======================================================================== Oracle Notes ======================================================================== Contents: Oracle Products overview Oracle 11g Solaris installation on v210b Example_RMAN_Session Oracle 10g Local Install Notes ~ ======================================================================== Oracle Products: 1. Oracle Database 2. Oracle Fusion Middleware 3. Applications 4. Server and Storage Systems 5. Oracle Enterprise Manager 6. Related Technologies 7. Oracle On Demand 8. Oracle University 9. Tools Oracle Database: Standard Edition One : Oracle 11g on single server. Max 2 sockets Standard Edition : Single or clustered servers. Max 4 sockets. Includes Oracle RAC as standard feature. Enterprise Edition : Single or Clustered. No socket limitation. Rolling upgrades, etc. Express Edition : - Audit Vault : Enables view/report of audit data pulled from database. - TimesTen In-Memory Database : Standalone and HighPerformance Cache - Berkeley DB : Embeddable, Transactional Storage Engine - Oracle Database Lite 10g : Embedded Mobile environment, Background sync with backend database - Secure Backup : - Tape backup management software. - Network tape backup for Oracle DB and file systems. - Encrypts content before storing on tape - Advanced features such as automated tape rotation - Secure Enterprise Search : Enterprise level secure search - Exadata Storage Server: - Has 12 Drives, 2 Intel Processor with 4 cores and 2 Infiniband cards. Each server can scan 1GB/sec. Exadata software runs on each server. Query offloading happens transparently. Software + hardware solution. - Oracle Database Machine - 14 Oracle Exadata Storage Servers + 8 Oracle RAC servers Upto 168 TB of storage. Single Rack with switches. - 14GB/sec scan rate. - Retail hardware price around $650,000 Oracle Database (Enterprise Edition) Options: - Real Application Testing Record Production Load and replay load on test environment. SQL performance analyzer help you to fine tune for performance. - Real Application Clusters - Total Recall Supports Flashback Queries; Purge on specified retention policy. No media recovery from RMAN is needed. Flashback Table and Flashback Drop - Logical operations. Logical flashback uses undo data. Flashback drop uses recycle bin. Flashback Database is physical operation: It uses Fast Recovery Area; Uses flashback logs; - Database Management Packs: - Change Management Pack: - Complex changes to schema objects safely. - Compare and synchronize schema - Plan schema changes over the life of the database & apps - Configuration Management Pack: - Part of Enterprise Manager - Track hardware, software config information - patch management capability based on config info. - Cloning functionality for both Oracle Software and databases - Can compare the config of two databases. - Data Masking Pack - Can share production data on test env using masking rules. - Realistic data but changed as per masking rules. - Diagnostic Pack - Advanced system monitoring and performance diagnostic functions - Provisioning and Patch Automation - Automate deployment of software, application, patches - Tuning Pack - Expert Performance Mangement. Requires Diagnostic pack; - Includes SQL Tuning Advisor, etc. ----- End of Database Management Packs ----- - Active Data Guard: Enterprise option: Supports active standby for read-only load balancing, testing, backup, etc. - Advanced Compression: Maximum compression for backup - Advanced Security: Encryption for stored data, network, PAM, single sign-on, smartcard, token card - Database Vault: Who accesses what, when, where. Out-of-box security reports on who accesses what. No access outside normal hours. Separation of duty for different DBAs. - Oracle label Security: Multilevel security down to individual rows in tables. - OLAP : Enable SQL-based BI Tools. Supports OLAP Cube. Support OLAP based materialized views. Provides efficient update capabilities. - Partitioning - Oracle Spatial : supports GEO data - Data Mining: Useful to build integrated BI applications. Predictions, patterns and discoveries can be done from the application easily. Can use data sample to find common patterns in data. - Oracle In-memory Cache: IMDB cache. Based on TimesTen. Enables caching at applications themselves; Automatic data sync between DB and cache! The caching can be done at middle-tier. Oracle Fusion Middleware - Application Grid - Application Server - Application Integration Architecture - Business Intelligence - Beehive - Business Process Management - Collaboration - Content Management - Data Integration - Developer Tools - Event Driven Architecture - Identity Management - In-memory Data Grid - Middleware for Fast-Growing Companies - Oracle Communications Service Delivery - Oracle Fusion Middleware for Applications - Portal, User Interaction and Enterprise 2.0 - Service Oriented Architecture, SOA Governance - Transaction Processing Oracle Applications Product Lines : - Oracle Fusion Applications - Oracle E-Business Suite - PeopleSoft Enterprise - Siebel - JD Edwards EnterpriseOne - JD Edwards World - Hyperion Financial Performance Management - Primavera Enterprise Project Portfolio Management Applications Solutions : - Business Process Outsourcing - Customer Relationship Management - Enterprise Performance Management - Financial Management - Governance, Risk and Compliance Management - Human Capital Management - Master Data Management - Procurement - Project Portfolio Management - Supply Chain Management - Sustainability Industry Applications : - Banking - Communications - Health Sciences - Public Sector - Retail - Utilities - Etc Oracle Enterprise Manager - Oracle Applications Management Packs - Oracle Fusion Middleware Management Packs - Oracle Database Management Packs - Management Support for Heterogeneous Environments Related Technologies - Business Process Management - Cloud Computing - Data Warehousing - Embedded - Grid Computing - High Availability - Information Lifecycle Management - Information Security - Modernization - Next Generation Data Center - Open Source - Oracle VM - PHP - RFID - SaaS - SOA - Solaris - Windows , .NET and MS Office Oracle Support - Premier/Lifetime Support - Unbreakable Linux - Software configuration manager - Advanced Customer Services Oracle On Demand - Hosted and Managed Applications - SaaS Applications - Extended Services Oracle University - Find Class, Training, Certification Program, Selfstudy CD-ROM, Knowledge Center, etc. Backup Notes: - Online backup & recovery is available on SE, SE1 and enterprise editions. - Incremental backup & recovery is also available in SE* and EE editions. However, only EE has fast incremental backups via change tracking. - Replication is available in SE, SE1, EE editions. Multi-master replication, however, is only available in EE. - Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN), a command-line and Enterprise Manager-based tool, is the method preferred by Oracle for efficiently backing up and recovering your Oracle database. RMAN is designed to work intimately with the server, providing block-level corruption detection during backup and restore. RMAN optimizes performance and space consumption during backup with file multiplexing and backup set compression, and integrates with leading tape and storage media products. What strategies are available for backing-up an Oracle database? The following methods are valid for backing-up an Oracle database: * Export/Import - Exports are "logical" database backups * Cold or Off-line Backups - shut the database down and backup up ALL data, log, and control files. * Hot or On-line Backups - If the database is available and in ARCHIVELOG mode, set the tablespaces into backup mode and backup their files. Also remember to backup the control files and archived redo log files. Backup using SQL command by user. * RMAN Backups - while the database is off-line or on-line, use the "rman" utility to backup the database. What is the difference between restoring and recovering? Restoring involves copying backup files from secondary storage Recovery is the process of applying redo logs to the database to roll it forward. SQL> connect SYS as SYSDBA SQL> RECOVER DATABASE UNTIL TIME '2001-03-06:16:00:00' USING BACKUP CONTROLFILE; RMAN> run { set until time to_date('04-Aug-2004 00:00:00', 'DD-MON-YYYY HH24:MI:SS'); restore database; recover database; } User managed backup and recovery ====================================================================== This section deals with user managed, or non-RMAN backups. How does one do off-line database backups? Shut down the database from sqlplus or server manager. Backup all files to secondary storage (eg. tapes). Ensure that you backup all data files, all control files and all log files. When completed, restart your database. Do the following queries to get a list of all files that needs to be backed up: select name from sys.v_$datafile; select member from sys.v_$logfile; select name from sys.v_$controlfile; Sometimes Oracle takes forever to shutdown with the "immediate" option. As workaround to this problem, shutdown using these commands: alter system checkpoint; shutdown abort startup restrict shutdown immediate ====================================================================== Each tablespace that needs to be backed-up must be switched into backup mode before copying the files out to secondary storage (tapes). Look at this simple example. ALTER TABLESPACE xyz BEGIN BACKUP; ! cp xyfFile1 /backupDir/ ALTER TABLESPACE xyz END BACKUP; It is better to backup tablespace for tablespace than to put all tablespaces in backup mode. Backing them up separately incurs less overhead. When done, remember to backup your control files. Look at this example: ALTER SYSTEM SWITCH LOGFILE; -- Force log switch to update control file headers ALTER DATABASE BACKUP CONTROLFILE TO '/backupDir/control.dbf'; NOTE: Do not run on-line backups during peak processing periods. Oracle will write complete database blocks instead of the normal deltas to redo log files while in backup mode. This will lead to excessive database archiving and even database freezes. ===================================================================== RMAN backup and recovery This section deals with RMAN backups: [edit] What is RMAN and how does one use it? Recovery Manager (or RMAN) is an Oracle provided utility for backing-up, restoring and recovering Oracle Databases. RMAN ships with the database server and doesn't require a separate installation. The RMAN executable is located in your ORACLE_HOME/bin directory. In fact RMAN, is just a Pro*C application that translates commands to a PL/SQL interface. The PL/SQL calls are stallically linked into the Oracle kernel, and does not require the database to be opened (mapped from the ?