This chapter describes the features and hardware components of Oracle's Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance (Recovery Appliance).
This chapter contains these sections:
Recovery Appliance is a backup and recovery solution that is specifically engineered to protect your Oracle Database data. It offers a massively scalable repository that records all delta changes (that is, differences) across hundreds to thousands of databases.
The Database Delta Push technology enables Oracle DBAs to run one full Recovery Manager (RMAN) backup, and thereafter run only incremental backups, from each database to Recovery Appliance. There are no recurring full backups, tape backups, or RMAN backup deletion, validation, and maintenance commands.
In the event of a disaster, DBAs can recover any database to any point in time or within subseconds of the current time. The Database Delta Store virtual full backup technology constructs physical backups from the resident incremental blocks, in response to RMAN database restore requests.
You can easily and quickly replicate backups on a local Recovery Appliance over a secure network to a remote Recovery Appliance for protection against server or site outage. Only the changed blocks are replicated. Virtual full backups on the remote Recovery Appliance are available for database restore operations.
Autonomous tape archives further protect against site disasters. Recovery Appliance automates the copying of virtual full or incremental backups to tape, for long-term retention and archival purposes. Recovery Appliance is preinstalled with tape backup software and support for an optional 16 Gb fiber channel card on each compute server, to connect directly to the tape hardware.
You can manage this entire infrastructure with end-to-end visibility into the status of data protection to ensure that data can be recovered successfully at any time. The primary administrative tools are Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control and the RMAN command interface.
Recovery Appliance consists of compute servers, storage servers, and the network components to connect to your network. Oracle offers a flexible configuration for Recovery Appliance, so that you can acquire the resources that you need, and expand incrementally when you need more. You can configure up to 18 full racks into a single cluster.
Table 1-1 lists the components of a Recovery Appliance X6 rack.
Table 1-1 Components of a Recovery Appliance X6 Rack
Table 1-2 lists the components of a Recovery Appliance X5 rack.
Table 1-2 Components of a Recovery Appliance X5 Rack
Table 1-3 lists the components of a Recovery Appliance X4 rack.
Table 1-3 Components of a Recovery Appliance X4 Rack
Table 1-4 lists the components of an Oracle Server X6-2 compute server.
Table 1-4 Oracle Server X6-2 Components
| Quantity | Description |
|---|---|
|
2 |
22-core Intel Xeon E5-2699 v4 processors (2.2 GHz) |
|
8 |
32 GB RAM (256 GB total) |
|
4 |
600 GB 10K RPM SAS disks |
|
1 |
Disk controller HBA with 1 GB supercap-backed write cache |
|
2 |
InfiniBand 4X QDR (40 Gb/s) ports (1 dual-port PCIe 3.0 Host Channel Adapter (HCA)) |
|
4 |
1 GbE/10GbE Base-T Ethernet ports |
|
2 |
10 GbE Ethernet SFP+ ports (1 dual-port 10GbE PCIe 2.0 network card based on the Intel 82599 10 GbE controller technology) |
|
1 |
Ethernet port for Oracle Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) for remote management |
|
1 |
16 Gb dual-port QLogic PCIe 3.0 HBA card (optional) |
Table 1-5 lists the components of an Oracle Server X5-2 compute server.
Table 1-5 Oracle Server X5-2 Components
| Quantity | Description |
|---|---|
|
2 |
18-core Intel Xeon E5-2699 v3 processors (2.3 GHz) |
|
8 |
32 GB RAM (256 GB total) |
|
4 |
600 GB 10K RPM SAS disks |
|
1 |
Disk controller HBA with 1 GB supercap-backed write cache |
|
2 |
InfiniBand 4X QDR (40 Gb/s) ports (1 dual-port PCIe 3.0 Host Channel Adapter (HCA)) |
|
4 |
1 GbE/10GbE Base-T Ethernet ports |
|
2 |
10 GbE Ethernet SFP+ ports (1 dual-port 10GbE PCIe 2.0 network card based on the Intel 82599 10 GbE controller technology) |
|
1 |
Ethernet port for Oracle Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) for remote management |
|
1 |
16 Gb dual-port QLogic PCIe 3.0 HBA card (optional) |
Table 1-6 lists the components of a Sun Server X4-2 compute server.
Table 1-6 Sun Server X4-2 Components
| Quantity | Description |
|---|---|
|
2 |
12-Core Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2 processors (2.7 GHz) |
|
16 |
16 GB RAM (256 total) |
|
4 |
600 GB 10K RPM SAS disks |
|
1 |
Disk controller HBA with 512 MB battery-backed write cache, and swappable battery backup unit (BBU) |
|
2 |
InfiniBand 4X QDR (40 Gb/s) ports (1 dual-port PCIe 3.0 Host Channel Adapter (HCA)) |
|
4 |
1 GbE/10GbE Base-T Ethernet ports |
|
2 |
10 GbE Ethernet SFP+ ports (1 dual-port 10 GbE PCIe 2.0 network card based on the Intel 82599 10 GbE controller technology) |
|
1 |
Ethernet port for Oracle Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) for remote management |
|
1 |
16 Gb dual-port QLogic PCIe 3.0 HBA card (optional) |
Table 1-7 lists the components of an Oracle Server X6-2L storage server.
