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Oracle Server database backup and restore requirements: IBM Spectrum Protect Plus V10.1.5

Preventive Service Planning


Abstract

This document details the Oracle Server database backup and restore requirements for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Version 10.1.5.

Content

This document is divided into linked sections for ease of navigation. Use the following links to jump to the section of the document that you require:


General

Before you register an Oracle Server with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, ensure that the system environment meets the following requirements.



 


Configuration

Database versions

  • Oracle 11g R2 Enterprise Edition
  • Oracle 12c R1 Enterprise Edition
  • Oracle 12c R2 Enterprise Edition
  • Oracle 18c Enterprise Edition
  • Oracle 19c Enterprise Edition

Note:  For multitenant databases in Oracle 12c and later, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus supports protection and recovery of the container database, including all pluggable databases (PDBs) under it. Granular recovery of specific PDBs can be performed by using an Instant Disk Restore recovery operation combined with the Recovery Manager (RMAN).
 

Operating systems

  • On IBM PowerPC:
    • IBM AIX 6.1 TL9 and later maintenance and modification levels
    • IBM AIX 7.1 and later maintenance and modification levels
  • On Linux® x86_64:
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux® (RHEL) 6.5 and later maintenance and modification levels
    • RHEL 7.0 and later maintenance and modification levels
    • CentOS 6.5 and later maintenance and modification levels
    • CentOS 7.0 and later maintenance and modification levels
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11.0 SP4 and later maintenance and modification levels
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12.0 SP1 and later maintenance and modification levels
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15.0 and later maintenance and modification levels
       

Restrictions

  • Oracle DataGuard is not supported.
  • Databases must be in ARCHIVELOG mode. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus cannot protect databases running in NOARCHIVELOG mode.
  • Real Application Cluster (RAC) database recovery operations are not server pool-aware. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus can recover databases to a RAC, but not to specific server pools.
  • RAC databases must be configured such that the RMAN Snapshot Control File location points to shared storage that is accessible to all cluster instances.
  • When restoring an Oracle database that was configured for multithreading at the time of backup, the restored database is non-multithreaded. The restored database must be manually reconfigured to use multithreading.



 


Software

  • The bash and sudo packages must be installed. Sudo must be version 1.7.6p2 or later. Run sudo -V to check the version.
    Tip: The required bash and sudo packages are included in the supported Linux86_64  operating systems.
  • RHEL and CentOS 6 users only:
    To ensure that the util-linux-ng package is current, run the following command: 
    yum update util-linux-ng
    Depending on your version or distribution, the package might be named util-linuxg.



 


Connectivity

  • The Secure Shell (SSH) service must be running on port 22 on the server and any firewalls must be configured to allow IBM Spectrum Protect Plus to connect to the server by using SSH. The subsystem for SSH must also be enabled.
  • The server can be registered by using a Domain Name System (DNS) name or an Internet Protocol (IP) address. DNS names must be resolvable by IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.
  • If DNS is not available, you must add the server to the /etc/hosts file on the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus appliance by using the command line.
  • When you register Oracle RAC nodes, register each node by using its physical IP or name. Do not use a virtual name or Single Client Access Name (SCAN).



 


Authentication and privileges

  • The Oracle Server must be registered with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus by using an operating system user that exists on the Oracle Server. The user is then referred to as the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user.
  • Ensure that the password is correctly configured and that the user can log in without other prompts, such as prompts to reset the password.


To use an Oracle Server, an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user must have the following permissions:

  • Privileges to run commands as root and as an Oracle software owner user (for example, oracle or grid) by using sudo. These privileges are required for tasks such as discovering storage layouts, mounting and unmounting disks, and managing databases and Automatic Storage Management (ASM).
    • The sudoers configuration must allow the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user to run commands without a password.
    • The !requiretty setting must be specified.
    • The ENV_KEEP setting must allow the ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_SID environment variables to be retained.
  • Privileges to read the Oracle inventory. These privileges are required for tasks such as discovering and collecting information about Oracle homes and databases.
    To achieve this, the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user must belong to the Oracle inventory group, typically named oinstall.

For information about creating a user with the required privileges, see Sample Configuration of an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Agent User



 


Network file system (NFS)

The Oracle Server must have the native Linux or AIX NFS client installed. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus uses NFS to mount storage volumes for backup and restore operations.
For database restore operations, the Oracle Direct NFS feature is required. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus automatically enables Direct NFS if it is not already enabled.

