Backup and Restore Autonomous Databases

This article describes backup and recovery tasks on Autonomous Database.

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About Backup and Recovery on Autonomous Database

Autonomous Database automatically backs up your database for you. The retention period for backups is up to 60 days depending on the Backup Retention Policy chosen for the Autonomous Container Database. You can restore and recover your database to any point-in-time in this retention period.

Manual Backups

You do not have to do any manual backups for your database as Autonomous Database backs up your database automatically. You can do manual backups using the cloud console; for example if you want to take a backup before a major change to make restore and recovery faster. When you initiate a point-in-time recovery Autonomous Database decides which backup to use for faster recovery.

Recovery

You can initiate recovery for your Autonomous Database using the cloud console. Autonomous Database automatically restores and recovers your database to the point-in-time you specify.

Listing Backups

The list of backups available for recovery is shown on the Autonomous Database Details page under Backups.

Restore and Recover Your Autonomous Database

To restore and recover your database to a point in time, do the following:

  1. Go to the Details page of the Autonomous Database you want to restore and recover.

    Note:

    For databases that use Autonomous Data Guard, go to the Details page of the primary database.

    For instructions, see View Details of a Dedicated Autonomous Database.

  2. On the Details page, select Actions and then select Restore.
  3. In the Restore prompt, select Specify Timestamp or Select Backup to restore to a point in time or to restore from a specified backup.
    • SPECIFY TIMESTAMP: Enter a timestamp to restore to in the ENTER TIMESTAMP calendar field.
    • SELECT BACKUP: Select a backup from the list of backups. Limit the number of backups you see by specifying a period using the FROM and TO calendar fields.
  4. Click Restore.

    Note:

    Restoring a database puts it in the unavailable state during the restore operation. You cannot connect to the database in this state. The only lifecycle management operation supported in unavailable state is terminate.

    The Details page shows Lifecycle State: Restore In Progress...

  5. When the restore operation finishes your database is opened in the same state as before restoration.

Note:

  • When your database is restored, the value of the ADMIN user password is also restored. Therefore, it may have an old value that you no longer remember. You can set the password to a new value as described in Unlock or Change the ADMIN Database User Password.
  • After restoring your database, all backups between the date the restore completes and the date you specified for the restore operation - the restore time - are invalidated. You cannot initiate further restore operations to any point in time between the restore time and restore completion time. You can only initiate new restore operations to a point in time older than the restore time or more recent than the time when the actual restore succeeded.

Backup Your Autonomous Database Manually

In addition to automatic backups, Autonomous Database also allows you take manual backups.

  1. Go to the Details page of the Autonomous Database you want to manually backup.
  2. On the Details page, under Backups, click Create Manual Backup.
  3. In the Create Manual Backup dialog enter a name in the Name field.
  4. In the Create Manual Backup dialog click Create.

Note:

While backing up a database, the database is fully functional; however during the backup lifecycle management operations are not allowed. For example, stopping the database is not allowed during the backup.