Re: RMAN Confusion
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2015 09:57:31 -0500
Message-ID: <CAEueRAWeTC+xxjZCp6c8AvhB0C-8Eb4Q+hodCk+modK1fmb4Mg_at_mail.gmail.com>
Oracle also has lots of free hands-on tutorials in their Learning Library. https://apexapps.oracle.com/pls/apex/f?p=44785:2:::NO:::
Seth Miller
On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 7:14 AM, Andrew Kerber <andrew.kerber_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> Great advice. If classes are not an option, books and lots of practice is
> the best you can do.
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Jun 3, 2015, at 5:50 AM, Stefan Knecht <knecht.stefan_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>
> What I would do is get a VM ( or Oracle Virtualbox, which is free) up and
> running with an Oracle database on it, and toy around with it. Once it's up
> and running, create a snapshot so you can just revert if you mess it up, or
> rather when you mess it up because you most certainly will :) (which is
> kind of the point of the whole thing and it's how you learn the most). If
> your workstation / laptop has a couple GB of RAM it'll run. It won't
> perform stellar, but it doesn't need to. It will serve just fine to toy
> around with backup and recovery.
>
> Having solid fundamentals on the subject is key to being able to even
> begin to think about a BR strategy. The best way to learn is by just doing
> it. But doing it somewhere where no harm can be done. I'm sure if during
> your testing you hit a specific error or problem that the list will be glad
> to help. I'd build a list of various scenarios to play through, such as
> "what if I loose my controlfiles?" "What if I loose one datafile?" "What if
> I have corrupt data blocks?" etc etc..
>
> Plus, if you really want to rely on USB media to store your backup, what
> you want to look into sooner rather than later is the RMAN validate
> functionality, and you want to test your backups / restores more often
> than not. But if the data in this database is of any importance, investing
> a little bit of money in proper storage (it doesn't need to be huge from
> the sound of it) would seem the better strategy.
>
> Regarding the pictures - if they're on the OS, you can't back them up with
> RMAN. Only data that's actually stored within the database can be backed up
> with RMAN - so the pictures would have to be stored as BLOB or intermedia
> (or Multimedia as it's called in newer versions ) data types. If you're
> stuck with them on the filesystem you need to back them up using the same
> software you're backing up your OS with. But in doing that you'll loose the
> transactional link between your data inside the database and the pictures.
> If you want to retain that link, the only way to do so reliably is by
> storing the pictures in the database itself.
>
> Stefan
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 10:23 AM, Ed Hoeffner <hoeff001_at_umn.edu> wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank you all for the info. While a class would be preferred, that is,
>> unfortunately, not in the cards. However, having a recommended author is
>> invaluable and is the way I’m going to have to go. As Ronan said, it is my
>> butt (and more) on the line but there are limitations to what I can do.
>>
>>
>>
>> The responses received were about what I expected as I knew this isn’t
>> simple. I would argue this is more like “I have a really great car. How do
>> I fix it?” Hopefully, Darl Kuhn is the Chilton of the RMAN world.
>>
>>
>>
>> As for the USB warning, all I can say is thanks Seth. I’m fairly sure I
>> wouldn’t get info like that anywhere else. I’m not sure how I’m going to
>> deal with that, but forewarned is forearmed.
>>
>>
>>
>> Anyway, thanks for the help. I’ve some more reading to do…
>>
>>
>>
>> Ed
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* Seth Miller [mailto:sethmiller.sm_at_gmail.com]
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, June 02, 2015 2:30 PM
>> *To:* Ronan Merrick
>> *Cc:* MARK BRINSMEAD; hoeff001_at_umn.edu; oracle-l; Andrew Kerber
>> *Subject:* Re: RMAN Confusion
>>
>>
>>
>> Ed,
>>
>>
>>
>> Just as a word of caution, using USB drives on Windows as your RMAN
>> backup destination is very risky. Although, I'm sure others have figured it
>> out, every customer I have worked with that was using USB drives as their
>> RMAN backup destination in Windows has had corrupt backups, either
>> sporadically or entirely.
