3 Recovery Appliance Workflow
This chapter explains the basic workflow for managing a Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance environment. Where appropriate, this chapter refers to ZDLRA Protected Database Configuration Guide . The chapter contains the following topics:
Separation of Duties in Recovery Appliance Administration
A typical Recovery Appliance environment includes personnel with the following roles:
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Cloud Control administrator
The application administrator with this role administers Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control (Cloud Control). Duties may include:
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Discovering targets, including the Recovery Appliance
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Managing one or more protected databases
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Managing one or more Recovery Appliances
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Recovery Appliance administrator
This administrator manages Recovery Appliance. Typical duties include:
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Creating the protection policies
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Assigning protected databases to protection policies
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Managing space on Recovery Appliance
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Configuring tape and replication operations
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Creating the Recovery Appliance user accounts that own virtual private catalogs
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Monitoring Recovery Appliance, and generating reports
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Protected database administrator
This administrator is responsible for configuring backups to the Recovery Appliance using the virtual private catalog account assigned by the Recovery Appliance administrator.
See Also:
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Oracle Database Security Guide to learn how to create database user accounts
Prerequisites for Recovery Appliance Administration
You must work with the Oracle field engineers to install and set up Recovery Appliance.
Tools for Recovery Appliance Administration
Use the following tools to complete administrative tasks for Recovery Appliance:
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Cloud Control is a system management tool with a graphical user interface that enables you to manage and monitor Recovery Appliance and its protected databases. This is the preferred UI for Recovery Appliance tasks.
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SQL*Plus is a command-line tool that enables you to run
DBMS_RA
program units, and query recovery catalog views. You use SQL statements and Oracle-supplied PL/SQL packages to complete these tasks in SQL*Plus.
Planning for Recovery Appliance
You must complete the following general tasks:
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Task 2: Determine the recovery requirements for each database tier
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Task 3: Determine the recovery requirements for each protected database
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Task 4: Determine access requirements for Recovery Appliance
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Task 5: Create a backup migration plan to Recovery Appliance
Task 1: Group protected databases into tiers
Group databases based on their recovery requirements. By default, Recovery Appliance includes the protection policies Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Each policy corresponds to a level of protection. For example, Gold provides databases in this tier with real-time redo transport protection, whereas Bronze does not.
Task 2: Determine the recovery requirements for each database tier
For each database tier, make decisions about the following:
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The maximum amount of time for potential data loss exposure
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The recovery window for tape
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The schedule for database tiers that back up to tape, and any tape vaulting or encryption requirements
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Whether to configure Recovery Appliance replication
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Directories for backup polling, if you intend to enable a backup polling policy
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Whether existing recovery catalogs will be imported into the Recovery Appliance catalog
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Whether to enable the guaranteed copy feature, which requires that backups on Recovery Appliance be copied to tape or replicated before being considered for deletion to reclaim space
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The maximum retention time of backups on disk
See Also:
Task 3: Determine the recovery requirements for each protected database
For example, perform the following tasks:
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Calculate the reserved space, which is based on the protected database size, change rate, and recovery window goal.
The protection policy can make use of
autotune_reserved_space
parameter if compliance features not required. When enabled, the Recovery Appliance automatically defines and updates thereserved_space
(the minimum allocated per database) based on computedrecovery_window_space
to meet recovery window goal, up to the total available free space. This is handled for all databases associated with this policy.For compliance backups,
reserved_space
is a hard limit allocated for a given database, soautotune_reserved_space
does not apply. -
Decide whether to implement real-time redo transport
See Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance Protected Database Configuration Guide for additional planning considerations for protected databases.
Task 4: Determine access requirements for Recovery Appliance
Decide which persons have access to the Recovery Appliance in the data center. For example, database administrators, storage administrators, system administrators, and backup administrators may have different access requirements. In some data centers, a single person may play all roles.
Task 5: Create a backup migration plan to Recovery Appliance
In this stage, decide how your legacy RMAN backups fit into your Recovery Appliance backup strategy. After setting up Recovery Appliance, you may choose either of the following strategies:
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Continue to run old backups to disk and tape concurrently with new backups to Recovery Appliance for a specified time, until you are ready to back up to Recovery Appliance exclusively.
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Back up protected databases exclusively to Recovery Appliance, and then manage legacy backups on legacy media separately.
In either case, to simplify overall catalog management, Oracle recommends that you first import legacy RMAN recovery catalogs into the Recovery Appliance catalog.
