Forum Discussion

esco's avatar
esco
Level 4
13 years ago

backing up an oracle database

helo,

I would like to get ideas regarding how to backup an oracle database, I am new to backup exec. Here is my structure.

I have a windows server 2008 which runs backup exec 2010 (The oracle database will be backup to a folder in this server).

I have another server which is rhel 5 (with an oracle 11g databse which i want to backup) with oracle backup agent installed.

When i run symantec backup exec and try to browse through oracle databse i get the message "before you can select this resource for backup configure it using the remote agent utility also called vxmon.exe" as can be seen in the attachment.

is it talking about the remote agent utility in linux or windows server?

can anyone tell me the procedure that need to be in place to backup the oracle database.

after searching i found an article about configuring "Configuring the Oracle Agent on Linux computers". but i am not sure exactly what procedures i should follow and what is the minimum configurations to do oracle backup.

furthermore i have a concern. if i create an instance as described in the article will it have any effect on the databse as it is used by an application which is custom made or the instance is for the purposed of remote agent utility.

attached find the screeshots of my windows and linux servers

Thanks

Agent for Oracle on Windows or Linux Servers
Agents
Backing Up
Backup and Recovery
Backup Exec
Basics
Best Practice
Remote Agent for Linux and Unix Servers
Remote Agent for Windows Servers
Remote Media Agent for Linux Servers
  • AmolB's avatar
    AmolB
    Moderator
    13 years ago

    You need to configure the remote agent utility on the Oracle server.

    Refer to http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO73885

    Also refer to http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO73890

  • Sameer_Kapadia's avatar
    Sameer_Kapadia
    Level 4
    13 years ago

    Hi,

    You need to configure remote agent utility which is on your RHEL box since the oracle database is on this box.

    Configuring the oracle agent is just adding your exisiting oracle instance (which you want to backup) to remote agent utility and in turn letting both remote agent utility and backup exec server to communicate with each other and take backups. Just adding the instance will not have any impacts on the database.

    However when you take backups there might be impacts based on the backup type. For e.g. if your Oracle database is in Archieve Log Mode then backup exec can take 'online' database backups and your applications using the database wont see much impacts, on the other hand if your Oracle database is in NoArchivelog mode then backup exec has take Oracle database 'offline' before it could take backups, this will deffinitely impact your applications which use this database. Irespective of database being in Archive log mode or NoArchive log mode you can still take offline backups. All these options can be found in Backup Exec UI. Backup Exec uses RMAN to take oracle backups.

    Hope this helps!

  • Lilavati's avatar
    Lilavati
    Level 4
    13 years ago

     

    All required steps are mentioned in detail in backup exec admin guide:
     
    Please see following 2 sections in admin guide:
     
    1) Configuring an Oracle instance on Windows computers
     
    2) Configuring an Oracle instance on Linux servers
     
    Thanks,
    Lilavati

     

  • esco's avatar
    esco
    Level 4
    13 years ago

    hi sameer,

    Will symantec take the database offline in both the cases and bring back online after the backup in both the cases...as i have scheduled to backup late at night?

    Furthermore in documenatation for configuring backup for oracle i find this

    6. Enter the name of the Oracle instance in upper case characters.
    For example, ORACLENAME.

    For oracle instance name can I put any name here or is it talking about something else as I am no expert in oracle.

    Thanks

  • Sameer_Kapadia's avatar
    Sameer_Kapadia
    Level 4
    13 years ago

    Hi esco,

    Backup Exec by default tries online backup unless the below check box is checked in backup job properties. Like I said above you can take online backups only if Oracle database is in Archivelog Mode. If Oracle database is in NoArchivelog Mode than we have to take offline backup and for that the below checkbox needs to be checked.

    Also Backup Exec will bring backup the database in the original state when backup started.

     

    For your second query about configuring oracle instance, you need to provide the Oracle instance name of the database which you want to backup and it is mandatory.

    Hope this helps!