Creating Plans to Protect Data › How to Create a Host-Based Virtual Machine Backup Plan › Review the Prerequisites and Considerations › Review the Prerequisites to Perform Application Consistent Backup for Oracle Database

Review the Prerequisites to Perform Application Consistent Backup for Oracle Database

To back up an Oracle database with consistent data, ensure that the following prerequisites are met:

• The ARCHIVELOG mode is enabled to archive the Redo logs.

Follow these steps to check if the ARCHIVELOG mode is enabled:

1. Log in to the Oracle server as an Oracle user with SYSDBA privileges.
2. Enter the following command at the SQL*Plus prompt:

   ARCHIVE LOG LIST;
   

   Archive log settings for the current instance is displayed.

3. Configure the following settings:

   Database log mode: Archive Mode

   Automatic archival: Enabled

4. Start the ARCHIVELOG mode.

   If the ARCHIVELOG mode is not enabled, you must start the ARCHIVELOG mode to backup the database.

Follow these steps to start the ARCHIVELOG mode:

1. Shut down the Oracle server.
2. Run the following statements in Oracle:

   CONNECT SYS/SYS_PASSWORD AS SYSDBA
   

   STARTUP MOUNT;
   

   ALTER DATABASE ARCHIVELOG;
   

   ALTER DATABASE OPEN;
   

   By default, archive logs will be written to the flash recovery area. If you do not want to write archive logs to the flash recovery area, you can set the LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_n parameter to the location where you want to write archive logs.

   SQL>ALTRE SYSTEM SET LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_1='LOCATION=e:\app\administrator\oradata\<oracle_database_name>\arch' SCOPE= BOTH;
   

   System altered.
   

   SQL> ARCHIVE LOG LIST;
   

   Archive log settings for the current instance is displayed.

3. Configure the following settings:

   Database log mode: Archive Mode

   Automatic archival: Enabled

   Archive destination: E:\app\oracle\oradata\<oracle_database_name>\arch

   Oldest online log sequence: 21

   Current log sequence: 23

Oracle VSS Writer Service is started and functioning properly.