Duplicate database and incremental backups

Hello,
I'm currently investigating options to maintain a test server that is "relatively" up-to date compared to the production server.
This is my first contact with RMAN and I went through the manuals but as I did not have a chance to play with it I might have missed something.
This is an Oracle 11.2 (not sure about the full version number) on a Redhat Enterprise Linux.
The test server needs to be writeable and need to be re-synced with the production server approx. once or twice a month. Due to the size of the database (~600GB) we are looking into solutions that could make use of the incremental backups that are already taken on the production database.
While initiating the test server using RMAN DUPLICATE seems to be straight forward, I'm unsure on how the "syncing" can be done in the most efficient way - especially because we are changing the data on the test server.
From the description of the RMAN RECOVER command it's not clear to me if this could be used to "recover" the test database based on the incremental backups to the "current state" of the production database even if the test database has been changed. After reading some posts here, this does not seem to be the case.
Would a restore point make such an incremental restore possible? Creating a (named?) restore point right after the duplication, then once the tests are finished do a flashback to the restore point and then apply the incremental backups that have accumulated since then.
Another options seems to be to create a Standby Database. Then when performing the tests we turn the Standby Database into a Snapshot Standby Database open it in read/write and run the tests. Once we are done, we switch it back to a physical standby. That switchback will rewind the changes and the accumulated redo logs are applied thus "incrementally" catching up with production - which is essentially what we want.
Is there any other solution to this? Or is using a snapshot standby the most efficient solution? If at all possible we would like to avoid transferring the 600GB each time we want to re-sync the test database.
Thanks in advance
Thomas

Thomas;
RMAN Incremental Backups to Roll Forward a Physical Standby Database might offer some help.
There's a great example of it here :
http://www.oracle-ckpt.com/?s=standby+scn&op.x=0&op.y=0
If you go the Snapshot route make sure you have the space for the Archive on both databases. Also double check you flash recovery area, again on both databases. If you have an issue you may have to use the roll forward.
Best Regards
mseberg

Similar Messages

10g rman database and archivelogs backup with multipled archlog destination

I would like to use the 10g database and archivelogs backup statetement
backup database plus archivelog;
I would like to restrict the location of the archivelogs backed out as I am multiplexing the
archivelogs
I did not find a LIKE statement and the backup database plus archivelog
Did i miss something
patrick boulay

I meant backup
I just want to restrict rman form backing up the two location using the 'one shot' 10g syntax
I used to backup using two steps
1) datafile
2) archlogs with a LIKE expression to tell Rman where to find the archlogs
1+2 with autobackup of control+spfile
the 'backup database plus archivelog ' syntax does accept a 'LIKE' expression
patrick

Restoring the DB with Online and incremental backup's

Dear Experts,
We are planning for a backup strategy on our Production system as below using BRTOOLS with RMAN - " Weekly Full Online Backup and Incremental backup on the remaining days'
We need to test this before implementing it on Production system, could someone please help me with the step-step procedure/documentation for restoring the DB using "an online backup, incremental backup's and redo logs " and prerequisites if any??
Many Thanks !!
Regards,
Sri

Hi Sri,
please have a look at the following
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70/helpdata/en/0d/d3077b4a0c11d182b80000e829fbfe/content.htm
https://help.sap.com/saphelp_nwmobile711/helpdata/en/47/18cb034de863efe10000000a114a6b/content.htm
Best Regards
Marius

Restoring a catalog from backup and incremental backups on external Hard drive

Hello!
I recently bought a new computer where I installed again Elements 8 (that's the one I'm currently using). From my old computer, I have an initial complete catalog backup which was saved in a folder (I called this folder "Complete catalog backup") on an external hard drive. I also made then subsequent incremental backups which were saved in different folders called "Incremental backup 1", "incremental backup 2" etc. on the same external hard drive. Apparently in Element, I discovered that incremental backups can't be saved in the same folder as initial complete backup!
How should I proceed now to restore my catalog on my new computer? I know how to do it when one has only a complete initial catalog backup, but now I have also several incremental backups (contained in folders "incremental backup 1", "incremental backup 2" etc.), I just don't know how to proceed.
Some help would be very much appreciated.
Thanks a lot

First and foremost: Forget re-importing. You would loose all your edits. Importing is strictly only for images that have never been imported before.
The remedy for "missing" photos is to re-link them.
In Lr / Grid View right-click the top-most folder in the folders panel. By "top-most" I mean the parent folders of all folders. If you have several parent folder right-click one of them.
Then select <Find Missing Folder>, navigate to the corresponding folder on your new drive E and select it. Do this for every other parent folder. If the folder names and structure haven't changed Lr will find the sub-folders on its own.
For more see here: http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm

Restore User Archives from Full and Incremental backups

Ok Groupwise 8. User's keep their archives under the main users folder on a Novell Server. Groupwise is running from Linux server, so the main post office and domain are backed up nightly on the Linux server, the user archives are backed up nightly on that server.
I have had to restore current messages a user accidentally deleted from their mailbox, Reload handled that as those were current. But now I have one user who didn't know what the folder GWArchive was and blew it away. It was his archives. He needs them back. So I have restored them from the Novell server backup, first from the last full backup and then the two incremental backups that cover up to the point he deleted the folder. The incrementals were restored to separate folders because I didn't want those to overwrite the main files as these are incremental.
How do you "merge" all these together to rebuild that archive index? Is it just a matter of moving all the .000, .001, .002, etc. files over, then the *.db files, and the index files? Or something different?
Thanks in advance - I wish there was someplace that describes all these file types, what they are, etc. a really technical level explanation so I understand this a lot better.
Kind regards,

* iliadmin,
when you do incremental backups, it's very useful to have an option to restore a certain point in time and let the backup app collect the data which was in place at that point in time. Else copy back the base, then *overwrite* with the first incremental, then the second etc., moving up to the latest backup you have.
Which file is which is pretty well explained in the manual. The files are the same as in the live PO, just for only one user when you look at an archive.
HTH
Uwe
Novell Knowledge Partner (NKP)
Please don't send me support related e-mail unless I ask you to do so.

Duplicate Database and RMAN-20208

I'm trying to duplicate an old backup into an auxiliary database. Both the backup and auxiliary are 10g. When I run the following in RMAN:
run {
set until scn 41429334;
duplicate target database to aux;
}I get this error:
executing command: SET until clause
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-03002: failure of set command at 05/17/2010 08:54:26
RMAN-06004: ORACLE error from recovery catalog database: RMAN-20208: UNTIL CHANGE is before RESETLOGS changeI'm trying to duplicate from a consistent (cold) RMAN backup and there have been a few OPEN RESETLOGS commands applied to the database as it's a development environment. Is there a way I can get around this issue in the duplicate command. I'd really like to avoid copying over the existing environment as it's currently under heavy use. Any suggestions, links, answers would be appreciated.
Thanks,
John

No, I believe you will get the same error. The cause of the problem is that a RESETLOGS operation was performed after the backup was created so the control file isn't aware of any pre-RESETLOGS operations. Even if you use a Recovery Catalog DB, you'll still get this error.

Keeping CMS database and FRS backups in synch

I am in the process of upgrading to BOE XI R3.1 from CE 10 and am looking at our backup and recover plan.
We are planning on implementing 2 BOE Xi R3.1 servers with a clustered CMS. Our CMS database will be running on a remote SQL Server (2005) farm that will be immediately replicated to our secondary site using SRDF.
The FRS will be local to each BOE XI R3.1 server. We are thinking of immediately replicating the FRS from the primary location to the secondary location using DFS but I worry about the FRS and the CMS possibly being out of synch when we try to restore.
By trying to have backups up to the latest instant am I looking for trouble? if this is manageable, am I going about it the right way?
In our CE 10 deployment we have a CMS database backup at midnight and the FRS is Robocopied at 12:15. I'm just looking to improve upon this.
Thanks

Right both BOE servers will point to the FRS on the primary BOE server and the primary CMS database on the SQL server farm. Then we replicate the primary FRS to the secondary FRS located on the secondary BOE server and the primary CMS database to the secondary CMS database both on the SQL Server farm.
If we need to we'll switch the primary and secondary BOE servers to the secondary FRS (located on the secondary BOE server) and the secondary CMS database on the farm.
I guess what I'm looking for is the best practice for the backup. I think what I'm hearing is the best route to go is to have the backups as often as you want but the best way to ensure that the backups are in synch is to do them when the CMS and FRS servers are down. Otherwise they could be out of synch with report requests being executed at the same time.
Right?
Thanks again

A problem to drop database and its backups.

