Configure application details and settings for Oracle databases

Use the tabs below to find the backup type you want to configure settings for.

Database backup

Configure a database backup using the application settings shown in the table below:

Setting Input
Username and Password
in the Authentication section		 1. Backup from Primary Node

Database Authentication (Linux only): Oracle database authentication uses Oracle database credentials. With Oracle database authentication, you must provide database credentials to connect to the database with sysdba privilege, or sysbackup for Oracle 12c and later. Make sure the database user account has the proper role selected based on the User role in the database section below.

OS authentication: Not applicable - No database user account and no service name are needed. Backup and DR uses / as sysdba for SQLPLUS and target / for RMAN to connect to the database for backup.

2. Backup from data guard (standby) node:

Database authentication (Linux only): Oracle database authentication uses Oracle database credentials for backup. With Oracle database authentication, you must provide database credentials to connect to the database with sysdba privilege, or sysbackup for Oracle 12c and later. Make sure the database user account has the proper role selected based on the User role in the database below.

OS authentication: Database user account is required to switch the archive log on primary to capture a consistent copy of backup on data guard node. Under OS authentication, sysdba or sysbackup privilege is not required. If the user does not have the sysdba role, then the user needs grant connect, alter system, select on dba_tablespaces. Make sure the database user account has the None role selected under User role in the database section below.
User role in the database RMAN backup requires the role sysdba, or sysbackup role for Oracle 12c and above. The default value is sysdba. Make sure to select the right role based on the role assigned to the user account in the database. This is applicable for DB authentication only.

Data guard backup with OS authentication: Select the role None for non-sysdba or non-sysoper database user account. The required privileges for non-sysdba or non-sysoper are connect, alter system, select on dba_tablespaces role.
Number of channels Enter the number of RMAN channels to configure parallelism for backup. The number of channels should be configured based on the number of cores available on the server, taking into account other database backups configured to run in parallel. The default number of channels is 2.
RMAN log location By default, the RMAN log location is /var/act/log/rman.log.

This entry allows you to change the RMAN log file location. Enter the full path, with RMAN filename.
Restore validate RMAN RESTORE VALIDATE will check and verify the integrity of the backups. It is used to detect any corrupted block in the database. When this box is checked, the Backup and DR agent will invoke RMAN restore validation for each backup. This validation is costly and will add time to the backup.
RMAN catalog DB name(Optional) This is the catalog database service name. This is for the user environment where RMAN CATALOG DATABASE is set up for RMAN backup. The catalog database service name must have an entry in the tnsnames.ora file for Backup and DR to connect.
RMAN catalog user and
RMAN catalog password		 This is the catalog database user name and password for RMAN to connect during the backup. This is required if RMAN catalog DB name is provided above to run the backup connected to catalog DB.
Oracle service name Provides the ability to specify a new service name in tnsnames.ora file to be used by Backup and DR backup, as described in Create and verify the Oracle service name in a non-RAC environment and in Create and verify the Oracle service name in a RAC environment.

If not specified, then by default Backup and DR will use the Oracle SID name (instance name) as the service name. Either the new service name or the default SID name must have an entry in the tnsnames.ora file for Backup and DR to connect. The Oracle service Name is used only with database authentication.
Oracle data guard primary node service name This is the service name in the tnsnames.ora file configured on the data guard node to connect to the primary database node from the standby database node.

This is required only when you are protecting data from Oracle data guard. For more information, see Protect from an Oracle data guard node.
Cluster nodes Specify a failover node choice in format:
Failover choice:Node IP:servicename:role
This is used for RAC only, see Configure RAC transparent failover of Backup and DR RMAN backup to other nodes.

Example:1:172.16.16.21:svc_orarac2_act:F

Role should be F for failover. role can also be M for maintenance. When a node role is M, then the backup/recovery appliance uses this as the backup node instead of using the original protected node.
Maxcorrupt parameter setting Setting maxcorrupt allows a specified number of previously undetected block corruptions in datafiles during the execution of an RMAN BACKUP command. If RMAN detects more than this number of new corrupt blocks while taking the backup, then the backup job aborts.
Section size override Section size is in MB. The section size RMAN parameter allows the backup of large files to be parallelized across multiple RMAN channels.

Default section size is 16000, or 16GB. Enter a new size between 1 and 200000 if you want to override the default value.
Do not uncatalog Check this box to keep RMAN datafile backup metadata cataloged after each backup job. By default, Backup and DR data file backup will be cataloged at the start of backup and then be uncataloged at the end of the backup.
Force new level zero backup Backup and DR RMAN backup is incremental forever using updated image copy where each incremental backup creates a logical full copy. If for any reason a full level zero backup is required, overwriting the Backup and DR incremental backup, then check this box for a single backup job. Be sure to uncheck it after the full level zero backup is complete, or else this will force each backup to be a new level zero Oracle RMANRMAN backup. This has an impact on snapshot pool storage.
Oracle configuration file location Use this when backing up Oracle configuration files with an Oracle RMAN backup such as wallet for encryption support. Requires a full path name.

If a folder name is specified, all files under that folder are backed up. If a file name is specified then only the specified file is backed up.

