Recovery Service Terminology

Before using Recovery Service, familiarize yourself with the following key terms and concepts, including some terms related to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Networking.

Level 0 Incremental Backup

A level 0 incremental backup performs the same function as a full backup in that they both back up all blocks that have ever been used. The difference is that a full backup does not affect blocks backed up by subsequent incremental backups, whereas an incremental backup affects blocks backed up by subsequent incremental backups.

Level 1 Backup or Incremental Backup

Incremental backups at level 1 back up only blocks that have changed since previous incremental backups. Blocks that have not changed are not sent again, because they are represented already in the level 0 or previous level 1 backups.

Oracle Database Zero Data Loss Cloud Protect

Protects on-premises Oracle databases using Oracle Zero Data Loss Autonomous Recovery Service deployed in the OCI or multicloud environment.

Protected Database

An Oracle Database that sends backups to Recovery Service. Recovery Service supports Oracle Cloud Databases, Oracle Multicloud Databases, and on-premises databases.

Protection Policy

A mechanism used by Recovery Service to control backup retention for protected databases. A protection policy defines the length of time, expressed as a window of time extending backward from the present, that backups are retained. Recovery Service retains database backups for a minimum period of 14 days and maximum period of 95 days. Each protected database must be assigned with one protection policy. A protection policy can be a Oracle-defined policy or a custom policy defined by you as per your internal storage requirements. You can associate multiple protected databases to a single protection policy.

Recovery point objective (RPO)

The data-loss tolerance of a business process or an organization. The RPO is often measured in terms of time, for example, five hours or two days worth of data loss.

Real-time Data Protection

The continuous transfer of redo changes from a protected database to Recovery Service. Real-time data protection helps to achieve a recovery point objective (RPO) near the last sub-second.

Recovery Service Catalog

A metadata database containing information about backups. Metadata views are stored in Oracle Cloud and managed by Recovery Service.

Recovery Service subnet

A Recovery Service subnet identifies a private subnet that is used for backup operations within a virtual cloud network (VCN) in your tenancy. The OCI Console provides an easy-to-use interface to register Recovery Service subnets.

For Oracle Databases deployed in OCI, if the backup subnet meets the recommended subnet size (at least 12 free IP addresses), then Recovery Service automatically registers the Recovery Service subnet.

• For Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure, Recovery Service automatically registers the backup subnet as the Recovery Service subnet.
• For Oracle Base Database Service, Recovery Service automatically registers the database subnet as the Recovery Service subnet.

Recovery window

The maximum length of time, counting backward from the current time, that a database can be recovered.

Retention Period

The length of time, expressed as a window of time extending backward from the present, that backups are retained by Recovery Service. Recovery Service can retain database backups for a minimum period of 14 days and a maximum period of 95 days.

RMAN

Recovery Manager (RMAN) is the primary utility for backup and recovery of Oracle databases. RMAN enables a protected database to send backups to Recovery Service.

Subnet

A subnet is a networking component and a subdivision in a VCN. You must designate a private subnet for Recovery Service to access OCI databases in a VCN.

Virtual Cloud Network (VCN)

A virtual, private network that you set up in Oracle data centers.

Virtual Level 0

A complete database image as of one distinct point in time, maintained efficiently through the indexing of incremental backups from a protected database. The virtual full backups contain individual blocks from multiple incremental backups.