For Direct NFS to work correctly, the executable file, oracle_home/bin/oradism, in each Oracle home directory must be owned by root and have setuid privileges. Typically, the binary is pre-configured by the Oracle installer, but on certain systems, this binary might not have the required privileges. Run the following commands to set the correct privileges:

  • chown root:oinstall <ORACLE_HOME>/bin/oradism
    Where oinstall specifies the group that owns the installation.
  • chmod 750 <ORACLE_HOME>/bin/oradism



 


Database discovery

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus discovers Oracle installations and databases by searching the /etc/oraInst.loc and /etc/oratab files and the list of running Oracle processes. If the files are not in their default location, the locate utility must be installed on the system so that IBM Spectrum Protect Plus can search for the files.

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus discovers databases and their storage layouts by connecting to running instances and querying the locations of their data files, log files, and so on. In order for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus to correctly discover databases during cataloging and copy operations, databases must be in MOUNTED, READ ONLY, or READ/WRITE mode. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus cannot discover or protect database instances that are shut down.



 


Block change tracking

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requires Oracle block change tracking to be enabled on protected databases to efficiently perform incremental backups. If block change tracking is not already enabled, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus enables it automatically during the backup job.

To customize the placement of the block change tracking file, you must manually enable the block change tracking feature before you run an associated backup job. If the feature is enabled automatically by IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, the following rules are used to determine the placement of the block change tracking file:

  • If the db_create_file_dest parameter is set, the block change tracking file is created in the location specified by this parameter.
  • If the db_create_file_dest parameter is not set, the block change tracking file is created in the same directory as the SYSTEM table space.
     



 


Log backup

  • The cron daemon must be enabled on the application server.
  • The IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user must have the necessary privileges to use the crontab command and create cron jobs. Privileges can be granted through the cron.allow configuration file.
     



 


Sample configuration of an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user

The following commands are examples for creating and configuring an operating system user that IBM Spectrum Protect Plus use to log in to the Oracle Server. The command syntax might vary depending on your operating system type and version.

  • Create the user that is designated as the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user: 
    useradd -m sppagent
  • Set a password: 
    passwd sppagent
  • If using key-based authentication, place the public key in the /home/sppagent/.ssh/authorized_keys directory, or in the appropriate file depending on your sshd configuration, and ensure that the correct ownership and permissions are set. The commands are structured as shown in the following example: 
    chown -R sppagent:sppagent /home/sppagent/.ssh
chmod 700 /home/sppagent/.ssh
chmod 600 /home/sppagent/.ssh/authorized_keys
  • Add the user to the Oracle installation and OSDBA group: 
    usermod -a -G oinstall,dba sppagent
  • If you plan to use ASM, also add the user to the OSASM group: 
    usermod -a -G asmadmin sppagent
  • Place the following lines at the end of the sudoers configuration file, typically /etc/sudoers. If the existing sudoers file is configured to import a configuration from another directory (for example, /etc/sudoers.d), you can also place the lines in a new file in that directory: 
    Defaults:sppagent !requiretty
Defaults:sppagent env_keep+="ORACLE_HOME"
Defaults:sppagent env_keep+="ORACLE_SID"
sppagent ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL



 


Ports

The following ports are used by IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agents users. The ports use secure connections (HTTPS or SSL).

Table 1. Communication ports when the target is an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent
Port Protocol Initiator Target Description
22 Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) IBM Spectrum Protect Plus virtual appliance1 Oracle Server Provides access to troubleshoot and maintain remote proxy host servers running guest applications components by using the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol

1The IBM Spectrum Protect Plus virtual appliance contains the base components: IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server, site, vSnap server, vSnap pool, and VADP proxy.
 

Table 2: Communication ports when the initiator is an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user.
Port Protocol Initiator Target Description
111 TCP Oracle Server vSnap server Allows Open Network Computing (ONC) clients to discover ports for communications with ONC servers
443 TCP Oracle Server vSnap server Allows agents to communicate with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus for sending alerts if log backup failures
2049 TCP Oracle Server vSnap server Used for NFS data transfer to and from vSnap servers
20048 TCP Oracle Server vSnap server Mounts vSnap file systems on clients such as the VMware vStorage API for Data Protection (VADP) proxy, application servers, and virtualization data stores



 


Hardware

Table 3. Minimum hardware requirements
System Disk Space
Compatible hardware that is supported by the operating system and Oracle Server A minimum of 500 MB of disk space for the product to be installed



 


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Document Information

Modified date:
13 February 2020

UID

ibm11071906

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