HI,
database: 10.2.0.4.0
OS: AIX
SQL> startup mount exclusive;
ORACLE instance started.
Total System Global Area 1610612736 bytes
Fixed Size 2084336 bytes
Variable Size 385876496 bytes
Database Buffers 1174405120 bytes
Redo Buffers 48246784 bytes
Database mounted.
SQL> alter system enable restricted session;
sql> exit
rman target / catalog rman@rmancatalog
RMAN> drop database including backups;
starting full resync of recovery catalog
full resync complete
database name is "xxxx" and DBID is xxxxx
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-03002: failure of drop db & bck command at 09/28/2012 15:40:12
RMAN-06941: Database must be closed and mounted EXCLUSIVE and RESTRICTED.
RMAN> sql 'alter system enable restricted session';
sql statement: alter system enable restricted session
RMAN>
RMAN> drop database including backups;
database name is "xxxxx" and DBID is xxxxx
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-03002: failure of drop db & bck command at 09/28/2012 15:41:37
RMAN-06941: Database must be closed and mounted EXCLUSIVE and RESTRICTED.
what is wrong?
thank you
Edited by: 951932 on Sep 28, 2012 1:49 PM

Hello,
this is what I did, anyway, still failed. thank you very much.
SQL> shutdown immediate
Database closed.
Database dismounted.
ORACLE instance shut down.
SQL> startup restrict mount
ORACLE instance started.
Total System Global Area 1610612736 bytes
Fixed Size 2084336 bytes
Variable Size 385876496 bytes
Database Buffers 1174405120 bytes
Redo Buffers 48246784 bytes
Database mounted.
SQL> drop database;
drop database
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01586: database must be mounted EXCLUSIVE and not open for this operation
SQL> alter system enable restricted session;
System altered.
SQL> drop database;
drop database
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-01586: database must be mounted EXCLUSIVE and not open for this operation
### try another way.
SQL> shutdown immediate
Database closed.
Database dismounted.
ORACLE instance shut down.
SQL> startup nomount;
ORACLE instance started.
Total System Global Area 1610612736 bytes
Fixed Size 2084336 bytes
Variable Size 385876496 bytes
Database Buffers 1174405120 bytes
Redo Buffers 48246784 bytes
SQL> alter database mount exclusive;
Database altered.
SQL> SQL> alter system enable restricted session;
System altered.
SQL> SQL> exit
Disconnected from Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition Release 10.2.0.4.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Data Mining and Real Application Testing options
[oracle][gamfcs]/home/oracle>rman target /
Recovery Manager: Release 10.2.0.4.0 - Production on Mon Oct 8 09:29:36 2012
Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.
connected to target database: GAMFCS (DBID=2082941597)
RMAN>
RMAN> drop database including backups;
database name is "GAMFCS" and DBID is 2082941597
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-03002: failure of drop db & bck command at 10/08/2012 09:29:57
RMAN-06941: Database must be closed and mounted EXCLUSIVE and RESTRICTED.
Edited by: 951932 on Oct 8, 2012 7:33 AM

Error while duplicate database for standby

Hello Guys,
Both of my database are 10gR2 and Linux is the operating system.
I am trying to create a standby database for my production database.
I have matched the directory structure of primary and standby database and there is no conflict. Directory permissions are also set.
After taking the rman backup from production database when i connect auxiliary database from production. I run this command to duplicate database and create standby database.
rman
set until sequence XXXX;
duplicate target database for standby dorecover nofilenamecheck;
I get this error:
executing Memory Script
executing command: SET until clause
Starting restore at 04-JUN-11
using channel ORA_AUX_DISK_1
channel ORA_AUX_DISK_1: starting datafile backupset restore
channel ORA_AUX_DISK_1: restoring control file
channel ORA_AUX_DISK_1: reading from backup piece /tmp/backup_files/standby_control_1jme2far_1_1
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============
RMAN-00571: ===========================================================
RMAN-03002: failure of Duplicate Db command at 06/04/2011 21:00:37
RMAN-03015: error occurred in stored script Memory Script
ORA-19870: error reading backup piece /tmp/backup_files/standby_control_1jme2far_1_1
ORA-01565: error in identifying file '/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1/dbs/spfileORCL.ora'
ORA-27037: unable to obtain file status
Linux-x86_64 Error: 2: No such file or directory
Additional information: 3
*/tmp/backup_files/standby_control_1jme2far_1_1 file exists*
* spfileORCL.ora* exists on both servers in same directory and same path.
Can you please suggest where is the problem?
Thank you so much.
Imran

ORA-19870: error reading backup piece /tmp/backup_files/standby_control_1jme2far_1_1
ORA-01565: error in identifying file '/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1/dbs/spfileORCL.ora'
ORA-27037: unable to obtain file statusLinux-x86_64 Error: 2: No such file or directory
Might the backup piece not exist or file is unae to read at this time. Can you check is this physically exist Or not?
And preferred to take new fresh backup and perform duplicate

How to restore using increment backup after full backup restore in RMAN?

