Backing up primary and physical standby

Question

We have a DG setup with a single instance primary node and a physical standby db. They both use their own FRA's and their own disks. Nothing is shared. Also the datafiles use OMF on both the db's. My questions are
1. Can i register the primary with the rman catalog and still backup the standby?
2. Should i backup the archive logs on primary? If so what rman settings should i use on both for the archive logs?
3. We wanted to back up both the dbs as it will be faster to restore since we wont have to convert filenames (cause of OMF) when we have to resotore backup taken on primary to standby or vice versa.
Any advise related to this scenario is highly appreciated.
Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi All,
you should have same rman format setting and log_archive_format on primary and standby database >to avoide any confusion at the time of restore. if you have different log_archive_format on standby then >primary, you might have to rename your archivelogs from standby to log_archive_format on primary.It is not required to have same log_archive_format for primary and standby database.
The database can be restored and recovered successfully even if the format is different.
Primary database
============
SYS @ oraprim> show parameter log_archive_format
NAME TYPE VALUE
log_archive_format string ARC%S_%R.%T
Standby database
=============
SYS @ orastdby> show parameter log_archive_format
NAME TYPE VALUE
log_archive_format string ARC_STDBY%S_%R.%T
Standby database
=============
C:\> set ORACLE_SID=orastdby
C:\>rman target / catalog recat/recat@recat
RMAN> backup archivelog all delete input;
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting archive log backupset
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying archive log(s) in backup set
input archive log thread=1 sequence=98 recid=15 stamp=631239054
input archive log thread=1 sequence=99 recid=16 stamp=631239055
input archive log thread=1 sequence=100 recid=17 stamp=631239055
input archive log thread=1 sequence=101 recid=19 stamp=631239111
input archive log thread=1 sequence=102 recid=18 stamp=631239110
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting piece 1 at 22-AUG-07
channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 22-AUG-07
piece handle=C:\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORASTDBY\BACKUPSET\2007_08_22\O1_MF_ANNNN_TAG20070822T001717_3DQG6HGS_.BKP
tag=TAG20070822T001717 comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:02
channel ORA_DISK_1: deleting archive log(s)
archive log filename=C:\ORADATA\ORASTDBY\ARCH2\ARC_STDBY00098_0630878042.001 recid=15 stamp=631239054
archive log filename=C:\ORADATA\ORASTDBY\ARCH2\ARC_STDBY00099_0630878042.001 recid=16 stamp=631239055
archive log filename=C:\ORADATA\ORASTDBY\ARCH2\ARC_STDBY00100_0630878042.001 recid=17 stamp=631239055
archive log filename=C:\ORADATA\ORASTDBY\ARCH2\ARC_STDBY00101_0630878042.001 recid=19 stamp=631239111
archive log filename=C:\ORADATA\ORASTDBY\ARCH2\ARC_STDBY00102_0630878042.001 recid=18 stamp=631239110
Finished backup at 22-AUG-07
RMAN>
Primary Database
=============
-- deleted users datafile and did complete recovery
C:\>set ORACLE_SID=oraprim
C:\>rman target / catalog recat/recat@recat
RMAN> run{
2> startup mount;
3> restore database;
4> recover database;
5> }
Oracle instance started
database mounted
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting archive log restore to default destination
channel ORA_DISK_1: restoring archive log
archive log thread=1 sequence=98
channel ORA_DISK_1: restoring archive log
archive log thread=1 sequence=99
channel ORA_DISK_1: restoring archive log
archive log thread=1 sequence=100
channel ORA_DISK_1: restoring archive log
archive log thread=1 sequence=101
channel ORA_DISK_1: restoring archive log
archive log thread=1 sequence=102
channel ORA_DISK_1: reading from backup piece C:\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORASTDBY\BACKUPSET\2007_08_22\O1_MF_ANNNN_TAG20070822T001717_3DQG6HGS_.BKP
channel ORA_DISK_1: restored backup piece 1
piece handle=C:\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORASTDBY\BACKUPSET\2007_08_22\O1_MF_ANNNN_TAG20070822T001717_3DQG6HGS_.BKP tag=TAG20070822T001717
channel ORA_DISK_1: restore complete, elapsed time: 00:00:04
archive log filename=C:\ORADATA\ORA10GR2DB1\ARCH2\ARC00098_0630878042.001 thread=1 sequence=98
archive log filename=C:\ORADATA\ORA10GR2DB1\ARCH2\ARC00099_0630878042.001 thread=1 sequence=99
archive log filename=C:\ORADATA\ORA10GR2DB1\ARCH2\ARC00100_0630878042.001 thread=1 sequence=100
media recovery complete, elapsed time: 00:00:07
Finished recover at 22-AUG-07
RMAN>
Regards,
Vaibhav