This chapter provides a brief tour of the interfaces that you can use with Oracle Secure Backup. You will need to use one or more of the interfaces when you configure and manage your administrative domain. This chapter contains the following topics:
See Also:
Oracle Secure Backup Reference for a description of obtool
commands
Chapter 12, "Using obtar" to learn how to use the obtar
command-line interface, which is intended for advanced users only
Before you begin using Oracle Secure Backup, ensure that:
Oracle Secure Backup is installed on each UNIX and Windows computer in your administrative domain. The Oracle Backup Installation Guide describes how to perform installation.
On UNIX systems, the Oracle Secure Backup service daemon observiced
is running. On Windows systems, the Oracle Secure Backup service
is running.
On your administrative server, the Apache Web server is running. The Web server, which is started behind the scenes during Oracle Secure Backup installation, enables you to use the Oracle Secure Backup Web tool.
The Web tool is the browser-based interface to Oracle Secure Backup. You can use the Web tool to configure the administrative domain, perform file system backup and restore operations, browse and manage backup data, and monitor operations.
Oracle Secure Backup invokes the Apache Web server, which runs behind the scenes when Oracle Secure Backup is started on the administrative server, to launch the Web tool. As explained in "Web Server Authentication", you can access the Web tool from any supported browser that can connect to the server through SSL (see Oracle Secure Backup Readme for a list of supported Web browsers).
This section contains the following topics:
This section explains how to log in to the Oracle Secure Backup administrative domain through a Web browser.
Follow these steps:
Launch your Web browser and supply the URL of the host running Oracle Secure Backup. Use the following syntax, where hostname can be a fully qualified domain name:
https://hostname
For example, you might invoke the following URL:
https://patti.oracle.com
The Security Alert box warns that the certificate is not trusted, but it is not necessary to view the certificate and make any configuration changes.
Oracle Secure Backup installs a self-signed certificate for the Apache Web server. The Web server requires a signed certificate for data encryption purposes. The Security Alert box is displayed because the signer of the certificate is not trusted, that is, the browser does not recognize the signer as a registered Certificate Authority (CA). This alert does not mean that your data is not encrypted, only that the CA is not recognized.
Click Yes to continue.
The Oracle Secure Backup Login page appears.
Enter an Oracle Secure Backup username in the User Name box and a password in the Password box.
Log in as the admin
user if you are logging into Oracle Secure Backup for the first time. You can create additional users after you log in.
Click the Login button. The Oracle Secure Backup Home page appears.
The Home, Configure, Manage, Backup, and Restore tabs are explained in detail in the following sections.
After you log in to the Oracle Secure Backup Web tool interface, the Oracle Secure Backup Home page appears. Figure 3-1 shows an example of the Home page.
The purpose of this page is to provide a snapshot of the current status of Oracle Secure Backup jobs and devices. As such, the page presents important summary information to administrators and users.
The main page includes the schedule times and status of recent jobs as well as job IDs, job type, and job level. Oracle Secure Backup provides a link for failed jobs, alerting users and administrators to potential trouble spots.
The Devices link lists the devices associated with each job along with information concerning device type, device name, and status. This page provides you with an overall picture of the various backup or restore processes that are going on.
Note:
A status of "device not in use" means that the device is present but is not currently being utilized for backup or restore operations.A menu bar at the top of the Oracle Secure Backup Home page enables you to select among the Configure, Manage, Backup, and Restore tabs.
Note:
When using the Web tool, make sure that your browser is configured to reload the page every time it is viewed. Otherwise, the browser may display stale information. For example, changes made inobtool
may not be visible in the browser.Click the Configure tab from the menu bar to display configuration options. Figure 3-2 shows an example of the Configure page.
The Configure page is divided into two main sections:
This section provides the following links:
Users
Click this link to configure one or more user accounts for logging into and employing Oracle Secure Backup.
Hosts
Click this link to configure one or more hosts. A host is a machine that participates in the Oracle Secure Backup administrative domain
Devices
Click this link to configure devices for use with Oracle Secure Backup. A device is a tape drive or library identified by a user-defined name.
