Introducing Dell™ NetVault™ Backup Plug‑in for Oracle®
Dell NetVault Backup Plug‑in for Oracle – At a Glance
Key benefits
Feature summary
Target Audience
Recommended additional reading
Defining a backup strategy
Defining a strategy – overview
Reviewing the available backup methods
Reviewing the supported Oracle file types
Defining an RMAN backup strategy
Installing and removing the plug-in
Reviewing the RMAN Tablespace/Datafile backup types
Reviewing the Control File backup types
Reviewing the other backup types
Developing a Recovery Catalog backup strategy
Examples of backup sequences
Defining a Backup Destination strategy
Oracle Flashback technology
Prerequisites
Prerequisites for RMAN backups
Configuring the plug-in
Creating the RMAN repository
Registering the target database
Enabling Control File Autobackups
Enabling Flashback Database
Enabling Block Change Tracking
Recommended configuration for a single-instance non-RAC environment
Installing the plug-in
Removing the plug-in
Configuring a default Target Set for RMAN backups
Configuring default settings
Adding a database
Backing up data
Using the Oracle Flashback Database
Editing database information
Setting the database password
Removing a saved password
Removing a database
Viewing database details
Using RMAN Post-Backup Scripts
Language support
Flashback Database – an overview
Viewing Flashback Database status
Flashback Database options
Flashback Database restrictions
Restoring data with the plug-in and Flashback Database
Restoring data
Restoring and recovering data – an overview
Performing User Managed restores
Using advanced User Managed restore procedures
Maintaining the Recovery Catalog
Using the RMAN CLI
Renaming or relocating Control File, Datafile, or individual Archived Log files
Renaming or relocating the Archive Log Directory
Performing RMAN restores
Setting restore options
Using RMAN types of recovery in a non-RAC environment
Setting the Pre-Restore and general Restore Options
Setting recovery options
Setting Block Media Recovery options
Setting Post Recovery options
Setting Destination Details
Setting the Recovery Catalog details
Setting the Clone Database options
Setting Generate RMAN Script options
Finalizing and submitting a job
Recovering individual datafiles/tablespaces to the same server
Recovering Whole Database to same server
Performing disaster recovery with RMAN
Using advanced procedures with RMAN restores
Duplicating a database in a non-RAC environment
Restoring a Duplicate Database to the same server
Restoring a Duplicate Database to an alternate server with the same directory structure
Restoring a Duplicate Database to an alternate server with an alternate directory structure
Performing table-level recovery
CLI-based RMAN backups and restores – an overview
Prerequisites for CLI-based backups and restores
Performing CLI-based backups
Using the Plug-in with Oracle RAC
Additional parameters: the "format" clause
Additional parameters: the "send" and "PARMS" clauses
Querying the NetVault Backup media name
Performing CLI-based restores
Oracle RACs – an overview
Recommended additional reading
Defining a deployment strategy
Licensing
Installing the plug-in in a RAC environment
Configuring the plug-in
Using the Plug-inin a failover cluster environment
Determining the local Oracle SID and Home directory in a RAC environment
Adding a database to the plug-in
Backing up data
Restoring data in a RAC environment
Oracle Server Fail Safe Failover Clustering – an overview
Installing the plug-in
Licensing the plug-in
Configuring the plug-in and adding a database
Backing up data
Restoring data
Using the plug-in with Oracle Data Guard
Oracle Data Guard – an overview
Defining a deployment strategy
Deployment
Troubleshooting
Single-instance to single-instance Data Guard deployment
Multi-instance RAC to single-instance Data Guard deployment
Multi-instance RAC to multi-instance RAC Data Guard deployment
Installing the plug-in in a Data Guard environment
Backing up data
Restoring data
NetVault Backup 10.x service (netvault-pgsql) will not start on Windows
Unable to add a database
Backup fails
Backup job hangs
Restore fails
Glossary
About Dell
Prerequisites for CLI-based backups and restores
Various installations of Linux include more than one executable named as rman. Because of this, you must verify that the correct Oracle RMAN application is started when you issue the rman command at the prompt. This can be done by making the path to the Oracle RMAN executable ($ORACLE_HOME/bin) as the first search path in the PATH environmental variable.
