| Oracle® Application Server Administrator's Guide 10g Release 3 (10.1.3.2.0) Part Number B32196-01 |
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View PDF |
| Oracle® Application Server Administrator's Guide 10g Release 3 (10.1.3.2.0) Part Number B32196-01 |
|
|
View PDF |
This chapter provides information on getting started with Oracle Application Server backup and recovery.
It contains the following topics:
This section introduces the philosophy for backing up and recovering your Oracle Application Server environment. An Oracle Application Server environment can consist of different components and configurations. To determine which components and configurations best meet your requirements, refer to the Oracle Application Server Installation Guide and Oracle Application Server Concepts.
A typical Oracle Application Server environment contains one or more middle-tier installations.
The installations in an Oracle Application Server environment are interdependent in that they contain configuration information, applications, and data that are kept in sync. For example, when you perform a configuration change, you might update configuration files in the middle-tier installation; when you deploy an application, you might deploy it to all middle-tier installations.
It is, therefore, important to consider your entire Oracle Application Server environment when performing backup and recovery. You should back up your entire Oracle Application Server environment at once. Then, if a loss occurs, you can restore your entire environment to a consistent state.
The types of files for backup and recovery are:
Oracle software files
These are static files such as binaries and libraries. They reside in the middle-tier Oracle homes. They are created at installation time.
Configuration files
These files contain configuration information and deployed applications. They reside in the middle-tier Oracle homes. They are created at installation or runtime and are updated during the normal operation of your application server. The types configuration files include: Oracle HTTP Server, OC4J, and OPMN.
Oracle system files
These files may be in the /var/opt/oracle or /etc directory, and the oraInventory directory. They exist on each host in your Oracle Application Server environment. They usually reside outside of your Oracle Application Server installations, although the oraInventory directory may be in an Oracle home. They are created and updated by Oracle Universal Installer at installation time and contain information about your installations. On Windows, some registries are created by the installer.
The strategies and procedures in this book involve backing up and recovering these different types of files in a manner that maintains your Oracle Application Server environment in a consistent state.
Note:
Your Oracle Application Server environment contains additional files to those mentioned in this section, such as log files, and additional files you may deploy in the Oracle home, such as static HTML files and CGI scripts. You can add any of these files to the backup list.This section describes the backup strategy used in this book. It contains the following topics:
The Oracle Application Server backup strategy involves two types of backups:
Image Backup
An image backup of an Oracle Application Server instance includes the Oracle home directory for that instance, the OraInventory directory, the oratab file, and Windows registries on that node and finally a cold instance backup of that Oracle Application Server instance. The Oracle home directory contains all the binary files, executables, initialization files, configuration files, log files, and so forth of the Oracle Application Server instance and of all components and deployed applications in that instance. The OraInventory directory contains the installation information for the instance.
Instance Backup
Contains the configuration information of Oracle Application Server components and deployed applications. The OracleAS Recovery Manager backs up all the local copies of the configuration files specified for each configured middle-tier component in its backup input file.
Each Oracle Application Server component has a backup input file which contains a list of all the configuration files that should be backed up for that component. In a backup operation, if a component is installed and configured, the OracleAS Recovery Manager invokes the component's backup input file to determine what files to back up. A component backup input file has the file extension .inp and resides in the Oracle_Home/backup_restore/config directory. Table 15-1 lists the component backup input files that can reside in the directory.
Table 15-1 Oracle Application Server Component Backup Input Files
| Component Name | Backup Input File |
|---|---|
|
Oracle Enterprise Manager |
config_em_files.inp |
|
List of files to be excluded during backup |
config_exclude_files.inp |
|
Oracle Application Server installation information |
config_install_files.inp |
|
Oracle Enterprise Manager Log Loader |
config_logloader_files.inp |
|
Extra miscellaneous files to be backed up |
config_misc_files.inp |
|
Oracle Containers for J2EE applications |
config_oc4j_files.inp |
|
Oracle HTTP Server |
config_ohs_files.inp |
|
Oracle iASPT |
config_iaspt_files.inp |
|
Oracle Java Object Cache |
config_javaobjcache_files.inp |
|
Oracle Portal |
config_portal_files.inp |
|
Oracle Process Management and Notification Server |
config_opmn_files.inp |
|
Oracle WebCenter Framework metadata store |
config_misc_files.inp |
You create a plug-in backup input file as a way to add files to backups after installation. Each plug-in backup input file belongs to an Oracle Application Server component or an Oracle application and contains a list of additional files to be backed up.
The list of files specified by the plug-in backup input file must reside in the local Oracle home directory. The listed files are backed up when you run the backup_config command. Since there may be interdependency between the data in these files and the data in all the other component configuration files, in the same Oracle home, Recovery Manager combines all the files into a single JAR archive file for restore operations. The first file in the plug-in file must be the key file and must be accessible by Recovery Manager. If Recovery Manager fails to locate and back up the first file, the entire backup configuration operation will terminate with a logged error message.
The format of entries in the plug-in backup input file is as follows:
To specify a particular file for backup:
${ORACLE_HOME}/directorypath/filename
To specify a directory:
${ORACLE_HOME}/directorypath
To use wildcards:
${ORACLE_HOME}/directorypath/*.conf
Wildcards cannot be used with the first entry in the plug-in backup input file list of files. The first file must be the key file and must be accessible by Recovery Manager.
