Detailed System Requirements
Abstract
This document details the backup and restore requirements for Oracle Database for IBM Storage Copy Data Management 2.2.20.
Content
Note: The product now known as IBM Storage Copy Data Management was named IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management in levels earlier than 2.2.20. To learn more about the brand change, see IBM Spectrum Protect brand change to IBM Storage Protect.
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
- Configuration
- Software
- Connectivity
- Authentication and privileges
- Discovery
- Sample Configuration
- IBM Storage Copy Data Management installs an agent on application servers when they are registered. Some anti-virus software might flag or attempt to remove the agent software. If you run anti-malware software application servers, exclude the installation path of the IBM Storage Copy Data Management agent.
- For Linux-based and AIX-based systems, the agent installation directory must be excluded for any anti-virus software scans. Add this path to the exclusion list for all anti-virus software that is installed on the application server. For Oracle, InterSystems Caché and IRIS, and SAP HANA:
Where cdm_guestapps_username is the username of the account used to register the application server in IBM Storage Copy Data Management./tmp/cdm_guestapps_username - IBM Storage Copy Data Management support for third-party operating systems, applications, services, and hardware depend on the respective vendor. If a third-party product or version moves into extended support, self-service support, or end-of-life, IBM Storage Copy Data Management supports the product or version at the same level as the vendor. See also IBM Support General Guidelines and Limitations - IBM support for software on unsupported operating systems
Supported platforms and configurations
| Operating system | ||
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| Storage system | ||
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| Server types | Operating Systems | Storage Configuration |
| Physical [6] |
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| Virtual (VMware) [6, 7, 10, 11, 12] |
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Notes:
- [1] For Oracle 12c multitenant databases, IBM Storage Copy Data Management supports protection and recovery of the container database, including all pluggable databases under it. Granular recovery of specific PDBs can be run through Instant Disk Restore recovery combined with RMAN.
- [2] Stand-alone databases protected by IBM Storage Copy Data Management can be recovered to the same or another stand-alone server and to a RAC installation. When you recover from stand-alone to RAC, if the source database uses Automatic Storage Management, then it is successfully recovered to all nodes in the destination cluster. If the source database uses non-ASM storage, the database is mounted only on the first node in the destination RAC. Source disks for stand-alone databases restoring to a virtual RAC environment must be thick provisioned.
RAC databases protected by IBM Storage Copy Data Management can be recovered to the same or another RAC installation and to a stand-alone server. To recover a RAC database to a stand-alone server, the Grid Infrastructure must be installed on the destination server, and an ASM instance must be running. - [3] Oracle Data Guard primary and secondary databases support inventory and backup operations. Oracle Data Guard databases always be restored as primary databases without any Data Guard configurations enabled.
- [4] Oracle Flex ASM is not supported.
- [5] RAC database recoveries are not server pool-aware. IBM Storage Copy Data Management can recover databases to a RAC, but not to specific server pools.
- [6] IBM Storage Copy Data Management supports recovering databases from a source physical server to a destination-virtual server by provisioning disks as physical RDMs. Similarly, IBM Storage Copy Data Management can recover databases from a source-virtual server that uses physical RDM to a destination physical server. However, source databases on VMDK virtual disks can be recovered only to another virtual server and not to a physical server.
- [7] Oracle data must stay directly on one of the supported Storage Systems listed previously. VADP-based protection of virtual Oracle servers is not supported.
- [8] On AIX LPAR/VIO servers, Oracle data must stay on disks attached to the server by using NPIV. Virtual SCSI disks are not supported.
- [9] Linux LVM volumes containing Oracle data must use LVM version 2.02.118 or later. On SLES 11 SP4, this version of LVM might not be available through the official repositories, in which case, databases running on or recovered to SLES 11 SP4 systems must use ASM or non-LVM file systems only.
- [10] Masking and DevOps recoveries are not supported on virtual servers.
- [11] For supported VMware vSphere versions, see in System requirements: IBM Storage Copy Data Management 2.2.20.
- [12] Oracle servers registered as virtual need VMware Tools installed and running.
- [13] Oracle 12c multithreaded configurations are not supported.
- [14] Data masking is not supported for Oracle in NetApp storage environments. Masking is not supported on source database on NFS (a copy of which cloned and masked) or source databases on replica copies. Instead of the default mirror copy, you must select a snapshot copy as a replication source.
- [15] NetApp systems running in 7-Mode are not supported.
- [16] The ORACLE_HOME directory might stay on ACFS. The data and log directories are required to be on ACFS. IBM Storage Copy Data Management does not protect the Oracle installation that is contained in the ORACLE_HOME directory.
- [17] Oracle 19c stand-alone is supported for AIX 7.2. Oracle 19c RAC is supported for both IBM and Pure Storage Systems.
