Oracle backup requirements and considerations
Use application backups to protect Oracle Database on Windows, Linux, and Solaris platforms. Application backups ensure database consistency, whereas file-level backups of the Oracle server are likely to contain database inconsistencies since only data that has been flushed to disk is included.
With Oracle protection, the Unitrends agent leverages Oracle’s Recovery Manager (RMAN) utility for backup and recovery jobs to:
• | Ensure a consistent database snapshot is captured. |
• | Perform standard Oracle database backup operations, such as saving redo logs and quiescing buffers. |
The agent invokes commands on the Oracle server and supplies RMAN a Samba share target (/backups/rae/<client_name>/<instance>) so that jobs save directly to the backup appliance.
Oracle protection requirements and considerations vary by platform and Oracle Database version. See the following for details:
These requirements must be met for Oracle protection:
Oracle Requirement |
Description |
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Oracle server |
Oracle platform, agent, server, and credential requirements are described below. |
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Platform |
Verify the server is running a supported Windows, Linux, or Solaris version listed in the Unitrends Compatibility and Interoperability Matrix. |
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Agent |
Install the applicable Unitrends agent as described in Installing the Unitrends agent. The agent must have access to the Samba share on the Unitrends appliance to perform backup and recovery operations:
Note: Upgrading from a pre-10.4.8 version does not change the SMB 1.0 setting. (To configure your appliance to use SMB 2.0, see How Unitrends supports SMBv2.) |
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Oracle server |
Add the Oracle server to the Unitrends appliance as described in To add an agent-based asset. |
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Credentials |
Configure trust credentials for each application instance you wish to protect as described in Managing asset credentials.
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Instances |
The following requirements apply to all Oracle instances. (See additional requirements for Oracle on Windows, Linux, and Solaris below.)
Modes such as MOUNTED, NOT MOUNTED, and SHUTDOWN are not supported.
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Oracle on Windows |
Version must be 19c, 18, 12c, or 11g. |
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Oracle on Linux |
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smbadm add-key -u samba@<applianceIP>
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Oracle jobs |
The following apply to Oracle backup and recovery jobs:
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Credentials are required to perform Oracle backup and restore operations. If no credentials are available, or if credentials are incorrect, the job fails with a TNS permission denied error.
Follow the guidelines below when applying Oracle credentials. After reviewing the guidelines, proceed to Managing asset credentials to create and apply credentials.
Oracle platform |
Guidelines and requirements |
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Oracle on Linux or Oracle on Solaris |
Apply credentials to each application instance you wish to protect. The credential user must be a member of the group that owns the Oracle database instance. |
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Oracle on Windows |
Choose one of the following strategies:
Note: If credentials have been applied to the Oracle server and its application instances, the appliance uses instance-level credentials for Oracle backups and restores. If instance-level credentials are incorrect, the job fails without attempting to use the server-level credential.
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After ensuring all requirements have been met, do the following to start protecting your Oracle environment:
Step 1: | Install the applicable agent on the Oracle server as described in Installing the Windows agent, Installing and updating the Linux agent, or Installing and updating the Solaris agent. |
Step 2: | Add the Oracle server to the Unitrends appliance as described in To add an agent-based asset. |
Step 3: | Run file-level backups to protect the Oracle server, as described in To create a file-level backup job. |
Note: Oracle on Windows – You must use Windows file-level backups to protect the Oracle server. Windows image-level backups cannot be used for Oracle.
Step 4: | Run Oracle backups to protect the application, as described in To create an Oracle backup job. |
If you have upgraded an existing protected Oracle database instance to a newer Oracle database version, follow this procedure to begin protecting your new instance:
1 | Ensure all requirements are met for your new version of Oracle database. See Oracle backup requirements and considerations. |
2 | Select Options > Inventory Sync to discover the new instance. |
3 | Schedule and begin running backups of your Oracle new databases as described in Backup Administration and Procedures. |
4 | (Optional) If you no longer need to backup the older databases, disable or delete backup schedules for the older instance. |
This is necessary because Oracle creates a new database instance when you upgrade, and does not remove or overwrite any older instances.
Note: The appliance does not purge the last successful backup group for the older databases (see Backup groups for details). If you no longer need any backups of the older databases, you can delete them manually.
5 | (Optional) Once you have gained the desired retention on your new instance, you can manually delete backups of the older instance. |