Media Families
Click this link to configure media families. A media family is a named classification of backup volumes. A volume is a single unit of media, such as an 8mm tape.
Database Backup Storage Selectors
Click this link to configure one or more devices and media families for use during Oracle database backup and restore operations.
This section provides the following links:
Classes
Click this link to configure classes. A class defines a set of rights that are granted to a user. A class can apply to multiple users; however, each user is assigned to exactly one class.
Job Summaries
Click this link to create a job summary schedule for generation of job summaries for email distribution. A job summary is a generated text file report that tells you whether a backup operation was successful. Oracle Secure Backup can generate and email job summaries detailing the status of scheduled backups.
Defaults and Policies
Click this link to edit defaults and policies. Defaults and policies are a set of configuration data that control how Oracle Secure Backup runs throughout an administrative domain.
Click the Manage tab to display management options. Figure 3-3 shows an example of the Manage page.
The Manage page is divided into two main sections:
This section includes the following links:
Drives
Click this link to determine the status of a volume or device or mount or unmount a volume.
Libraries
Click this link to view and control libraries.
Device Reservations
Click this link to reserve and unreserve devices for private use.
This section includes the following links:
Jobs
Click this link to manage jobs in an administrative domain. You can view the status of backup and restore jobs.
Volumes
Click this link to filter and then view all volumes in the catalog. You can filter the results to scale down your search. A volume is a single unit of media, such as 8mm tape. A volume can contain one or more backup images.
Backup Images
Click this link to manage backup images. A backup image is the work product of a single backup operation.
Backup Sections
Click this link to view and remove backup sections. A backup section is that part of a backup image that occupies one physical volume.
Checkpoints
Click this link to list and delete checkpoints describing certain in-progress, failed, and completed NDMP backups.
Daemons
Click this link to manage daemons and control and view daemon properties.
Click the Backup tab to display backup image options. Figure 3-2 shows a sample page.
The Backup page is divided into two main sections:
This section includes the Backup Now link. Click this link to perform one-time backups of data described by existing dataset files.
This section includes the following links:
Datasets
Click this link to configure dataset files. A dataset file describes the data that you want to back up.
Schedules
Click this link to configure a backup schedule. The backup schedule describes the frequency with which a backup runs.
Backup Windows
Click this link to configure backup windows. A backup window is a time range for the execution of scheduled backups.
Click the Restore tab to display restore options. Figure 3-5 shows a sample page.
The Operations section includes the following links:
Backup Catalog
Click this link to browse data associated with backup and restore operations.
Directly from Media
Click this link to perform raw restores, which require prior knowledge of the names of the file system objects you want to restore. You must also know the volume IDs and the file numbers on which the volumes are stored.
The top and bottom panels of the Home page, and every page of the Web tool interface, have the following persistent links:
Click Help to display this manual in PDF form.
Click Logout to log out of Oracle Secure Backup and return to the Oracle Secure Backup Login page. Oracle Secure Backup clears your user name and password cookies from the Web browser that you are using.
Click Preferences to go to the Preference page. In this page you can select settings for the following options:
Extended command output
Click this button to specify that Oracle Secure Backup should display a section with the commands that enable the Web tool to build its pages.
The Web tool makes calls into obtool
, the underlying Oracle Secure Backup command line engine. If you select On, then directory paths and command line entries for obtool
executables are displayed at the bottom of each page. Select Off to hide the display of command output.
Background timeout
Enter a value in this box to set the maximum idle time for obtool
background processes.
Operations such as catalog browsing, data restore operations, and on-demand backups require Oracle Secure Backup to create a background obtool
process to retain state information too complex to represent in a browser cookie. The background timeout value identifies the maximum idle time of these background process. When a background process exceeds this idle time limit, it exits gracefully and the associated user's browser state is lost. The default is 24 hours.