/rdbms/admin/recover.bsq file). RMAN can do off-line and on-line database backups. It cannot, however, write directly to tape, but various 3rd-party tools (like Veritas, Omiback, etc) can integrate with RMAN to handle tape library management. ============================================================================ How does one integrate RMAN with third-party Media Managers? The following Media Management Software Vendors have integrated their media management software with RMAN (Oracle Recovery Manager): * Veritas NetBackup - http://www.veritas.com/ * EMC Data Manager (EDM) - http://www.emc.com/ * HP OMNIBack/ DataProtector - http://www.hp.com/ * IBM's Tivoli Storage Manager (formerly ADSM) - * http://www.tivoli.com/storage/ * EMC Networker - http://www.emc.com/ * BrightStor ARCserve Backup - http://www.ca.com/us/data-loss-prevention.aspx * Sterling Software's SAMS:Alexandria (formerly from Spectralogic) - * http://www.sterling.com/sams/ * SUN's Solstice Backup - http://www.sun.com/software/whitepapers/backup-n-storage/ * CommVault Galaxy - http://www.commvault.com/ * etc... The above Media Management Vendors will provide first line technical support (and installation guides) for their respective products. A complete list of supported Media Management Vendors can be found at: http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/availability/htdocs/bsp.htm When allocating channels one can specify Media Management spesific parameters. Here are some examples: Netbackup on Solaris: allocate channel t1 type 'SBT_TAPE' PARMS='SBT_LIBRARY=/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/libobk.so.1'; ============================================================================ Oracle flashback features: * Oracle Flashback Table, which enables you to revert a table to its contents at a time in the recent past * Oracle Flashback Drop, which enables you to retrieve deleted (dropped) database tables * Oracle Flashback Database, which enables you to revert the entire database to a past point in time. - You can use Recovery Manager to perform backups to disk. You don't need to integrate Oracle with any Media Managers if you only intend to write backups to disk. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes from 2 Day DBA - Tools to administer: Oracle DB Config Assistant (DBCA) : utility that creates database from predefined templates. Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control (Database Control): Interface to performance advisors, RMAN, etc. Fast Recovery Area Size: Ideally should contain all of full backups + incremental backups in disk. However if some backups can be moved to tape, this could be bit smaller. Database backups created by RMAN are stored as image copies or backup sets. * Image copies are copies of files recorded in RMAN repository. (Entire file is copied, no intelligence about used/unused portions) * Backup sets are produced by RMAN BACKUP command. It contains several physical files called backup pieces. Unused blocks in datafiles not stored. RMAN depends on server sessions, processes that run on db server. Each such server session corresponds to an RMAN channel. Channels are either of type disk or type SBT (tape). Only for tape backup you need media manager. Oracle Secure Backup is a media manager similar to 3rd party ones. Backup Tags: A tag is text string that identifies that backup. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11g solaris installed at v210b : /export/home2/tmp/thava/oinstall/cfgtoollogs/dbca/orcl ORACLE_HOME=/export/home2/tmp/thava/oinstall/product/11.1.0/db_1 Global Database Name: orcl System Identifier : orcl Server Parameter Filename: oinstall/product/11.1.0/db_1/dbs/spfileorcl.ora DB Control URL is: https://s4u-v210b-blr03:1158/em [ Also: Ultra Search HTTP port number =5620 Enterprise Manager Agent Port (orcl) = 3938 ] The SYS, SYSTEM, SYSMAN, and DBSNMP accounts are unlocked by default. Two admin user accounts are automatically created when Oracle Database is installed: SYS (default password: CHANGE_ON_INSTALL); SYSTEM (default password: MANAGER) ?? Login as user: sys (or system) Password: oracle The URL and port information for Database Control can be found after installation in the Oracle_home/install/portlist.ini file. The server parameter file is here: $ORACLE_HOME/dbs oracle11sql(){ initoracle11 sqlplus /nolog } -You create databse using database configuration assistant : $ORACLE_HOME/bin/dbca -The GUI install forces you to run : oraInventory/orainstRoot.sh and product/11.1.0/db_1/root.sh as root user - Defining blackouts, which are time periods in which database monitoring is suspended so that maintenance operations do not skew monitoring data or generate needless alerts. ============================================================================== Example_RMAN_Session ============================================================================== Terminology Description ============================================================================== Target Database Database to be backed up or restored. