Re: Backup/Recovery Question

Unfortuntely this mode of operation is typical - for shops that want to do backup and have no plans to do recovery. Rule number 1 in Backup/Recovery strastegies is to test the recovery - to determine where holes may exist and also to gain experience so that when crisis hits you can handle it with the bosses breathing over your neck.

The best single suggestion I can make for this (aside from don't do this particular scenario - it won't work) is to read Oracle's Backup & Recovery document and make decisions based on the information there. There is no single right solution for B&R, it depends entirely on your circumstances. If your distribution doesn't include the Backup & Recovery manual, check out the documentation on http://technet.oracle.com

For a truly 24x7 shop, consider Oracle9i and Real Application Clusters or at least Data Guard and standby databases - you can take a good backup from the standby.

/Hans

Sybrand Bakker wrote:

> "Buck Turgidson" <jc_va_at_hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:f98999c8.0111020523.15b23b19_at_posting.google.com...
> > Our DBA's are using various backup/recovery strategies, but one is the
> > following:
> >
> > A complete server (HP Unix) backup is done, including OS, and all
> > relevant Oracle files. Basically, it is a complete volume backup of
> > the server. On one of the volumes is a nightly export file of the
> > database.
> >
> > The database itself is used 24/7, and is always in a state of flux.
> > And it is not taken offline during the server backup.
> >
> > If we had to restore to another server in a disaster, it sounds to me
> > like all the SCN's in the files, versus the control file would be out
> > of sync, and there'd be problems.
> >
> > But would it be enough for them to get back and running if they used
> > the Oracle OS files, and overlaid the Oracle export on top of them? I
> > would imagine they could get the database to a mount state, but
> > probably not open it, prior to starting the import.
> >
> > Thanks for any replies.
> >
> > Buck
>
> This is not going to work.
> Think of it: the O/S backup you have is inconsistent, as it will not backup
> all database files simultaneously.
> The export again is taken on a different moment, so no consistency with the
> backup. How would you think importing that file would reconcile these
> differences.
> In short: the O/S backup you have is useless and the only recovery mechanism
> you have is the full database export. Hence, you will loose transactions,
> which is IMO inexcusable in a 7x24 documentation.
>
> Oracle and third parties have sufficiently documented backup and recovery
> and all possible disaster scenarios. Yet there are still people who think
> they can get away with a full database export in a 7x24 environment. My last
> site was such a shop.
>
> You're up for disaster and you know it.
>
> Regards
>
> --
> Sybrand Bakker
> Senior Oracle DBA
>
> to reply remove '-verwijderdit' from my e-mail address
Received on Thu Nov 15 2001 - 17:41:55 CST