Select table size
Enter a value in this box to set the size (in number of rows) of the display window of the Web tool interface. The default is 8 rows.
Inactivity logout
Enter a time period. If the user does not use the Web tool within this time frame, then the browser will automatically refresh the user to the login page. The default is 30 minutes.
The bottom panel of every page of the Web tool has a link to information about the Oracle Secure Backup product, including release date, system information, administrative server, and IP address.
This section explains how to use obtool
, which is the primary command-line interface to Oracle Secure Backup. The obtool
executable is located in the bin
subdirectory of the Oracle Secure Backup home. You can start obtool
on any host in the administrative domain, log in to the domain as an Oracle Secure Backup user, and issue commands.
This section contains the following topics:
Assuming that the bin
subdirectory of the Oracle Secure Backup home is in your system path, you can obtain online help about obtool
invocation options by running the following command at the operating system prompt:
% obtool help invocation
The obtool
utility displays the following output:
obtool invocation: Usage: To enter interactive mode: obtool [<cl-option>]... Usage: To execute one command and exit: obtool [<cl-option>]... <command> [<option>]... [<argument>]... Usage: To display program version number and exit: obtool --version/-V Usage: To create a new administrative domain with this machine acting as the administrative server: obtool --initnewdomain [--adminpassword/-A passwd] [--force] [--nullpassword/-N] [--verbose/-v]
The following sections explain the obtool
invocation options in more detail.
To use obtool
in interactive mode, enter obtool
at the operating system command line once:
% obtool
After a successful login to obtool
, the following prompt is displayed:
ob>
The first time you invoke the obtool
utility, you are required to establish your identity as an Oracle Secure Backup user. If you have not yet established a user identity, then obtool
prompts you for a user name and password, as shown in the following example:
% obtool Oracle Secure Backup 10.1 login:
The Oracle Secure Backup installation script creates the admin
user automatically and requires you to create a password. You can enter the admin
credentials when you log in to Oracle Secure Backup for the first time.
You can enter the commands described in Oracle Secure Backup Reference at the obtool
prompt. For example, you can enter the lshost
command to display the hosts in your administrative domain (sample output included):
ob> lshost brhost2 client (via OB) in service brhost3 mediaserver,client (via OB) in service br_filer client (via NDMP) in service stadv07 admin,mediaserver,client (via OB) in service
In general, this manual describes how to use the Web tool rather than obtool
to perform administrative tasks. You can click Preferences at the top of any Web tool page and enable Extended command output. Whenever you perform a task in the Web tool, the Extended Command Output section at the bottom of the page shows the underlying obtool
commands used to perform the task.
In interactive mode, you can redirect input to a script containing multiple obtool
commands. This technique is useful if you need to run the same series of obtool
commands on a regular basis. The syntax is as follows, where pathname is the path name of a file containing obtool
commands:
ob> < pathname
For example, you can create a file called hosts.txt
with the following content:
lshost --long lsdev --long
You can redirect the obtool
input to this script as follows:
ob> < /home/hosts.txt
To execute commands in obtool
noninteractively, use the following syntax:
obtool [ cl-option ]... command-name [ option ]... [ argument ]...
The following example executes the obtool
lshost
command and then returns to the operating system prompt:
% obtool lshost brhost2 client (via OB) in service brhost3 mediaserver,client (via OB) in service br_filer client (via NDMP) in service stadv07 admin,mediaserver,client (via OB) in service %
You can also redirect input to obtool
when in noninteractive mode. For example, you can create a file called hosts.txt
with the following content:
lshost --long lsdev --long
You can redirect the obtool
input to this script as follows at the system prompt:
% obtool < /home/hosts.txt
When you run installob
and specify a host as the administrative server, Oracle Secure Backup implicitly initializes the administrative domain. Initializing the domain assigns the host the role of administrative server within the administrative domain.