Plug‑in for Oracle uses an Oracle “SBT_TAPE” channel to conduct backups of an Oracle database. SBT is commonly used to specify a destination for RMAN commands used to back up to tape media. For complete information on establishing this type of channel for use, refer to Configuring and Allocating Channels for Use in Backups in the Oracle Database Backup and Recovery Advanced User’s Guide.
 IMPORTANT: Jobs that are generated using the RMAN CLI cannot be re-run using the NetVault Backup WebUI. The RMAN CLI command (that is the RMAN script) is not sent from the RMAN CLI application back to NetVault Backup. Consequently, if you select Run Now on the Job Status page, the job will fail. |
If the password for the NetVault Backup default user has been set or a non-default NetVault Backup user is used to run the backup and restore, you must execute the nvpluginaccess utility on the NetVault Backup Server and obtain the necessary security clearance for the plug-in to perform CLI backups and restores.
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Initiate a command line session, and navigate to the “util” directory: |
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where “…” represents the path to the NetVault Backup Server installation directory.
nvpluginaccess -remove -client <Client Machine Name>
where <Client Machine Name> is the name of the NetVault Backup Client machine on which the plug-in is installed and <username> is the NetVault Backup user who will perform the backups and restores.
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Verify that the nvpluginaccess utility has been correctly configured by reviewing the contents of the “hookplugs.cfg” file located in the “config” directory: |
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where “…” represents the path to the NetVault Backup Server installation directory.
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NOTE: The Password field in the “hookplugs.cfg” file contains an encrypted view of the password. The actual password is not displayed. |
Performing CLI-based backups
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From the prompt, generate a “Run Block” as follows: |
Additional parameters: the "format" clause
The “format” clause specifies the pattern to use in creating a file name for the backup pieces or image copies that it creates. The plug-in provides additional parameters that can be used as variables along with the “format” clause. These variables let you specify three parameters for a backup job:
The “format” clause is used within a run block and is specified immediately after the “backup” command in the syntax. (Note that use of the additional colon before the “%d_%s_%t” variable is required, and that use of the “%d_%s_%t” variable is critical because Oracle will usually generate a unique string that can be used to identify the separate backup segments in the NetVault Backup Media Manager.)
Specific variables are included with this clause, each following a designated sequence (for example, “<Variable_1>”, “<Variable_2>”, and “<Variable_3>”). Each corresponds to specific NetVault Backup and RMAN values, and all are outlined in the following table. Ensure that each variable in the command is separated by a colon (“:”) and that a second colon is inserted before the “%d_%s_%t” variable.
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NetVault Backup Server Name – The NetVault Backup Machine Name of the NetVault Backup Server from which you will run the backup job. This is a required value. | |||||||
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Target Set Name – To target a specific device during backup, specify a Target Set created for use with Oracle RMAN backups. (Leave this option blank if you want to use NetVault Backup’s default setting of “Any Device.”) This option will override the Target Set specified on the Configure dialog. For more information on Target Sets, refer to the discussion of Selection Sets in the Dell NetVault Backup Administrator’s Guide. | |||||||
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Advanced Options Set Name – Specify an Advanced Options Set created for use with Oracle RMAN backups. (Leave this option blank if you want to use NetVault Backup’s default Advanced Options settings.) This option will override the Advanced Options Set specified on the Configure dialog.
When defining the CLI Backup Advanced Options Set, the Discard After Days/Weeks/Years option must be specified instead of Discard After Full Backups in the Backup Life section of the Advanced Options tab. CLI-based RMAN backups do not support backup-life generation for Full Backups, and backups might expire unexpectedly if the Discard After Full Backups option is specified. For more information on Advanced Option Sets, refer to the discussion of Selection Sets in the Dell NetVault Backup Administrator’s Guide. | |||||||
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Additional parameters: the "send" and "PARMS" clauses
The parameters described in this section can be used either with the “send” or the “PARMS” command to set up the NetVault Backup options for a backup job run from the command line. This section describes how the “send” and the “PARMS” clauses work.
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“send” clause – The parameters specified with the “send” clause are applied to a specific job. |
The “send” clause is used within a run block and is specified immediately after the “allocate” command in the syntax.
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“PARMS” clause – The parameters specified with the “PARMS” clause are applied to all the jobs run from the Oracle Instance. |
In this example, the “NV_TARGET_MEDIA” command will affect the “SBT_TAPE” Channel “ch1” and any other channels set in the other run blocks.