Hi All,
We have a files of full backup of database after turning on the Archive log.
And after that, daily incremental backup is taken.
Now, i want to restore the the database into a new machine using both files of full and incremental backups. Can anybody give me script for restore of full backup and after that restore of incremental backup?
Thanks,
Praveen.

Praveen,
>>
In my case, i have 2 sets of backups. One is full backup and other is incremental backup. In order to keep the restored database upto date, i need to restore the full backup and then restore incremental backup. Now, i got any idea how to restore using full backup. My doubt is how to update the restored database with incremental backup also?
>>
Restore always looks for level 0 backup, not the incremental backups.
Incremental backups comes in picture during recovery.
During Recovery, Oracle looks for incremental backups, if exists, it will do the recovery with the incremental backups, if no incremental backups available, then, it will look for archived logs.
Therefore, incremental backups never used during restore, they are used only during the recovery.
Jaffar

Database creation using backups files

Hi,
I would like to create a test database from backup of my production database.
I am new to this task.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
in production server
1.Login as sysdba in the and issue
"alter database backup controlfile to trace" command
in test server
2.Create a user oratest
2.Copy all the data files from production server
3.Copy the Oracle home
4.Edit the trace file
i.CREATE CONTROLFILE SET DATABASE "prod" RESETLOGS
in place of
CREATE CONTROLFILE REUSE DATABASE "test" NORESETLOGS
ii.Remove the recover database and alter database open lines.
iii.Edit the data files with new path in test server.
iv.save as db_create.sql
5.create the new database by executing
i.sqlplus '/as sysdba'
ii.startup nomount
iii.@db_create.sql
iv.alter database open.
What changes I have to do after copying initprod.ora to inittest.ora?
Thanks,

Your question is lacking the 4-digit version of the database, and the O/S.
For Oracle 10g and higher, using database control, it would be much more easy to duplicate the database to another server, using rman.
The procedure you describe is incomplete and incorrect and will fail for several reasons.
2.Create a user oratest -- why?
2.Copy all the data files from production server -- obviously the production database needs to be shutdown for this, or all files will be inconsistent
3.Copy the Oracle home -- if you created a new user oratest, and the user on the production server is oracle, this is not going to work, as the user and group info is linked into the Oracle executable. Also the O/S and version must be identical.
If you created a new user, you need to reinstall Oracle, if your O/S version is not identical you need to relink Oracle.
4 i is incorrect
Obviously, in inittest.ora all occurrences of prod need to replaced by test.
But then again: use RMAN and the only command you need is duplicate database, and the production database can stay online.
Sybrand Bakker
Senior Oracle DBA

Standby database using rman backup

I'm using oracle11g on my work place and now i wont to create duplicate database using rman backup.
at the time i installed only oracle 11g software.
Pls guide me to overcome the problem. i'm newcomer to oracle.
Pls give the steps.
Edited by: user10444101 on Apr 30, 2010 2:17 AM

user10444101 wrote:
I'm using oracle11g on my work place and now i wont to create duplicate database using rman backup.
at the time i installed only oracle 11g software.
Pls guide me to overcome the problem. i'm newcomer to oracle.
Pls give the steps.
Edited by: user10444101 on Apr 30, 2010 2:17 AMSee the following link
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B28359_01/backup.111/b28270/rcmdupdb.htm#i1008564

Restore using incremental backup with noarchivelog mode

Hello experts,
We are running SAP on Oracle databse(IN NOARCHIVELOG MODE) for which we are having full offline backup on every sunday and post which incremental backups on rest of the days. We have scenario to do restore db to the state till last friday's incremental backup.
Please let us know the procedure for restoring till that point. If possible using brtools utility(which is SAP specific).
Thank You
Regards,
Venkateshwar

