The configuration of all components within Oracle Private Cloud Appliance is automatically backed up and stored on the ZFS storage appliance as a set of archives. Backups are named with a time stamp for when the backup is run.
During initialization, a crontab entry is created on each management node to perform a global backup twice in every 24 hours. The first backup runs at 09h00 and the second at 21h00. Only the active management node actually runs the backup process when it is triggered.
To trigger a backup outside of the default schedule, use the Command Line Interface. For details, refer to Section 4.2.5, “backup”.
Backups are stored on the MGMT_ROOT file
system on the ZFS storage appliance and are accessible on each
management node at
/nfs/shared_storage/backups. When the backup
process is triggered, it creates a temporary directory named with
the time stamp for the current backup process. The entire
directory is archived in a *.tar.bz2 file when
the process is complete. Within this directory several
subdirectories are also created:
nm2: contains the NM2-36P Sun Datacenter InfiniBand Expansion Switch configuration data
opus: contains the Oracle Switch ES1-24 configuration data
ovca: contains all of the configuration information relevant to the deployment of the management nodes such as the password wallet, the network configuration of the management nodes, configuration databases for the Oracle PCA services, and DHCP configuration.
ovmm: contains the most recent backup of the Oracle VM Manager database, the actual source data files for the current database, and the UUID information for the Oracle VM Manager installation. Note that the actual backup process for the Oracle VM Manager database is handled automatically from within Oracle VM Manager. Manual backup and restore are described in detail in the section entitled Backing up and Restoring Oracle VM Manager, in the Oracle VM Manager Administration Guide.
ovmm_upgrade: contains essential information for each upgrade attempt. When an upgrade is initiated, a time-stamped subdirectory is created to store the preinstall.log file with the output from the pre-upgrade checks. Backups of any other files modified during the pre-upgrade process, are also saved in this directory.
xsigo: contains the configuration data for the Fabric Interconnects.
zfssa: contains all of the configuration information for the ZFS storage appliance
The backup process collects data for each component in the appliance and ensures that it is stored in a way that makes it easy to restore that component to operation in the case of failure [1] .
Taking regular backups is standard operating procedure for any production system. The internal backup mechanism cannot protect against full system failure, site outage or disaster. Therefore, you should consider implementing a backup strategy to copy key system data to external storage. This requires what is often referred to as a bastion host: a dedicated system configured with specific internal and external connections.
For a detailed description of the backup contents, and for guidelines to export internal backups outside the appliance, refer to the Oracle technical white paper entitled Oracle Private Cloud Appliance Backup Guide.