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recovery Catalog Optional. Separate DB instance to store catalog of db control file (i.e. DB metadata). Can store meta-data for many target Databases. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Auxilary DB or Physical standby database for duplicate db, Point-in-time instance. recovery, etc. It is usually auto-created and destroyed for you. So you don't have to worry about creating it in most cases. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Connecting to Oracle Instance: # RMAN always connects as SYSDBA; # OS authentication requires the user be part of OSDBA unix group. export ORACLE_SID=prod % rman TARGET / Table: Values in Examples ============================================================================== Keyword Meaning ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SYS User with SYSDBA privileges prod The net service name for the target database rco User that owns the recovery catalog schema. This is a user defined in the recovery catalog database that has been granted the RECOVERY_CATALOG_OWNER role. catdb The net service name for the recovery catalog database aux The net service name for an auxiliary instance. ============================================================================== Example: Connecting to Target and Catalog Databases from the System Prompt % rman TARGET SYS@prod CATALOG rco@catdb target database Password: password connected to target database: PROD (DBID=39525561) recovery catalog database Password: password connected to recovery catalog database RMAN> LIST BACKUP; connected to target database: RDBMS (DBID=771530996) using target database control file instead of recovery catalog List of Backup Sets ==================== ...... Note: The backup sets are maintained within Target Database itself! Q: Media management library is not used when you list backup sets ?!! RMAN Catalog makes use of additional database instance. The recovery catalog is optional feature. Most RMAN commands require that RMAN connect to target database (a database that will be backed up/restored). The target database has control files that describe the DB. Q: What if the target database does not exist ? Then you must have recovery catalog in a separate db instance. You can clone db to same or different server using RMAN. % rman TARGET / # connects to db instance using OS authentication. % % rman TARGET / CATALOG rco@catdb # Logs in. Makes use of catalog instance. % % Before invoking RMAN, it may be useful to set the NLS_DATE_FORMAT and NLS_ LANG environment variables. These variables determine the format used for the time parameters in RMAN commands such as RESTORE, RECOVER, and REPORT. The following example shows typical language and date format settings: NLS_LANG=american NLS_DATE_FORMAT='Mon DD YYYY HH24:MI:SS' RMAN> CONNECT TARGET RMAN> BACKUP DATABASE; RMAN> BACKUP DATABASE INCLUDE CURRENT CONTROLFILE; Example RMAN Command File: 1. Create an RMAN command file that uses substitution variables. The following example shows the contents of a command file named quarterly_backup.cmd, which is run every quarter. The script uses substitution variables for the name of the tape set, for a string in the FORMAT specification, and for the name of the restore point to be created. # quarterly_backup.cmd CONNECT TARGET / RUN { ALLOCATE CHANNEL c1 DEVICE TYPE sbt PARMS 'ENV=(OB_MEDIA_FAMILY=&1)'; BACKUP DATABASE TAG &2 FORMAT '/disk2/bck/&1%U.bck' KEEP FOREVER RESTORE POINT &3; } EXIT; setenv media_family archival_backup setenv format bck0906 setenv restore_point FY06Q3 % rman @'/disk1/scripts/whole_db.cmd' USING $media_family $format $restore_point Display Configuration: RMAN> SHOW ALL; RMAN configuration parameters for database with db_unique_name PROD1 are: CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO RECOVERY WINDOW OF 3 DAYS; CONFIGURE BACKUP OPTIMIZATION ON; CONFIGURE DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE TO DISK; # default CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP ON; CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE SBT_TAPE TO '%F'; #default CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO '%F'; # default CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE 'SBT_TAPE' PARALLELISM 2 BACKUP TYPE TO COMPRESSED BACKUPSET; CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE DISK PARALLELISM 1 BACKUP TYPE TO BACKUPSET; # default CONFIGURE DATAFILE BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE SBT_TAPE TO 1; # default CONFIGURE DATAFILE BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE SBT_TAPE TO 1; # default CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default CONFIGURE CHANNEL DEVICE TYPE 'SBT_TAPE' PARMS 'ENV=(OB_DEVICE=tape1)'; CONFIGURE MAXSETSIZE TO UNLIMITED; # default CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION FOR DATABASE OFF; # default CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION ALGORITHM 'AES128'; # default CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG DELETION POLICY TO NONE; # default CONFIGURE SNAPSHOT CONTROLFILE NAME TO '/disk1/oracle/dbs/snapcf_ev.f'; # default You can also use the SHOW command with the name of a particular