The “PARMS” clause is used within a run block and is specified immediately after the “allocate” command in the syntax.
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send 'NETVAULTCLIPASSWORD=<password>';
NOTE: Use of the NETVAULTCLIPASSWORD variable is a security risk. As an alternative, Dell recommends using the nvpluginaccess utility described in Running the NetVault Backup ‘nvpluginaccess’ utility. If the NETVAULTCLIPASSWORD variable is implemented, it will display the NetVault Backup password in plain text. | |||||||||
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You can use this variable to specify a template for an Advanced Options Set created for use with Oracle RMAN CLI backups to target a specific set of NetVault Backup Advanced Options during backup. Note that this parameter will override the Advanced Options Set that you specified on the Configure dialog.
For more information on Advanced Option Sets, refer to the discussion of Selection Sets in the Dell NetVault Backup Administrator’s Guide.
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The parameters within curly braces are optional. Count followed by full determines the number of generations that the backup is kept. This is the default parameter (that is, if nothing is specified with count, the number of backup generations is considered for the backup life). Days, weeks, or years represents the number of days, weeks, or years that the backup is kept before it is discarded.
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You can use this variable to select a specific group of media based on its group label. This variable must be used in conjunction with the “NV_TARGET_MEDIA” variable; otherwise, it will have no effect.
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You can use this variable to assign a title to the job. Dell recommends that only use this variable with the “send” command on a per job basis (that is, to avoid the chance of all future jobs being labeled with this Job Title, when applied with the “PARMS” clause).
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You can use this variable to select a specific piece of media based on its media label. This variable must be used in conjunction with the “NV_TARGET_MEDIA” variable; otherwise, it will have no effect.
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You can use this variable to compress backup data before it is transferred over the network (that is, in the same manner as the Advanced Options tab’s “Network Compression” option). The permissible values are:
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You can use this variable with the “PARMS” clause to establish the machine name of the original NetVault Backup Client Machine Name where the backup was performed from.
PARMS="ENV=(NV_ORIGINAL_NV_CLIENT= <nv_client_machine_name>)" | |||||||||
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You can use this variable to run a script after completion of a backup job. The script to be run must be saved in the “…\netvault\scripts” subdirectory on the Oracle Database Server (where “…” refers to the complete path to the installation of NetVault Backup).
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You can use this variable to run a script before a backup job. The script to be run must be saved in the “…\netvault\scripts” subdirectory on the Oracle Database Server (where “…” refers to the complete path to the installation of NetVault Backup).
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You can use this variable to reset the Oracle environment after the “PARMS” clause has been used in the run block.
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If the value is set as Never, no media marked for reuse is used for the backup. With the parameter set as Any, any media previously marked for reuse is considered for the backup. If the value is set as With same group label as the target media, any media containing the specified group label that has been previously marked for reuse is considered for the backup.
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You can use this variable to specify a Restore Device Source Set created for use with Oracle RMAN CLI restores, which lets you target a specific NetVault Backup set of devices and device options during a restore. Do not use this option if you want to use the default NetVault Backup setting of Any Device.
NOTE: To use this variable, you must specify a Restore Device Source Set that was created from the Restore Source option on the Restore Options tab. Do not use NetVault Backup Backup Target Sets. A NetVault Backup Backup Target Set is used to specify target devices during a backup. A NetVault Backup Restore Source Set is used to specify a set of source devices and devices options during a restore.
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For more information on Schedule Sets, refer to the Dell NetVault Backup Administrator’s Guide. | |||||||||
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You can use this variable to specify a Target Set created for use with Oracle RMAN CLI backups to target a specific NetVault Backup device during backup. (Ignore this option if you want to use the NetVault Backup default setting of “Any Device.”) Note that this parameter will override the Target Set specified on the Configure dialog.
For more information on Target Sets, refer to the discussion of Selection Sets in the Dell NetVault Backup Administrator’s Guide. | |||||||||
If set to True, the data transfer is checked and a job message is added to the NetVault Backup Job log stating “Backup job has verified successfully.”
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After the “PARMS” clause has been used, you can use either of the following lines of syntax to reset the RMAN environment:
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IMPORTANT: Close any terminal session or window in which you have set the NETVAULTCLIACCOUNT and NETVAULTCLIPASSWORD variables. |