Note: For Oracle databases with TDE, the wallet for TDE can be captured by setting the Oracle configuration file location advanced setting for the Oracle application. Application aware mounts for TDE enabled databases require the wallet to be copied to the appropriate location on the mount host and the wallet must be configured and open.
AU_SIZE Parameter to configure ASM Diskgroup AU size, in MB, default is 1MB. This only takes effect during diskgroup creation, which is during level zero backup job. Set this before the first backup, or select Force new level 0 to recreate the disk group with new AU_SIZE.

Be sure to have enough free space in the snapshot pool when using the new level 0 backup.
Auto-discover RAC members Check this to autodiscover all members of the RAC databases. This enables mapping of the staging disk to all RAC nodes. Auto-discovery will not work if the hostname does not have a FQDN. In that case add the nodes manually below.
RAC member nodes If you choose not to autodiscover RAC members, then provide a RAC node list for mapping the staging disk to the selected RAC member. List the protected nodes first. Use this only for protecting Oracle databases in an ASM disk group.

Archive log backup

Configure an archive log backup using the application settings shown below:

Setting Input
Number of channels for archive log backup Specify the number of RMAN channels, or parallel log backup, to use during archivelog backup. Default RMAN channel is 2.
Oracle TNS_Admin path If tnsnames.ora is in a non-standard location, then provide the full path of the directory where it is located. The Oracle TNS_Admin path is used only with database authentication.
Log purging retention period In the space provided, enter the number of hours to retain production archive logs in the archive log destination. For example, if this is set to four, then archive logs older than four hours will be purged from the database archive destination. The default value is 24 hours.

Note: If you set Log purging retention period to zero, then the log will be purged immediately after the backup job is finished. If you do this, set Successful log backups before purge to at least one.
Successful log backups before purge By default, archive purging does not check for the number of successful log backups. Enter a number of successful log backups after which to run the archive purge.
Cross-check archive log Select this to run crosscheck and delete expired production archive logs on archive log backup.
Cross-check backup of archive log once a day Select this to cross check the backup of archivelog on Backup and DR Staging disk once a day during log backup after database backup. This option will override cross check during each archivelog backup if Crosscheck backup of archivelog below is selected.
Cross-check backup of archive log Select this to cross check the backup of archivelog on Backup and DR Staging disk with each archivelog backup.
Number of files per backup set Specify the number of archive logs to include in a backupset during archivelog backup. The default value is 4.
Archive log backup service name Provide a dedicated Oracle database service name for the archive log backup in a RAC environment when Oracle service name is configured to run from more than one node. The archive log backup service name is used only with database authentication.

Backup staging disk

Configure a backup staging disk using the application settings shown below:

Setting Input
Convert ASM format to file system format By default, the database is captured in its native format, either ASM or file system. The backup destination is ASM for production Oracle database with data file on ASM disk group and file system for Oracle database with data file on file system. Set this to Yes if the source database data file is on ASM disk group and the backup destination must be set to the file system staging disk.
This must be set to Yes for all ASM databases in a Windows environment.
Convert file system format to Oracle ASM format By default, the database is captured in its native format, either ASM or file system. The backup destination is ASM for production Oracle database with data file on ASM disk group and file system for Oracle database with data file on file system. Set this to Yes if the source database with data file on file system and the backup destination must be set to Oracle ASM disk group. This requires ASM to be installed on the Oracle server.
ASM disk group compatibility The minimum version of the ASM software that can access the disk group. Refer to ASM disk group compatibility attribute to specify and override the backup ASM disk group ASM compatibility. This will require a new force level 0 backup. This has an impact on snapshot pool storage.
Database compatibility The minimum compatible database initialization parameter setting for any database instance that uses the disk group. Refer ASM Disk Group Compatibility Attribute to specify and override the backup ASM disk group RDBMS compatibility. This will require a new force level 0 backup. This has an impact on snapshot pool storage.
Staging disk size By default, the Backup and DR agent calculates the staging disk size for database backup as 1.5 times the maximum size of the database. To specify a value manually, allocate a staging disk to allow for two years future growth of the database. Setting it manually will restrict the dynamic growth of staging disk with growth of database size.
Staging disk granularity Maximum size of each disk when multiple disks are used in a backup staging disk for an application. The default value is 1000GB.
Use staging disk granularity as minimum staging disk size Use this for applications that are under the size of the granularity setting (default value is 1000GB) and that tend to periodically grow. This option is useful to avoid frequent costly full backups. Because the staging disk is thin provisioned, there is no initial cost to use a staging disk that is larger than required for immediate use.
Last staging disk minimum size Minimum size of the last disk when multiple disks are used in a backup staging disk for an application.This value is also used for additional disks allocated for backup staging disk to accommodate growth. The default value is 250GB.
Staging disk mount point Allows you mount the staging disk to a specific location.
Log staging disk size Used if log backup policy is set. By default, Backup and DR uses the 30-day high-water mark to determine the staging disk size for archive backup staging disk.

Policy template overrides for Oracle databases

  1. Go to App manager and click Applications.

  2. Right-click a database and select Manage backup plan.

  3. At the top of the page, click Policy overrides.

  4. In the policy overrides fields, enter the required input. For details on log protection, refer to Database log protection in a backup plan policy

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