configuration. For example, you can view the retention policy and default device type as follows: SHOW RETENTION POLICY; SHOW DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE; You can restore default: RMAN> CONFIGURE BACKUP OPTIMIZATION CLEAR; Tape Backup Examples ==================== CONFIGURE CHANNEL DEVICE TYPE sbt PARMS 'ENV=(OB_RESOURCE_WAIT_TIME=1minute,OB_DEVICE=tape1)'; Behaviour when device type is set to disk: ============================================================================== The backup destination location defaults to flash recovery area if configured. Otherwise, it defaults to OS specific dir on disk ???? Q: ?? Behaviour when device type is set to sbt: ============================================================================== Media manager must be available. Backup set Vs Image Copy: ============================================================================== Device Type Supported Backup Method ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Disk Image Copies, Backup Set (compressed or uncompressed) Sbt Backup Set (compressed or uncompressed) Q: Why not Image Copy??? RMAN can store backup data in a logical structure called a backup set, which is the smallest unit of an RMAN backup. A backup set contains the data from one or more datafiles, archived redo logs, or control files or server parameter file. Backup sets, which are only created and accessed through RMAN, are the only form in which RMAN can write backups to media managers such as tape drives and tape libraries. A backup set contains one or more binary files in an RMAN-specific format. This file is known as a backup piece. A backup set can contain multiple datafiles. For example, you can back up ten datafiles into a single backup set consisting of a single backup piece. In this case, RMAN creates one backup piece as output. The backup set contains only this backup piece. If you specify the SECTION SIZE parameter on the BACKUP command, then RMAN produces a multisection backup. This is a backup of a single large file, produced by multiple channels in parallel, each of which produces one backup piece. Each backup piece contains one file section of the file being backed up. An example of a backup piece on disk is as follows: /d1/orcva/TEST/backupset/2007_12_12/o1_mf_nnndf_TAG20071212T162825_2qyl99jm_.bkp Proxy Copies ============================================================================== * Used only with backup set on to tape device (not to disk device). * Control files are not copied when Proxy copy is active. During a proxy copy, RMAN turns over control of the data transfer to a media manager that supports this feature. Proxy copy can only be used with media managers that support it and cannot be used with channels of type DISK. The PROXY option of the BACKUP command specifies that a backup should be a proxy copy. For each file that you attempt to back up with the BACKUP PROXY command, RMAN queries the media manager to determine whether it can perform a proxy copy. If the media manager cannot proxy copy the file, then RMAN backs the file up as if the PROXY option had not been used. (Use the PROXY ONLY option to force RMAN to fail if a proxy copy cannot be performed.) Note that control files are never backed up with proxy copy. If the PROXY option is specified on an operation backing up a control file, then it is silently ignored for the purposes of backing up the control file. RMAN-Created Image Copies To create image copies and have them recorded in the RMAN repository, you run the RMAN BACKUP AS COPY command. Alternatively, you can configure the default backup type for disk as image copies. A database server session is used to create the copy. The server session also performs actions such as validating the blocks in the file and recording the image copy in the RMAN repository. As with backup pieces, FORMAT variables are also used to specify the names of image copies. The default format %U, which was explained in "Filenames for Backup Pieces" on page 7-5, is defined differently for image copies. The following example shows name for datafile 2 generated by %U: /d1/oracle/work/orcva/RDBMS/datafile/o1_mf_sysaux_2qylngm3_.dbf BACKUP AS COPY TABLESPACE users DB_FILE_NAME_CONVERT ('/maindisk/oradata/users', '/backups/users_ts'); If you run a RESTORE command, then by default RMAN restores a datafile or control file to its original location by copying an image copy backup to that location. Image copies are chosen over backup sets because of the extra overhead of reading through an entire backup set in search of files to be restored. ============================================================================== 2. Configure backup sets or image copies as the default backup type. CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE DISK BACKUP TYPE TO COPY; # image copies CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE DISK BACKUP TYPE TO BACKUPSET; # uncompressed The following examples configure compression for backup sets: CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE DISK BACKUP TYPE TO COMPRESSED BACKUPSET; CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE sbt BACKUP TYPE TO COMPRESSED BACKUPSET; Example : Configuring a Nondefault Backup Location ============================================================================== CONFIGURE CHANNEL DEVICE TYPE DISK FORMAT '/disk1/ora_df%t_s%s_s%p'; RMAN automatically replaces the format specifier %t with a four byte time stamp, %s with the backup set number, and %p with the backup piece number. ============================================================================== Example: Specify ASM (Auto Storage Management) disk location: CONFIGURE CHANNEL DEVICE TYPE DISK FORMAT '+dgroup1'; ============================================================================== Example: Autobackup of Control File: You can run the following command to specify a nondefault filename for the control file autobackup. In the filename, ? stands for ORACLE_HOME. CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO '?/oradata/cf_%F'; ============================================================================== Media Mangement Library: CONFIGURE CHANNEL DEVICE TYPE sbt PARMS 'SBT_LIBRARY=pathname'; Linux and UNIX, it is $ORACLE_HOME/lib/libobk.so, Windows it is %ORACLE_HOME%\bin\orasbt.dll. To pass vendor specific parameters: e.g. for oracle secure backup : CONFIGURE CHANNEL DEVICE TYPE 'SBT_TAPE' PARMS 'ENV=(OB_MEDIA_FAMILY=datafile_mf)'; It backs up to a family of tapes called 'datafile_mf'; ============================================================================== * RMAN can be used to restore to arbitrary disk path. * Can it backup arbitrary file system to tape ? ============================================================================== About Media Manager Backup Piece Names ============================================================================== A backup piece name is determined by the FORMAT string specified in the BACKUP command, CONFIGURE CHANNEL command, or ALLOCATE CHANNEL command. The media manager considers the backup piece name as the name of the backup file, so every backup piece must have a unique name in the media management catalog. You can use the substitution variables in a FORMAT parameter to generate unique backup piece names. For example, %d specifies the name of the database, whereas %t specifies the backup timestamp. For most purposes, you can use %U, in which case RMAN automatically generates a unique filename. The backup piece name 12i1nk47_1_1 is an example. If you do not specify the FORMAT parameter, then RMAN automatically generates a unique filename with the %U substitution variable. ============================================================================== RMAN Capabilities: When you execute the BACKUP command in RMAN, the output is always either one or more backup sets or one or more image copies. A backup set is an RMAN-specific proprietary format, whereas an image copy is a bit-for-bit copy of a file. By default, RMAN creates backup sets. RMAN cannot back up external files not part of predefined set of database related files. Use some non-RMAN backup solution for those files instead. ============================================================================== Inconsistent Backup: * You put database in ARCHIVELOG mode and take file system/RMAN backup. User-Managed Image Copies ============================================================================== RMAN can use image copies created by mechanisms outside of RMAN, such as native operating system file copy commands or third-party utilities that leave image copies of files on disk. This type of copy is known as a user-managed backup or operating system backup. You can use the CATALOG command to inspect an existing image copy and enter its metadata into the RMAN repository. However, the CATALOG command does not do the following: * Read all blocks in the datafile copy to insure there are no corruptions * Guarantee that the image copy was correctly made in backup mode After you * catalog these files, you can use them with the RESTORE or SWITCH commands * just as you can for RMAN-generated image copies. General Tape Management Considerations ====================================== How to Manage Tape Backups ? ============================ Tape keeps on rewinding ? who manages tape contents ? Volume managers ? TSM = Tivoli Storage Manager Here is a typical scenario when TSM requires a new scratch volume and requests a private mount: 1. The tape management system can then give TSM a volume from the scratch pool. However, in most installations, the operator selects the scratch volume from a list provided by the tape management system. 2. The tape management system verifies that the volume mounted is a scratch volume. 3. Tivoli Storage Manager uses the volser of this tape to define the volume to the storage pool. 4. The tape label is rewritten with the expiration date from the device class (if specified) and the data set name. 5. When the tape volume becomes empty, usually due to reclamation, it is deleted from TSM. ============================================================================== Oracle 10g Local Install Notes ~ ============================================================================== To access the Database Home Page go to "http://127.0.0.1:8080/apex" apex == Application Express After install did this: /etc/init.d/oracle-xe configure .... database listener port = 1521 SYS and SYSTEM account password = thava disabled start on boot.