Creating an On-Demand Backup

You can create an on-demand backup of an Oracle Database Classic Cloud Service database deployment by using the Oracle Database Classic Cloud Service console or, if desired, by using one of the ways listed in Other Ways to Create an On-Demand Backup at the end of this topic.

Creating an On-Demand Backup by Using the Oracle Database Classic Cloud Service Console

Open the Instances page of the Oracle Database Classic Cloud Service console.

For detailed instructions, see Accessing the Oracle Database Classic Cloud Service Console.
Click the database deployment for which you want to create a backup.

The Oracle Database Classic Cloud Service Overview page is displayed.
Click the Administration tile.

The Oracle Database Classic Cloud Service Backup page is displayed.
Click Backup Now.

The Backup Now dialog is displayed.
Make a selection for the Keep Forever option and then click Backup.

The Keep Forever option controls the backup retention policy, as follows:
- No — specifies that the backup is produced and maintained in accordance with the automatic backup retention policy that is associated with the database deployment.
- Yes — specifies that the backup is a long-term backup, which is produced and maintained independently of the automatic backup retention policy that is associated with the database deployment. Long-term backups remain until you explicitly remove them from the system.

Other Ways to Create an On-Demand Backup

For database deployments hosting single-instance databases, you can use the bkup_api utility. See Creating an On-Demand Backup by Using the bkup_api Utility.
For database deployments hosting Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) databases, you can use the raccli utility. See
Creating an On-Demand Backup by Using the raccli Utility.

Creating an On-Demand Backup by Using the bkup_api Utility

You can use the bkup_api utility to create an on-demand backup of a database deployment hosting a single-instance database or an Oracle Data Guard configuration of two single-instance databases.

Connect as the opc user to the compute node. In a Data Guard configuration, connect to the compute node hosting the primary database.

For detailed instructions, see Connecting to a Compute Node Through Secure Shell (SSH).
Start a root-user command shell:
```
$ sudo -s
#
```
Enter the bkup_api command:
- To create a backup that follows the current retention policy, enter the following bkup_api command:
```
# /var/opt/oracle/bkup_api/bkup_api bkup_start
```
- To create a long-term backup of the complete database that persists until you delete it, enter the following bkup_api command:
```
# /var/opt/oracle/bkup_api/bkup_api bkup_start --keep
```
  Note:
  
  By default, the backup is given a timestamp-based tag. To specify a custom backup tag, add the --tag option to the bkup_api command. For example, to create a long-term backup with the tag monthly, enter the following command:
```
# /var/opt/oracle/bkup_api/bkup_api bkup_start --keep --tag=monthly
```
Exit the root-user command shell and disconnect from the compute node:
```
# exit
$ exit
```

Note:

After you enter a bkup_api bkup_start command, the bkup_api utility starts the backup process, which runs in the background. To check the progress of the backup process, enter the following bkup_api command:

# /var/opt/oracle/bkup_api/bkup_api bkup_status

Creating an On-Demand Backup by Using the raccli Utility

This topic does not apply to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure or to Oracle Cloud at Customer.

You can use the raccli utility to create an on-demand backup of a database deployment hosting an Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) database:

Connect to the compute node as the opc user.

For detailed instructions, see Connecting to a Compute Node Through Secure Shell (SSH).
Enter the raccli create backup subcommand:
```
$ raccli create backup
$
```

By default, the backup is given a timestamp-based tag. To specify a custom backup tag, add the -tag option to the raccli command; for example, to create a long-term backup with the tag "monthly", enter the following command:

$ raccli create backup -tag monthly

After you enter a raccli create backup command, the raccli utility starts the backup process, which runs in the background. To check the progress of the backup process, enter the following raccli command:

$ raccli describe job