Table 1-7 Oracle Server X6-2L Components
| Quantity | Description |
|---|---|
|
2 |
10-core Intel Xeon CPU E5-2630 v4 (2.2 GHz) |
|
8 |
16 GB RAM (128 GB total RAM) |
|
12 |
8 TB 7.2 K RPM High Capacity SAS disks |
|
4 |
3.2 TB non-volatile memory express (NVMe) PCIe 3.0 flash accelerator cards |
|
1 |
Disk controller HBA with 1 GB supercap-backed write cache |
|
2 |
InfiniBand 4X QDR (40 Gb/s) ports (PCIe 3.0), both ports active |
|
4 |
Embedded Gigabit Ethernet ports |
|
1 |
Ethernet port for ILOM for remote management |
Table 1-8 lists the components of an Oracle Server X5-2L storage server.
Table 1-8 Oracle Server X5-2L Components
| Quantity | Description |
|---|---|
|
2 |
8-core Intel Xeon CPU E5-2630 v3 (2.4 GHz) |
|
4 4 |
8 GB RAM 16 GB RAM (96 GB total RAM) |
|
12 |
4 TB 7.2 K RPM High Capacity SAS disks |
|
4 |
1.6 TB non-volatile memory express (NVMe) PCIe 3.0 flash accelerator cards |
|
1 |
Disk controller HBA with 1 GB supercap-backed write cache |
|
2 |
InfiniBand 4X QDR (40 Gb/s) ports (1 dual-port PCIe 3.0 Host Channel Adapter (HCA)) |
|
4 |
Embedded Gigabit Ethernet ports |
|
1 |
Ethernet port for ILOM for remote management |
Table 1-9 lists the components of a Sun Server X4-2L storage server.
Table 1-9 Sun Server X4-2L Components
| Quantity | Description |
|---|---|
|
2 |
Six-core Intel Xeon E5-2630 v2 processors (2.6 GHz) |
|
4 4 |
8 GB RAM 16 GB RAM (96 GB total RAM) |
|
12 |
4 TB 7.2K RPM High Capacity SAS disks |
|
4 |
800 GB Sun Flash Accelerator F80 PCIe Cards |
|
1 |
Disk controller HBA with 512 MB battery-backed write cache and swappable BBU |
|
2 |
InfiniBand 4 X QDR (40 Gb/s) InfiniBand ports (1 dual-port PCIe 3.0 Host Channel Adapter (HCA)) |
|
4 |
Embedded Gigabit Ethernet ports |
|
1 |
Ethernet port for ILOM for remote management |
The spares kit for Recovery Appliance X6 has the following components:
1 x 8 TB 7.2K RPM high capacity SAS disk
1 x flash accelerator F320 PCIe card for high capacity storage servers only
Tools for the rack
Cisco accessory adapter and documentation ship kit
Server documentation
The spares kit for Recovery Appliance X5 has the following components:
1 x 4 TB 7.2K RPM high capacity SAS disk
1 x flash accelerator F160 PCIe card for high capacity storage servers only
Tools for the rack
Cisco accessory adapter and documentation ship kit
Server documentation
The spares kit for Recovery Appliance X4 has the following components:
1 x 4 TB 7.2K RPM high capacity SAS disk
1 x 800 GB Exadata Smart Flash Cache card
Tools for the rack
Cisco accessory adapter and documentation ship kit
Server documentation
These spare cables are tied inside the Recovery Appliance rack:
1 or 2 (depending on rack size) 3m InfiniBand cables
1 blue Ethernet cable
1 red Ethernet cable
1 black Ethernet cable
Two sets of two keys are provided for the rack door and side panel locks.
Tape backup is an optional feature. You can choose between Oracle and third-party tape systems.
Oracle's Recovery Appliance supports the installation and configuration of Oracle tape systems. You can connect Recovery Appliance to the storage area network (SAN) in your data center for backups to an Oracle tape system.
Recovery Appliance is engineered to work with industry leading tape infrastructure components, including those described in Table 1-10.