After creating a plug-in backup input file, add the file to the Oracle_Home/backup_restore/plugin_config directory. The name of the plug-in backup input file must have the following format:
config_component_name_plugin.inp
Some examples are:
config_rules_plugin.inp config_oc4j_plugin.inp config_ohs1_plugin.inp
Enabling Plug-in Backup Input Files
Before Recovery Manager can backup the files specified in the plug-in backup input file, the plug-in backup input file must be enabled. The command enable_component_inp enables the input file. The following examples show the syntax for the command:
On UNIX:
bkp_restore.sh [-d -s -v] -m enable_component_inp -y "component_name[, component_name]…"
On Windows:
bkp_restore.bat [-d -s -v] -m enable_component_inp -y "component_name[, component_name]…"
For command and syntax information, see Section 16.4.2.
After enabling a plug-in input file, you must perform a new backup configuration operation (backup_config) before performing a restore configuration operation (restore_config).
This section outlines the recommended strategy for performing backups. Using this strategy ensures that you will be able to perform the recovery procedures in this book.
Perform a complete image backup.
Immediately after you install Oracle Application Server, you should perform a complete image backup for each node in your Oracle Application Server environment. This backup contains everything you need in order to restore each node to its initial state. It serves as a baseline for all subsequent runtime backups.
Perform instance backups on a regular basis.
After every administrative change, or, if this is not possible, on a regular basis, perform an instance backup of your Oracle Application Server environment. This enables you to restore your environment to a consistent state as of the time of your most recent configuration and applications backup. To avoid an inconsistent backup, do not make any configuration changes until backup completes for all Oracle Application Server instances.
See Also:
Appendix E, "Examples of Administrative Changes" to learn more about administrative changesAfter a major change, perform a new complete image backup.
If you make a major change to your Oracle Application Server environment, perform a new complete image backup. This backup will serve as the basis for subsequent online backups.
Perform a new complete image backup after:
An operating system software upgrade
An Oracle Application Server software upgrade or patch application
If you decide to back out an upgrade or patch, revert back to your last complete image backup. You can then apply any instance backups that occurred between the software upgrade or patch and the last complete image backup of your Oracle Application Server environment. Restoring an instance backup without restoring the last complete image backup might mix old configuration files with newly upgraded software that might not be compatible.
Perform instance backups on a regular basis.
After you establish a new complete image backup of your Oracle Application Server environment, continue to perform instance backups on a regular basis.
For extensive user customization and personalization of portlets, perform a portlet producer backup.
By doing so, the customization and personalization data, managed and stored by the portlet producer, is backed up. You must run the portlet producer customization and personalization backup utility on the node where the remote portlet producer runs.
There are two types of Oracle Application Server recovery strategies used in this book:
Recovery Strategies for Data Loss, Host Failure, or Media Failure (Critical)
Recovery Strategies for Process Crashes or System Outages (Non-Critical)
Recovery Strategies for Data Loss, Host Failure, or Media Failure (Critical)
These strategies enable you to recover from critical failures that involve actual data loss. Depending on the type of loss, they can involve recovering any combination of the following types of files:
Oracle software files
Configuration files
Oracle system files
In all cases, these strategies involve making sure your state is consistent across all installations.
Recovery Strategies for Process Crashes or System Outages (Non-Critical)
These strategies involve restarting processes that have stopped or failed. They do not involve restoring data. They are included in this book for completeness.
The OracleAS Recovery Manager is an application that you can use to back up and recover configuration files in the middle tier.
The OracleAS Recovery Manager is installed by default whenever you install Oracle Application Server. It is installed in the Oracle_Home/backup_restore directory. See Section 16.2 for instructions on how to install OracleAS Recovery Manager manually.
The following assumptions and restrictions apply to the backup and recovery procedures in this book:
OracleAS Recovery Manager is not backward compatible with previous releases of OracleAS Recovery Manager. Archives, created using previous versions of OracleAS Recovery Manager, are not recoverable by the current version.
The following installation types are supported:
Oracle WebCenter Framework
Oracle WebCenter Framework with Oracle HTTP Server
Oracle HTTP Server
The backup and recovery procedures do not support the Oracle Content Database installation type.
If you are using OracleAS Cold Failover Cluster or Disaster Recovery, refer to the Oracle Application Server High Availability Guide for special considerations.
For this release, you can run Recovery Manager from the command line only.
On Windows, if you want to store backups on a remote file system, you must create a local mapped drive and specify it as the backup storage directory. For example, if Z:\ASbackups is the mapped drive for backups, then configuration files and repository backups should have Z:\ASbackups as their backup directory.
This section provides a roadmap for getting started with Oracle Application Server backup and recovery.
Configure OracleAS Recovery Manager.
Oracle recommends you configure OracleAS Recovery Manager and familiarize yourself with its features.
Implement the backup strategy.
Chapter 17, "Backup Strategy and Procedures" outlines the Oracle-recommended backup strategy and backup procedures. Following this backup strategy ensures that you will be able to perform the recovery procedures in this book.
Recover as necessary.
In the event of system failure or data loss, refer to Chapter 18, "Recovery Strategies and Procedures". It outlines different types of failures and describes the procedures you can follow to recover.
