Re: backup software for oracle

From: John P. Higgins <jh33378_at_deere.com>
Date: Wed, 04 Nov 1998 20:35:20 -0600
Message-ID: <36410EE8.51D84A58@deere.com>

We have the same situation, a room full of Oracle servers and a central tape library.

We use NetBackup from Veritas. It works with  Oracle's backup products OEBU and RMAN).

We installed Veritas client software on each Oracle server and Veritas server software on the tape library controller. Oracle's backup product uses a standard API to communicate with Veritas. Legato uses the same API.

Get out of the mode of thinking export is a backup! If (when) your database crashes, the only thing you can do with an export is to recreate your database as of the time of the export! Your users lose all the work they committed since the export. You cannot use the logs (even archived logs) to roll forward from an import.

With a true backup strategy, you can use your backups (database file copies) and your logs to roll forward up to and including the last transaction committed before the crash. Legato and Veritas both implement a true backup strategy.

Legato and Veritas all both capable of either hot or cold backups. If you cannot afford to be down for backups, hot backups are required. Hot backups mandate that logs be archived.

Cold backups do not require log archiving. BUT, if you need to roll forward to the current transaction after a crash, you must insure that the logs are still available. In Oracle, that is called archiving.

Steven Sakata wrote:

I'm a newbie to Oracle Databases, so hopefully this makes sense.

We currently have multiple Oracle Database Servers and we back up the databases
to a local tape drive on each system.  We just purchased a DLT tape library and
we want to centralize the backups to the system attached to this library.
We're in the process of looking for a good backup software that will work with
this library (e.g., Legato and Cheyenne's products).  Can anyone make any
suggestions/recommendations.

One of my main concerns is that we currently use Oracle's "export" utility to
perform the backups.  If we get Legato or Cheyenne's product, would it invoke
the "export" utility, or does it have it's own programs that will correctly
backup the database.

Note, the databases are on "raw" disks and not a ufs file system.  The OS is
Solaris 2.6.

Thanks, Steven.

  Received on Wed Nov 04 1998 - 20:35:20 CST