>>
>>
>>
>> Seth Miller
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 2:48 AM, Ronan Merrick <merrickronan1_at_gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Ed,
>>
>> As Mark and Andrew have said you really should think about getting some
>> help or training if possible. If anything happens it will be your ass on
>> the line. You may succeed in getting the backups up and running but
>> recovering the database is a whole other story. Darl Kuhns RMAN recipe book
>> helped me a lot at the start.
>>
>> Ronan
>>
>> On 2 Jun 2015 05:47, "MARK BRINSMEAD" <mark.brinsmead_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> This sounds like pretty good advice, Andrew. The OP might also want to
>> think about hiring a consultant -- maybe a business consultant -- to help
>> work out both the *goals* of a business continuance plan and the *implementation
>> *of one.
>>
>> So far, the original question sounds a lot like "I would like to build
>> my own automobile. I have been told that steel is a good material, but I
>> don't know much about it and I don't yet know where to obtain any. Can you
>> help..."
>>
>> The fact of the matter here is that I *can* help in this case, as --
>> most likely -- can most of the other people frequenting this list. But the
>> question is far too broad and the subject far too complex to even attempt
>> to address by e-mail. Of course, even if I could, I probably wouldn't,
>> since answering questions like this is how I normally earn my living. :-)
>>
>> Ed, you might find it helpful to look over the backup and recovery
>> "concepts" manual. After you have read this, you will probably have most
>> of the knowledge that the reference manual assumes you to have. Taking a 3
>> day course is probably a good idea, though, anyway.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 1, 2015 at 11:03 PM, Andrew Kerber <andrew.kerber_at_gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> In your case, my best advice is to take one of the 3 day oracle backup
>> and recovery courses. You will really need a better understanding than we
>> can give just by answering your questions here. Once you take the course,
>> build your own instances and experiment.
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>>
>> On Jun 1, 2015, at 9:36 PM, Ed Hoeffner <hoeff001_at_umn.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Hi
>>
>>
>>
>> I’m trying to develop DR plans for an application we run that’s built on
>> top of Oracle. According to what I’ve read, RMAN is the recommendation.
>> After going through the RMAN docs a couple of times, I still feel I don’t
>> know enough to actually make a plan to depend on, so I’m hoping someone can
>> put me on the right path without too much bother.
>>
>>
>>
>> The app is not very busy by any standards that might come up here. It
>> supports a liquid handling system that mixes a bunch of solutions together
>> and then periodically over the next month or so takes pictures. The DB is
>> used to keep track of all that from entry to exit from the system. The
>> pictures are stored as a filename, so the picture files themselves also
>> have to be backed up. At the moment, the plan is run RMAN incrementals
>> daily from the AT queue to a USB disk. The picture files should be
>> discoverable through some SQL, though I can envision a way to find them
>> with a shell script (ugh!).
>>
>>
>>
>> I think I want to use a catalog because the changes are kept in the
>> recovery area. I’m confused between archive-redo logs, control files, the
>> catalog, snapshot files, the RMAN copy command, and what constitutes all
>> the info necessary for the backup to be able to be restored. The manual
>> feels like it assumes I know way more than I do, so I don’t feel I know
>> enough to make the decisions here. Would someone please let me know what is
>> really necessary? Is a catalog really the best way to go?
>>
>>
>>
>> The manual talks about RMAN not being able to work across platforms, but
>> I can’t seem to find the definition of a platform. Since this is on Server
>> 2003, it’s going to be wiped and reloaded (probably 2008 – 32 bit), so I’m
>> hoping I can use this to restore the data once that happens. Will that work?
>>
>>
>>
>> In trying to make the initial backup in preparation for turning the
>> archive log on, the shutdown immediate command (wouldn’t transactional be
>> better?) works great, but startup mount (as told in the manual) fails with
>> error ORA-12505 TNS: Listener could not resolve SID given in connect
>> descriptor, so it takes a reboot to get everything back in line. Somewhere
>> in the myriad readings I ran into this, but I can no longer find the
>> answer. How do I bring it up correctly without having to reboot?
>>
>>
>>
>> Is there any way to create something to test with? I only have one shot
>> at this and would really like to get some experience under my belt before I
>> need it.
>>
>>
>>
>> Many thanks!!!
>>
>>
>>
>> Ed Hoeffner
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
-- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-lReceived on Wed Jun 03 2015 - 16:57:31 CEST