Table 1-10 Oracle Tape System Components
| Component | Models | Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
Oracle Tape Libraries |
SL150, SL3000, SL8500 |
ACSLS, ACSLS Logical Libraries, FC-SCSI |
|
Oracle Tape Drives |
T10000D, T10000C, LTO |
All interfaces supported by the recommended Oracle libraries |
|
Automated Cartridge System Library Software (ACSLS) |
Automated Cartridge System Library Software (ACSLS) 8.x |
API, Logical Libraries |
|
Tape Encryption |
Oracle Key Manager (OKM) 2.3 |
Recommended Key Management for enterprise key management. Operates seamlessly with Recovery Appliance |
Recovery Appliance supports Oracle Secure Backup tape management software out of the box. It provides the following benefits:
Oracle Secure Backup is deployed and configured as part of the Recovery Appliance software installation.
Upgrades are included with Recovery Appliance software upgrades.
Tape backups automatically protect the Recovery Appliance metadata.
Oracle Secure Backup provides disaster recovery automation from tape.
Oracle Secure Backup copies data from its storage location directly to tape.
Oracle Secure Backup provides superior local tape performance by using only the InfiniBand and fiber channel networks. Tape backups do not impact your IP network.
Out of the box, Recovery Appliance supports the use of any third-party (non Oracle) media management software that is compatible with the Recovery Appliance.
You can install the client software component of a third-party media management product, such as Symantec NetBackup or HP Data Protector, on the compute servers. You can then configure Recovery Appliance as a client over the 10 GbE network.
Under the terms of the Recovery Appliance license, you may not install the media manager server component because only Oracle Secure Backup can back up Recovery Appliance to the tape devices directly (or via SAN) attached to the fibre channel interfaces of the compute nodes. Any non Oracle media manager software must be configured only as a network client.
Note the following:
Recovery Appliance software upgrades might not preserve the client software or its configuration.
Third-party media managers do not provide Recovery Appliance metadata protection support.
If you configure third-party media managers with Recovery Appliance, carefully validate your configuration to ensure that backups and restores work as expected and leverage all nodes in the Recovery Appliance RAC cluster.
The following restrictions apply to software and hardware modifications to Recovery Appliance. Violating these restrictions can result in loss of warranty and support.
Customers may not modify any internal software component or configuration on a Recovery Appliance compute server except as indicated in a My Oracle Support note or as explicitly directed by an Oracle support analyst. This includes actions such as modifying or adding listeners to the internal database, modifying the operating system or network configuration files, installing custom scripts, creating NFS mounts for any purpose except for polling a backup location, and creating additional database instances.
Although Oracle discourages installation of third-party software products on the appliance, customers may install them under the conditions stated in My Oracle Support note 2014361.1.
Customers may install the client software component of a third-party media management product in "LAN backup agent" mode on the compute servers. Customers may not install the media manager server software component, because only Oracle Secure Backup supports Recovery Appliance backups to tape over fibre channel connections.
Customers may not load additional software or alter the installed software on a storage server.
Customers may not install Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center agents. However, Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Management agents can be installed on the compute servers to monitor the system, as part of the Recovery Appliance software installation process.
Recovery Appliance hardware cannot be modified or customized. There are two exceptions. The allowed hardware modifications to Recovery Appliance are as follows:
Modification to the administrative 48-port Cisco Gigabit Ethernet switch included with Recovery Appliance. Customers may choose to do the following:
Replace the Gigabit Ethernet switch, at their own expense, with an equivalent 1U 48-port Gigabit Ethernet switch that conforms to their internal data center network standards. This replacement must be performed by the customer, at their expense and labor, after delivery of Recovery Appliance. If the customer chooses to make this change, then Oracle cannot make or assist with this change given the numerous possible scenarios involved, and it is not included as part of the standard installation. The customer must supply the replacement hardware, and make or arrange for this change through other means.
Remove the CAT5 cables connected to the Cisco Ethernet switch, and connect them to the customer's network through an external switch or patch panel. The customer must perform these changes at their expense and labor. In this case, the Cisco Ethernet switch in the rack can be turned off and disconnected from the data center network.
Addition of client access network switches in Recovery Appliance. The following restrictions apply for the network switches:
A maximum of two client access network switches may be installed in the rack.
The switch must be 1 rack unit (RU) in height.
Air flow must go from the front of the rack to the back of the rack.
The switch must be installed in rack slot U41 or U42.
Power consumption must be less than 400 watts for each switch.
Power over Ethernet (PoE) functionality, if applicable, should not be used on these switches.
Customers can update the firmware of the other components.
Customers can update the IOS and firmware versions on the Cisco Gigabit Ethernet switch to meet their data center requirements.
Customers can update the firmware of the components of the compute servers only by applying a patch bundle provided by Oracle.
Customers can update the firmware of the InfiniBand switches provided they comply with the validated versions documented in My Oracle Support note 1927416.1, and its related notes.
Customers cannot connect USB devices that draw more than 100 mA of power to the compute servers.