In some circumstances, you may need to initialize a new domain or reinitialize an old domain. You can use the following syntax to establish the local host as the administrative server for a new Oracle Secure Backup administrative domain:
obtool --initnewdomain [--adminpassword/-A passwd] [--force] [--nullpassword/-N] [--verbose/-v]
If the local host is already established as an administrative server, then specifying --force
causes the host to reinitialize itself. The --force
option is useful when you have forgotten your password.
You can use Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g (10.2) to use the Oracle Secure Backup SBT interface for database backup and restore operations. You cannot use Enterprise Manager to perform file system backup and restore operations, although Enterprise Manager includes a link to the Web tool. In general, you should use Enterprise Manager only for database-related tasks.
This section contains the following topics:
You can make RMAN backups to the Oracle Secure Backup SBT interface by using Enterprise Manager Database Control or Grid Control. As explained in "Interfaces for Managing Database Backup and Recovery", the Database Control console must run on the administrative server and can only back up an Oracle database running on the administrative server. You can run the Grid Control console on any database host in the administrative domain and use it to back up any database in the domain. This section describes how to get started with the Database Control console.
To use Enterprise Manager to manage your backups, you need to make Enterprise Manager aware of your administrative server. As explained in "Administrative Domains", the administrative server stores the configuration data and catalog for the administrative domain.
Note:
This section assumes that you are familiar with Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control and use it to manage backup and recovery. If you need an introduction to using Oracle Enterprise Manager with RMAN, refer to the chapter on backup and recovery in Oracle Database 2 Day DBA.To register the administrative server in Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control:
Log in to the Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control console as a user with database administrator rights.
Navigate to the Oracle Secure Backup section of the Maintenance page. Figure 3-6 shows the relevant section of the Maintenance page.
If you are using releases 10.2.0.1 or 10.2.0.2 of Enterprise Manager Grid Control or release 10.2.0.2 of Enterprise Manager Database Control, then the Maintenance page does not include the Oracle Secure Backup section by default. In this case, proceed to the next step to make the links active; otherwise, skip the following step and proceed directly to Step 4.
If (and only if) the Oracle Secure Backup section does not appear in the Maintenance page, then perform the following steps:
Navigate to the ORACLE_HOME
/
hostname_SID
/sysman/config
directory and open the emoms.properties
file in a text editor.
Set osb_enabled=true
and save the file.
Stop the Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control console as follows:
emctl stop dbconsole
Restart the Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control console as follows:
emctl start dbconsole
Navigate to the Maintenance page and confirm that the Oracle Secure Backup section is shown.
Click Oracle Secure Backup Device and Media.
The Add Administrative Server page appears.
Log in to your Oracle Secure Backup administrative domain as follows:
In the Oracle Secure Backup Home box, enter the Oracle Secure Backup home directory, which is directory in which you installed Oracle Secure Backup. Typically, this directory is /usr/local/oracle/backup
on UNIX and Linux and C:\Program Files\Oracle\Backup
on Windows.
In the Username box, enter the name of an Oracle Secure Backup administrative user. For example, enter admin
.
In the Password box, enter the password for the Oracle Secure Backup administrator.
The Host Credentials page appears.
Enter the username and password of the operating system user on the administrative server. This user needs root
privileges.
The Oracle Secure Backup Device and Media: Administrative Server: hostname page appears. You can use this page to load tapes.
After you have registered the administrative server, you are ready to use Enterprise Manager with Oracle Secure Backup. Refer to Chapter 6, "Using Recovery Manager with Oracle Secure Backup" for further instructions.
Enterprise Manager provides the interface for database backup and recovery. To access information relating to file system backups, you must use either obtool
or the Web tool. The Enterprise Manager console provides a link to the Web tool.
To access the Web tool through Enterprise Manager Database Control:
Log in to the Enterprise Manager Database Control as a user with database administrator rights.
Navigate to the Oracle Secure Backup section of the Maintenance page.
Note:
If the Oracle Secure Backup section is not displayed in the Maintenance page, then follow the instructions in Step 3 of the previous section to make the links active.Click File System Backup and Restore.
Enterprise Manager starts the Web tool interface, which is described in "Starting the Web Tool".