Integrate Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure and Oracle Database Zero Data Loss Autonomous Recovery Service

The following tasks describe the backup and recovery operations between Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure and Recovery Service.

Configure Oracle Managed Backups for New Databases

These steps describe how to create a new database with Oracle managed backups. Before you begin, ensure an Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure and VM Cluster are already deployed in a VCN.

1. Open the navigation menu. Click Oracle Database, then click Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure.
2. Select the VM Cluster where the Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure is configured.
3. Under Resources, click Database Homes.
4. Create or select a Database Home running Oracle Database 19.18 or newer.
5. In the Database Home page, under Resources, click Databases.
6. Click Create Database.
7. Enter the new database's information.
   When creating administrator credentials, ensure to provide the password for the sys user.
8. In the Configure Database Backups page, click Enable Automatic Backups.
9. Click Backup Destination, and select Autonomous Recovery Service.
10. Select a Protection Policy according to the retention period requirements for the database:
    • Bronze: 14 days
    • Silver: 35 days
    • Gold: 65 days
    • Platnium: 95 days
11. Select Real-time Data Protection.
    This option enhances database protection and minimizes the potential for data loss. Selecting this option is an additional cost.
12. Select the default Retain backups according to the protection policy retention period.
13. Select a scheduled time for daily backups.
14. Select Take the first backup immediately.
15. Click Create Database.
    A new Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure database is created in the selected Database Home.

The database window displays the backup information.

A level 0 backup of the new database will be taken to the Recovery Service backup destination. Incremental backups are performed everyday according to the specified backup schedule. If the default Anytime was specified for the backup schedule, the daily backup will be performed everyday at the same hour the database was created. Backups are retained in Recovery Service according to the specified backup protection policy. With Recovery Service incremental forever technology, there is no need to take weekly level 0 full backups. Recovery Service can produce a virtual full backup when required, without consuming CPU cycles on the Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure system.

After the database is created, clicking the Autonomous Recovery Service link will display a Protected Database OCI object. The protected database displays: the status of the database (protected), if real-time redo transfer is enabled, the data loss exposure (in minutes), the size of the database backups, and the current recovery window in days and hours.

Enable Oracle Managed Backups for Existing Databases

You can enable Oracle managed backups to Recovery Service for databases created without this feature, with these steps. The existing database must be running Oracle Database 19.18 or newer.

1. Open the navigation menu. Click Oracle Database, then click Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure.
2. Select the VM Cluster where the Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure is configured.
3. Under Resources, click Databases.
4. Select the database where you want to enable Oracle managed backups to Recovery Service.
5. Click Enable Automatic Backups.
6. Click Backup Destination, and select Autonomous Recovery Service.
7. Select a Protection Policy according to the retention period requirements for the database:
   • Bronze: 14 days
   • Silver: 35 days
   • Gold: 65 days
   • Platnium: 95 days
8. Select Real-time Data Protection.
   This option minimizes the potential for data loss.
9. Select Retain backups according to the protection policy retention period.
10. Select a scheduled time for daily backups.
11. Select Take the first backup immediately.
    If Object Storage was the previous backup destination, a warning will display that a new level 0 backup will be taken to the new Recovery Service backup destination.
12. Click Save Changes.

A level 0 backup of the database will be taken to the Recovery Service backup destination. Incremental backups are performed everyday according to the specified backup schedule. If the default Anytime was specified for the backup schedule, the daily backup will be performed everyday at the same hour the database was created. Backups are retained in Recovery Service according to the specified backup protection policy. With Recovery Service incremental forever technology, there is no need to take weekly level 0 full backups. Recovery Service can produce a virtual full backup when required, without consuming CPU cycles on the Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure system.

Create On-Demand Backups

After Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure Oracle managed backups to Recovery Service are enabled, on-demand backups can be taken using the OCI console by following these steps.

1. Open the navigation menu. Click Oracle Database, then click Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure.
2. Select the VM Cluster where the Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure is configured.
3. Under Resources, click Databases.
4. Select the database where you want to create an on-demand backup to Recovery Service.
5. Under Resources, click Backups.
6. Click Create Backup.
7. Enter a name for the new on-demand backup.
8. Click Create Backup.

A new backup is created and displayed in the list of available backups. On-demand backups remain in Recovery Service according to the backup retention policy (bronze, silver, gold, or platnium) selected for automatic backups.

Create a New Database from a Backup

Create a new Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure database from an existing Oracle managed backup by following these steps.

1. Open the navigation menu. Click Oracle Database, then click Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure.
2. Select the VM Cluster where the Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure is configured.
3. Under Resources, click Databases.
4. Click the source database from which the backup already exists in Recovery Service.
5. Under Resources, click Backups.
6. Click the Actions menu for the backup you want to use as the source for the new database.
   A new menu is displayed.
7. Click Create Database.
8. Select the VM cluster where the new database will be created.
9. Either Select an existing Database Home or Create a new Database Home.
   If selecting an existing database home, the database home version must match the source database version.
10. Enter a name for the database.
11. (Optional) Enter a database unique name.
12. Enter the sys user password and confirm password.
13. Enter the TDE or RMAN password for the source Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure database.
14. Click Create Database.

The new database is created in the selected VM cluster. Note you cannot enable automatic backups during database creation from an existing backup. If automatic backups are required, enable automatic backups after the database is created.

Restore a Database

An Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure database can be restored to the latest available restore point, to a particular point in time, or to a particular SCN. Restore and recovery are done using the OCI console. These steps illustrate how to restore a database.

1. Open the navigation menu. Click Oracle Database, then click Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure.
2. Select the VM Cluster where the Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure is configured.
3. Under Resources, click Databases.
4. Click the database configured with Recovery Service as the backup destination to restore.
5. Under Resources, click Backups.
   A list of available backups is displayed. Although it's not possible to restore a database from a backup in this list, the list of backups can be used as a reference as to what data is currently available to restore the database.
6. Click Restore.
7. Select one of the three restore options:
   • Restore to the latest: Database is restored and recovered with zero, or least possible, data loss.
   • Restore to timestamp: Database is restored to a specific timestamp.
   • Restore to SCN: Database is restored to a specific Oracle Database system change number. You must know the specific SCN.
8. Click Restore Database.