NetVault Plug-in for Oracle 12.3 - User Guide

Backing up data

Backing up data using Plug‑in for Oracle that has been set up for use in a Virtual Client is relatively simple. On the NetVault Backup Selections page, open the Virtual Client node, open Plug‑in for Oracle, and select the Oracle Server Instances, or the items contained within, for inclusion in the backup.

Restoring data

Restoring data to a Virtual Client is conducted in the same manner as a restore performed to a traditional NetVault Backup Client. All options available for a restore with Plug‑in for Oracle are also available for Failover Clustering environments, and data selection is also performed in the same way. The difference is that restorable backups of a Virtual Client are displayed on the Create Selection Set page under the name of the Virtual Client, not the specific NetVault Backup Client or node that was active during each backup. When a restore job is initiated, NetVault Backup communicates with all member Clients to determine which machine is in control of the failover cluster, and targets this machine for the restore.

IMPORTANT: The Restore Backup taken from NetVault Backup Client field on the Configure dialog box must contain the name of the NetVault Backup Virtual Client that performed the backup; otherwise, restores fail. For more information on using the Configure dialog box, see Configuring the plug-in. To restore a Controlfile Autobackup or a backup taken from the CLI in a failover-cluster environment, provide the name of the NetVault Backup Physical Client either in the Restore Backup taken from NetVault Backup Client option or in the NV_ORIGINAL_NV_CLIENT option (use this variable with “send”). The Oracle RMAN backup pieces are stored in the NetVault Backup Media Manager, under the name of the NetVault Backup Client that performed the backup. The Client name is listed in the Create Restore Job - Choose Saveset page, in the Saveset Information area. During a restore, you must have the Plug‑in for Oracle configured to retrieve the backup pieces stored under the Client name that performed the backup.

Additionally, you can restore a NetVault Backup Virtual Client to a non-clustered (standalone) NetVault Backup Client.

When restoring data to a Virtual Client, Quest recommends that you select the applicable Virtual Client from the Target Client list in the Create Restore Job page.

All the instructions offered about performing a restore can be used in the recovery of a Virtual Client. For more information on restoring a NetVault Backup Virtual Client, see the various topics in Restoring data.

Using the plug-in with Oracle Data Guard

Oracle Data Guard: an overview

Oracle’s Oracle Data Guard “ensures high availability, data protection, and disaster recovery for enterprise data. Data Guard provides a comprehensive set of services that create, maintain, manage, and monitor one or more standby databases to enable production Oracle databases to survive disasters and data corruptions. Data Guard maintains these standby databases as copies of the production database. If the production database becomes unavailable because of an outage, Data Guard can switch any standby database to the production role, minimizing the downtime associated with the outage. Data Guard can be used with traditional backup, restoration, and cluster techniques to provide a high level of data protection and data availability.”

With Data Guard, administrators can optionally improve production database performance by offloading resource-intensive backup and reporting operations to Standby Database Servers. In addition, backups can be used to recover either the Primary or Standby Database Server, regardless of whether the backups were taken from the Primary or the Standby Database Server.

Plug‑in for Oracle provides support for a limited number of Oracle versions in a Data Guard environment. The installation, configuration, backup, and restore procedures differ slightly in a Data Guard environment. This topic offers specifics on how the plug-in operates in a Data Guard environment.

For a complete list of supported Oracle versions and platforms in a Data Guard environment, see the Quest NetVault Backup Compatibility Guide.

NOTE: The plug-in’s RMAN backup method is the only method supported in Data Guard environments. Unless outlined in the following topics, backups and restores performed with the plug-in for Data Guard physical or standby databases are the same as backups and restores performed with non-Data Guard databases.