Recovering Databases from Archive Storage

Oracle database backups stored in archive storage can be restored and recovered using Recovery Manager (RMAN).

Backups can be stored in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Archive Storage or archive storage in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Classic. Backups stored in archive storage need to be recalled first before they can be restored. You must plan in advance for restore and recover operations using backups stored in archive storage. Use RESTORE DATABASE PREVIEW … RECALL to initiate a recall operation for the required backups. After you begin the restore operation, if the backups are still not available to read from the archive storage, then the restore operation waits until the required backups are available. This may slow down the restore operation.

To recover a database using backups from archive storage:

1. Start RMAN and connect to the target database.
2. If the database is not mounted, then mount but do not open the database.
   For example, enter the following command:

   STARTUP MOUNT;

3. Depending on where the backups are stored, configure an RMAN channel that corresponds to Oracle Database Cloud Backup Module for OCI or Oracle Database Cloud Backup Module for OCI Classic. See Configuring Recovery Manager (RMAN) Settings.
4. Provide information required to decrypt the backups.

   • If password or dual-mode encryption was used to create the backups, provide the encryption password using the following syntax:

     RMAN> SET DECRYPTION IDENTIFIED BY encryption_password;

   • If Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) with a password-protected software keystore was used to create the backups, ensure that the keystore that contains the encryption key is open.

     The following command, in SQL*Plus, opens a password-protected keystore:

     ADMINISTER KEY MANAGEMENT SET KEYSTORE OPEN IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

5. Preview the backups required for the restore operation using the PREVIEW option of the RESTORE command.

   The following command previews backups that will be used for the restore operation:

   RESTORE DATABASE PREVIEW;

   The output displays a detailed list of the backup pieces that will be used in the restore operation and the location of these backup pieces (standard Object Storage or Archive Storage). If any backup pieces are in Archive Storage, the output indicates that these are remote files.

6. Recall the required backups from archive storage using the RECALL option in the RESTORE command.

   The following command recalls database backups from archive storage:

   RESTORE DATABASE PREVIEW RECALL;
7. Restore and recover the database using the following commands:

   RESTORE DATABASE;
   RECOVER DATABASE;