Introducing the Agent for Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) › Introducing the Agent for Oracle › Types of Backups › Oracle RMAN Staging Backup Jobs › Back up the Oracle RMAN Agent Using Staging

Back up the Oracle RMAN Agent Using Staging

The Arcserve Backup staging options allow you to back up data to a temporary data storage location (staging area), and then based on selected policy options, migrate (copy) the data to the final destination (which could be a tape or disk) or automatically purge the data from the staging area after a specified duration time.

Back up the Oracle RMAN Agent using staging

1. Open the Backup Manager and select the Source tab. Expand the Oracle database instance node and select the table spaces that you want to back up.
2. Right-click the Oracle database instance node and select Local Options.

   The Oracle Backup Options dialog appears.

3. From the Oracle Backup Options tab, select the following options:
   • Enter the database name, if different from the instance name, in the Database Name field.
   • Ensure that the Use an RMAN Catalog (Recommended) check box is selected.

     Note: We recommend that you use the RMAN catalog, otherwise RMAN will rely only on the control files to manage backups. Using only control files presents a risk in that if the database and all control files are somehow lost, it will prevent RMAN from being able to restore the database. By using the RMAN catalog option, you prevent the possibility of losing the control files backup-related information as well as other valuable information. Also note that by using the RMAN catalog, you will be able to perform a point-in-time recovery if desired.

     If you choose not to select this option, a warning message displays reminding you of the importance of using the RMAN catalog.

   • Enter the catalog owner name and owner password.
   • Select the Backup Type (Online or Offline).
   • Choose the Backup Method (Full or Incremental).
   • Enter the Number of Channels(streams) to specify how many channels should be used when backing up this instance.

     Note: Increasing the number of channels selected increases the amount of system resources. Before increasing the number of channels, make sure there are enough system resources available to handle the increased number of channels.

4. (Optional) From the Advanced Oracle Options tab, complete any of these fields if you want to modify the performance of your backup:
   1. Enter the Backup Parameters:
      • Specify a number (in KB) in the Backup Piece Size field if you want RMAN to generate more than a single backup piece.
      • Specify the maximum number of buffers per second in the Read Rate (# Buffers) field that you want RMAN to use when reading data from the disk.
      • Specify a number in the Number of Files per Backup Set field to limit the number of backup pieces that RMAN should use per backup set.
      • Specify a value in the Block Size (Bytes) field to allow RMAN to determine the size of the data blocks to send to the agent when performing a backup.

        If you enter a value in this field, you must also enter the same value when restoring your backup to avoid receiving an error message during the restore process.

      • Specify a number in the Backup Set Size (KB) field to limit the amount of data that should go into a backup set. We recommend that you leave this field empty.
      • Specify a number in the Maximum Number of Opened Files field to limit the total number of files that RMAN will open at the same time. Leaving this field empty allows RMAN to use the default value.
      • Specify a number between one and four in the Number of Copies field to indicate how many copies of the backup pieces RMAN should generate.

        To be able to generate more than one copy, you must enable the BACKUP_TAPE_IO_SLAVES option in either your init<sid>.ora or SPFILE file; otherwise you will receive an error message.

      • Select if you want to Fail the job if number of copies is more than 1 and many drives are not available.

        If this option is selected, the backup job fails when the number of copies is more than 1 and the job cannot gain access to enough devices to support them.

        If this option is not selected, the backup job continues to run when the number of copies is more than 1 and the number of devices is insufficient. However, the number of copies is reduced.

   2. Specify the Device availability waiting time (minutes).

      This option allows you to specify how long you want a backup job to wait if it is unable to access the number of devices it requires. After the time you specify expires, the job fails or it continues if you enabled the option Continue backup even if some requested devices are not available.

   3. Specify to Continue backup even if some requested devices are not available.

      If this option is selected and the job has at least one device assigned, the job continues to run.

      If this option is not selected, the job fails when it cannot access enough devices within the time specified in the option Device availability waiting time (minutes).

5. From the Backup Manager Staging tab, select the Enable Staging option.
6. Click the Policy button to set copy and purge policies.

   Note: On the Staging Policy dialog Miscellaneous tab, the Create makeup jobs to back up data to final destination under disk full conditions option will be ignored when performing an Oracle RMAN staging backup job. When enabled, this option creates a makeup job to back up data to directly back up data to the final destination when the backup job fails due to a full disk or exceeded threshold.

   For an Oracle RMAN staging backup job, the makeup job is created only when the Retry Missed Targets option is selected and the makeup job is still a disk staging job.

7. Ensure that the number of Max Number of Streams is large enough (maximum 32) to allow for different backup channels and different Oracle database instances to be backed up at the same time.
8. On the Open file system device group configuration dialog and select the group you want to use as the staging group. Ensure that the number of Max Number of Streams is large enough (maximum 32) to allow for different backup channels and different Oracle database instances to be backed up at the same time.

   Note: If the number specified in step 6 and 7 is less than the sum of all the instances required, some database instances will have to wait until other instances in the backup job finish or timeout.

9. From the Destination tab, select a destination.
10. From the Schedule tab, select the job schedule.
11. Click the Start button to submit the backup job.

Important! If an Oracle RMAN staging backup job fails or is canceled, some of the media used in the job may be reserved for several minutes. During this time, the File System Device Group Configuration dialog is disabled and a new job cannot use the media reserved in the job. You must wait a minimum of five minutes before launching a new Oracle RMAN backup job.