%p';
BACKUP CURRENT CONTROLFILE FORMAT './PLCTLP-2cb0204e-2d6b-4318-84d0-989780fcf1d6/Automated_controlfile_%T_%d_%I_%u_%p';
BACKUP SPFILE FORMAT './PLCTLP-2cb0204e-2d6b-4318-84d0-989780fcf1d6/Automated_spfile_%T_%d_%I_%u_%p';

release channel CH0;
release channel CH1;
release channel CH2;
release channel CH3;
}