See Also:
Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance Protected Database Configuration Guide to learn how to import metadata into the Recovery Appliance catalog
Task 6: Review Cloud Control reporting and monitoring tools
Cloud Control is the preferred interface for Recovery Appliance. Before configuring Recovery Appliance, become familiar with the main Cloud Control pages, as described in Getting Started with Cloud Control for Recovery Appliance. Database administrators can also review backup-related pages such as Backup Settings, Schedule Backup, and Backup Reports.
Setup and Configuration for Recovery Appliance
You must complete the following general tasks:
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Task 3: Configure access on Recovery Appliance for protected databases
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Task 5: Migrate legacy backups to Recovery Appliance (for DBAs)
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Task 6: Create copy-to-tape schedules to meet recovery requirements
Task 1: Create Cloud Control user accounts
As explained in "Separation of Duties in Recovery Appliance Administration", a Recovery Appliance environment may require multiple administrative accounts. In this step, create the Cloud Control user accounts necessary for your environment.
Note:
These are application-level user accounts, not database user accounts.
See Also:
Cloud Control help to learn how to create Enterprise Manager user accounts
Task 2: Create a protection policy for each database tier
For each tier of protected databases, create a separate protection policy. "Basic Tasks for Managing Protection Policies" describes these tasks.
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Optionally, if your Recovery Appliance has access to a backup polling location, then create a backup polling policy.
Note:
If you are using Cloud Control, then this step is included in the protection policy configuration. When using
DBMS_RA
, you must run a separate procedure (CREATE_POLLING_POLICY
)."Creating a Backup Polling Policy (Command-Line Only)" describes this task.
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Create a protection policy for a specific database tier.
"Creating a Protection Policy" describes this task.
Task 3: Configure access on Recovery Appliance for protected databases
Create a virtual private catalog owner in the Recovery Appliance metadata database, add protected database metadata, and grant the catalog owner access to protected databases. Perform all of these steps on the Recovery Appliance, as explained in "Basic Tasks for Configuring Protected Database Access".
Task 4: Configure protected databases (for DBAs)
Protected database administrators perform this task, which does not involve running DBMS_RA
procedures on Recovery Appliance. Client-side configuration includes the following subtasks:
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Configuring backup and recovery settings, including real-time redo transport
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Enabling access to the Recovery Appliance, which involves installing the Recovery Appliance Backup Module and authenticating the Recovery Appliance user account
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Testing backup and restore operations
See Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance Protected Database Configuration Guide to learn how to configure protected databases.
Task 5: Migrate legacy backups to Recovery Appliance (for DBAs)
DBAs for protected databases perform this task, which does not involve running DBMS_RA
procedures on Recovery Appliance. Migration includes importing legacy recovery catalogs into the Recovery Appliance catalog, and enabling the Recovery Appliance to access physical backups on disk or tape.
See Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance Protected Database Configuration Guide to learn how to migrate legacy backups.
Task 6: Create copy-to-tape schedules to meet recovery requirements
If you employ tape devices in your environment, then you must create SBT attribute sets, schedule tape jobs, monitor tape backup status, and so on. You perform all of these steps on the Recovery Appliance, as explained in "Basic Tasks for Copying Backups to Tape with Recovery Appliance".
Task 7: Configure Recovery Appliance replication
This task involves configuring both the upstream Recovery Appliance and the downstream Recovery Appliance, and performing some steps on the protected database hosts. See "Basic Tasks for Configuring Recovery Appliance Replication".
Maintenance Tasks for Recovery Appliance
Typically, you must perform the following tasks:
Task 1: Monitor activity on Recovery Appliance
Using Cloud Control, monitor Recovery Appliance to ensure that business requirements are being met. For example, do the following:
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Review any alerts or warnings
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Verify that available space can meet all recovery windows
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Verify that backup throughput meets performance requirements
Task 2: Monitor backup jobs (for DBA)
Protected database administrators must periodically monitor backup job reports for errors.
See Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance Protected Database Configuration Guide.
Task 3: Generate and review reports on Recovery Appliance
Using Cloud Control, generate and review BI Publisher reports for storage usage and capacity planning.
Task 4: Restart the Recovery Appliance
If necessary, shut down and start up the Recovery Appliance using operating system utilities and DBMS_RA
procedures. See Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance Owner's Guide to learn how to restart the Recovery Appliance.