Problems with Backup and Restoration

Problems might occur when you attempt backup or restoration of an Oracle Java Cloud Service instance.

The following solutions apply to problems with backup and restoration operations for Oracle Java Cloud Service.

Backups are disabled

Oracle Java Cloud Service automatically disables backups for a service instance after three consecutive failures of scheduled backups. If you provided a notification email address when you created the service instance, you will receive an email message after each backup failure, and also after backups are disabled. The email message specifies the cause of the backup failure. To identify the cause of the backup failure by using the REST API, see View the Backup Configuration and View the Status of an Operation by Job Id in REST API for Oracle Java Cloud Service.

The most common cause for a backup failure are invalid storage credentials (see below). After correcting the cause of the backup failure, you can enable backups on the service instance. See Enable or Disable Backups.

Backups fail after changing my Oracle Cloud password

To prevent backup failure after you change your Oracle Cloud password, update the storage credentials in the following locations:

• Configure Backups dialog box, which you invoke from the Backup page in the Oracle Java Cloud Service user interface

  See Configure Scheduled Backups for an Oracle Java Cloud Service Instance.

• Oracle Database Cloud Service deployment

  See Updating the Password for Backing Up to the Storage Cloud in Administering Oracle Database Cloud Service.

The Oracle Traffic Director is not backed up

Typically, this occurs when the traffic director is currently busy serving other requests.

Verify that Oracle Traffic Director is running and in a healthy state, and try the backup operation again.

To check the health of the Oracle Traffic Director:

1. Navigate to the Oracle Java Cloud Service Console.

2. Open the Load Balancer Console for your service.

   1. Click the menu icon for your service instance and choose Open Load Balancer Console.

      A new browser opens and you are redirected to the Load Balancer Console’s log-in page.

      If the server is protected by a self-signed certificate and you have not specified the certificate previously, you will be warned that your connection is not secure.

   2. Accept the certificate.

   3. When the log-in page appears, enter the username and password you provided when you created the service instance.

      The Oracle Traffic Director Administration Console is displayed.

3. On the left panel, select Services.

   The Services page is displayed on the right.

4. Notice the Status, State, and Health of your load balancer. The load balance is up and in good health if:

   • The arrow under Status is green and pointing up

   • The State is Running

   • The Health is OK

   Otherwise, the load balancer is down and the health of the load balancer is not okay.

There is not enough space for my backup

The backup storage area does not have enough space for the backup operation to create the archive. You will receive an error message.

1. Check the Backup page for the amount of space needed. This information is also returned in GET from the /backupconfig endpoint.

2. Log in to the Administration Server VM. See Access a Node with a Secure Shell (SSH).

3. Check the size of the backup mounted directory under /u01/data/backup:

   df -k

4. If there is not enough space for the backup, add more storage.

   See Add Storage to a Node.

The restoration operation fails and generates an error about pre-check failure

Either one or more servers are currently unreachable, or there is not enough space on one of the storage volumes.

To find the reason for the restoration failure:

1. Navigate to the Backup page.

   1. Click the name of the service instance for which you want to find the restoration status information.

      The Oracle Java Cloud Service Instance page is displayed with the Overview tile in focus, displaying detailed information about the service instance.

   2. Click the Administration tile.

      The Oracle Java Cloud Service Instance page is refreshed with the Administration tile in focus.

   3. Click the Backup tab.

      The Backup page is displayed.

2. Locate the icon for the restoration that failed.

3. Click on the date to the right of the icon.

   A pop-up containing the status details is displayed.

If the problem is that a server is unreachable, restart the VM or perform a scale-in operation if it is no longer needed. Try restoring the service again.

If there is not enough space for the backup, you will receive an error message telling you to scale-in the VMs, which were either not backed up or added after the backup operation, or use the force option for restoration.

Do one of the following:

• Scale-in the VMs that were either not backed up or added after the backup operation.

• Try to restore the backup by using the force option.

• Delete any unwanted backups. See Delete a Backup.

• Archive one or more backups to an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Object Storage Classic container. See Move a Backup (Download or Archive) in REST API for Oracle Java Cloud Service.

One of my backups is showing a warning icon

When a scheduled backup is completed, Oracle Java Cloud Service tries to move older backups from block storage and delete older backups from the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Object Storage Classic container.

If Oracle Java Cloud Service cannot move or delete the older backups, the newly completed backup shows a warning icon, thus:

This problem does not affect the newly completed backup. However, the presence of the older backups may cause future backups to fail because of insufficient space.

To prevent such failures, ensure that Oracle Java Cloud Service can remove the older backups when the next scheduled backup is completed:

1. To find out why Oracle Java Cloud Service could not move or remove the backups, place the cursor over the icon.

   A text rollover appears that contains detailed information about why Oracle Java Cloud Service could not move or remove the backups.

2. Correct the problem that prevented Oracle Java Cloud Service from moving or removing the backups.

   For example, to correct an access permission problem, ensure that the user name and password for the administrator of the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Object Storage Classic container are correct. If necessary, change them as explained in Configure Scheduled Backups for an Oracle Java Cloud Service Instance.

3. When the next scheduled backup is completed, determine whether it shows the icon for a successful backup, thus:
   

   • If so, no further action is required.

   • If the next scheduled backup also shows the warning icon, contact Oracle Support Services.