Fwd: Anyone Using IBM flash Copy for Database Backups?
From: Fuad Arshad <fuadar_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 08:35:50 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <424552.53449.qm_at_web82105.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Fuad Begin forwarded message: From: "Powell, Mark" <mark.powell2_at_hp.com> Date: November 3, 2009 10:31:55 AM CST To: "fuadar_at_yahoo.com" <fuadar_at_yahoo.com> Subject: RE: Anyone Using IBM flash Copy for Database Backups? I was going to say if IBM Flashcopy uses mirror breaking to perform the backup wasn't the ALTER SYSTEM SUSPEND command added to assist with using mirrors for backups? From 10gR2 SQL manual entry on ALTER SYSYTEM "The SUSPEND clause lets you suspend all I/O (datafile, control file, and file header) as well as queries, in all instances, enabling you to make copies of the database without having to handle ongoing transactions." Suspend, break mirror, Resume so maybe you have a 1 or 2 second freeze. Of course the IBM product may not work this way. I did find the following Oracle support document that may be of interest: Using IBM ESS TotalStorage FlashCopy or Similar for Oracle 10g on AIX #300225.1 HTH From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org [mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Fuad Arshad Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 11:16 AM To: dofreeman_at_state.pa.us Cc: sbecker6925_at_gmail.com; Patty.Charlebois_at_greenshield.ca; regdba_at_yahoo.com; oracle-l_at_freelists.org; oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org Subject: Re: Anyone Using IBM flash Copy for Database Backups? Oracle dies support this and there is documentation avaiable. Both from Ibm and oracle on how to configure and manage a backup from a flascopy Fuad On Nov 3, 2009, at 9:57 AM, "Freeman, Donald" <dofreeman_at_state.pa.us> wrote: I’m interested in this topic as we have the technology but nobody has really tried it out as a database backup mechanism. I’m a little alarmed about the report of db backups taking twice as long on 11G. I hope/believe that isn’t going to be true. We will begin upgrades here soon. One problem around here is that if Oracle doesn’t support it we would be very reluctant to do it. If we get into a problem with a backup scenario using this technology and it fails Oracle isn’t going to be there to help. Donald Freeman Database Administrator II Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Health Bureau of Information Technology 2150 Herr Street Harrisburg, PA 17103 From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org [mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Sandra Becker Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 10:51 AM To: Patty.Charlebois_at_greenshield.ca Cc: regdba_at_yahoo.com; oracle-l_at_freelists.org; oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org Subject: Re: Anyone Using IBM flash Copy for Database Backups? IBM has been pushing flashcopy for us but so far my sys admins haven't been able to get around to testing it. My questions: Do you use flashcopy for your production backup? If yes, how well does the restore work? What kind of recovery do you have to do? Our "expert" consultant says we have to have a quiet point to do the flashcopy if we want the restore to be successful but he's never tried it. It is rare that we ever have a quiet point in our database--we would have to manufacture one for the length of the flashcopy. How do you know when the flashcopy is complete? How do you know it was successful? Sandy On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 11:27 AM, <Patty.Charlebois_at_greenshield.ca> wrote: We use IBM Flashcopy for several purposes, including the creation of test and reporting databases on a nightly basis. We do this with the production (source) database up so there is actually no production downtime to do the copy. The nightly incremental copy only takes minutes for us to complete for an approximately 1TB source database. Patty
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 08:35:50 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <424552.53449.qm_at_web82105.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Fuad Begin forwarded message: From: "Powell, Mark" <mark.powell2_at_hp.com> Date: November 3, 2009 10:31:55 AM CST To: "fuadar_at_yahoo.com" <fuadar_at_yahoo.com> Subject: RE: Anyone Using IBM flash Copy for Database Backups? I was going to say if IBM Flashcopy uses mirror breaking to perform the backup wasn't the ALTER SYSTEM SUSPEND command added to assist with using mirrors for backups? From 10gR2 SQL manual entry on ALTER SYSYTEM "The SUSPEND clause lets you suspend all I/O (datafile, control file, and file header) as well as queries, in all instances, enabling you to make copies of the database without having to handle ongoing transactions." Suspend, break mirror, Resume so maybe you have a 1 or 2 second freeze. Of course the IBM product may not work this way. I did find the following Oracle support document that may be of interest: Using IBM ESS TotalStorage FlashCopy or Similar for Oracle 10g on AIX #300225.1 HTH From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org [mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Fuad Arshad Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 11:16 AM To: dofreeman_at_state.pa.us Cc: sbecker6925_at_gmail.com; Patty.Charlebois_at_greenshield.ca; regdba_at_yahoo.com; oracle-l_at_freelists.org; oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org Subject: Re: Anyone Using IBM flash Copy for Database Backups? Oracle dies support this and there is documentation avaiable. Both from Ibm and oracle on how to configure and manage a backup from a flascopy Fuad On Nov 3, 2009, at 9:57 AM, "Freeman, Donald" <dofreeman_at_state.pa.us> wrote: I’m interested in this topic as we have the technology but nobody has really tried it out as a database backup mechanism. I’m a little alarmed about the report of db backups taking twice as long on 11G. I hope/believe that isn’t going to be true. We will begin upgrades here soon. One problem around here is that if Oracle doesn’t support it we would be very reluctant to do it. If we get into a problem with a backup scenario using this technology and it fails Oracle isn’t going to be there to help. Donald Freeman Database Administrator II Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Health Bureau of Information Technology 2150 Herr Street Harrisburg, PA 17103 From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org [mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Sandra Becker Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 10:51 AM To: Patty.Charlebois_at_greenshield.ca Cc: regdba_at_yahoo.com; oracle-l_at_freelists.org; oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org Subject: Re: Anyone Using IBM flash Copy for Database Backups? IBM has been pushing flashcopy for us but so far my sys admins haven't been able to get around to testing it. My questions: Do you use flashcopy for your production backup? If yes, how well does the restore work? What kind of recovery do you have to do? Our "expert" consultant says we have to have a quiet point to do the flashcopy if we want the restore to be successful but he's never tried it. It is rare that we ever have a quiet point in our database--we would have to manufacture one for the length of the flashcopy. How do you know when the flashcopy is complete? How do you know it was successful? Sandy On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 11:27 AM, <Patty.Charlebois_at_greenshield.ca> wrote: We use IBM Flashcopy for several purposes, including the creation of test and reporting databases on a nightly basis. We do this with the production (source) database up so there is actually no production downtime to do the copy. The nightly incremental copy only takes minutes for us to complete for an approximately 1TB source database. Patty
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