If you do not want to read the whole doc This is the snippet for you.
Recovering a NOARCHIVELOG Database with Incremental Backups
Restoring a database running in NOARCHIVELOG mode is similar to restoring a database in ARCHIVELOG mode. The main differences are:
Only consistent backups can be used in restoring a database in NOARCHIVELOG mode.
Media recovery is not possible because no archived redo logs exist.
You can perform limited recovery of changes to a database running in NOARCHIVELOG mode by applying incremental backups. The incremental backups must be consistent, like all backups of a database run in NOARCHIVELOG mode, so you cannot make backups of the database when it is open.
When you are recovering a NOARCHIVELOG database, specify the NOREDO option on the RECOVER command to indicate that RMAN should not attempt to apply archived redo logs. Otherwise, RMAN returns an error.
To recover a NOARCHIVELOG database with incremental backups:
After connecting to the target database and the recovery catalog, place the database in a mounted state:
STARTUP FORCE MOUNT
Restore and recover the database.
For example, you can perform incomplete recovery with the following commands:
RESTORE DATABASE
FROM TAG "consistent_whole_backup";
RECOVER DATABASE NOREDO;
Open the database with the RESETLOGS option.
For example, enter the following command:
ALTER DATABASE OPEN RESETLOGS;

Incremental backup time query?

Database size = 270GB
Time taken for full level 0 backup = 50 minutes (Day 1)
Time taken for cumulative level 1 backup = 70 minutes (Day 2)
Time taken for differental level 1 backup = 55 minutes (Day 3)
My question is how come the incremental backup is taking more time than the full backup time?
Please advice.
Sami Malik
[email protected]

Sami Malik wrote:
Yes incremental backup is taken on the same time when there is heavy load on the system. For sure is this the reason? No, not for sure. We haven't seen enough info to say for sure, but given what we have been shown, it is a reasonable first guess. To know for sure, you need to do some actual performance analysis during both full and incremental backups and compare the two. STATSPACK is always a good place to start.
I will try the incremental backup at night when there is nobody connected.
Even though online backups can be taken anytime, it's always a good idea to schedule them during low-usage times.
But one more question when in case if there is a 24/7 system, then its no use of taking incremental backup right?Why would you think that? If your system is 24/7, that's even more reason to be taking incrementals. If you do have to perform a recovery, having incrementals will shorten your recovery time, vs. haveing to apply all archived redo back to the last full backup.
Also, you should be taking regular full backups as well. Most people take a full backup weekly, and an incremental on the other 6 days of the week.
As an additional thought .... while it is a curiosity that that your incremental took longer than the full and much could be learned by chasing it down, you always have to ask "is this a problem that needs to be solved?" If you schedule all backups (full and incremental) during low-use times, and the users do not notice any impact, do you really care if the incremental took longer than the full? On the other hand, it may not be a problem that "needs" to be solved, but running it down may reveal other problems that are impacting or have real potential to impact the business, and should be solved.

FRA´s datafile directory and tape backups

Hi again,
I have tried to find relevant information for my question, but instead of finding answers (again) which may or may not be helpful I hope someone can explain me.
We are running 10Gr2 databases with FRA´s enabled, currently backupping all using Oracle´s suggested backup to Disk devices.
Since we have copies of the datafiles in the FRA which takes up quite some (productional) storage space we are asked to stop the Disk backups, and backup things up to the tape device, which underwater is a TSM library.
How would this affect the occupance of the FRA? Will the datafile directory in the FRA be moved to the "tape" device if we implement (solely) tape backups; or is it only the backupsets and autobackups which would then be moved to tape?
I have tried several setups for which I wanted to set the datafile, backupset and autobackup directory out of the FRA, but I have not found a (working) way yet to set the datafile directory apart from it.
Advice or help are greatly appreciated.
Robin

Changing the backup location from FRA to an external device will only effect backups (backupsets or image copies of datafiles,controlfiles,spfile,archivelogs). Possible (but not mandatory) components of FRA are archivelogs,backup pieces,controlfiles,online logs,image copies and flashback logs.
For performance reasons it's better to continue using the FRA as first backup device. Extend your backup strategy by backing the FRA itself to tape in regular intervals.
'BACKUP RECOVERY AREA' backs up recovery files created in the current and all previous flash recovery area destinations. Recovery files are full and incremental backup sets, control file autobackups, archived logs, and datafile copies. Flashback logs, the current control file, and online redo logs are not backed up.
The backup must go to a tape device, so RMAN issues an error if no sbt channels are allocated or configured.
Or use
'BACKUP RECOVERY FILES'. It backs up all recovery files on disk, whether they are stored in the flash recovery area or another locations on disk. Recovery files include full and incremental backup sets, control file autobackups, archived logs, and datafile copies.
Werner

Duplicate database and incremental backups

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for