More requirements:- Oracle database data and the flash recovery area (FRA) must stay on supported Storage Systems. IBM Storage Copy Data Management can back up archived logs to a supported storage system if they are not already on one.
- During an Instant Database Restore, there might be failures if the new name specified for the restored database is similar to an existing database differing only by numerical suffix. For clustered instances of Oracle databases, the appliance always uses global database name in the UI. During the inventory and restore processes, individual instances by using the numerical suffixes of the cluster must be correlated to the global database name. This issue appears when, as an example, “Production12” is discovered. Is this “Production12” the instance 12 of the “Production” database, or instance 2 of the “Production1” database, or a database named “Production12.”
- [18] Oracle ACFS on AIX 7.2 is supported. Oracle ACFS on AIX is not supported for FlashCopy incremental backups and iSCSI protocol.
- [19] On IBM Systems Storage, condense is run during maintenance jobs.
- [20] Supported platforms: IBM Power Systems (Little Endian).
Note: If you are using IBM Storage Systems running IBM Spectrum Accelerate level 11.5.3 or later, including FlashSystem A9000/A9000R and IBM XIV Storage Systems use IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management 2.2.13.
Oracle Support for VMware virtual machines
For Oracle servers running as VMware virtual machines, UUID must be enabled to run Oracle-based backup functions. To enable power off the guest machine through the vSphere client, then select the guest and click Edit Settings. Select Options, then General under the Advanced section. Select Configuration Parameters..., then find the disk.EnableUUID parameter. If set to FALSE, change the value to TRUE. If the parameter is not available, add it by clicking Add Row, set the value to TRUE, then power on the guest.
Oracle support for VMware virtual machines requires Oracle data and logs to be stored on VMDK virtual disks or physical RDMs. Virtual RDM disks are not supported. The VMDKs must stay on a datastore created on LUNs from supported Storage Systems. Similarly, the physical RDMs must be backed by LUNs from supported Storage Systems.
Note: For Oracle RAC clustered nodes running vSphere 6.5 or later, if an existing shared SCSI controller is not found, IBM Storage Copy Data Management automatically enables the “multi-writer” sharing option for each shared virtual disk.
Restore Jobs
When you restore a database or file system from an XFS file system, the restore process might fail if the "xfsprogs" package version on the destination server is between 3.2.0 and 4.1.9. To resolve the issue, upgrade xfsprogs to version 4.2.0 or later.
- The bash and sudo packages must be installed. Sudo must be version 1.7.6p2 or later. Run sudo -V to check the version.
- Python version 3.x must be installed.
It might be necessary to add your python3 binary file location to the system PATH or to create a symbolic link. For example, if your python3 is installed at /opt/freeware/bin, you need to create a link as follows:
On AIX systems, it might be necessary to rerun any AIX inventory jobs.ln -s /opt/freeware/bin/python3 /usr/bin/python3 - RHEL/CentOS 6.x only: Ensure that the util-linux-ng package is up to date by running:
Depending on your version or distribution, the package might be named util-linux.yum update util-linux-ng - RHEL/CentOS 7.3 or later: A required Perl module, Digest::MD5, is not installed by default. Install the module by running:
yum install perl-Digest-MD5 - Linux only: If data stays on LVM volumes, ensure that the LVM version is 2.0.2.118 or later.
To check the LVM version and if necessary to update the package, run:lvm version yum update lvm2 - Linux only: If data stays on LVM volumes, the lvm2-lvmetad service must be disabled as it can interfere with IBM Storage Copy Data Management's ability to mount and resignature volume group snapshots or clones.
Run the following commands to stop and disable the service:systemctl stop lvm2-lvmetad systemctl disable lvm2-lvmetad - Additionally, disable lvmetad in the LVM config file. Edit the file /etc/lvm/lvm.conf and set:
use_lvmetad = 0
- The SSH service must be running on port 22 on the server and any firewalls must be configured to allow IBM Storage Copy Data Management to connect to the server by using SSH. The SFTP subsystem for SSH must also be enabled.
- The server can be registered by using a DNS name or IP address. DNS names must be resolvable by IBM Storage Copy Data Management.
- 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).
- To mount clones or copies of Oracle data, IBM Storage Copy Data Management automatically maps and unmaps LUNs to the Oracle servers. Each server must be preconfigured to connect to the relevant Storage Systems at that site.
- For Fibre Channel, the appropriate zoning must be configured beforehand.
- For iSCSI, the Oracle servers must be configured beforehand to discover and log in to the targets on the storage servers.
Authentication
- The Oracle server must be registered in IBM Storage Copy Data Management by using an operating system user that exists on the Oracle server (referred to as "IBM Storage Copy Data Management agent user" for the rest of this topic).
- During registration, you must provide either a password or a private SSH key that IBM Storage Copy Data Management use to log in to the server.
- For password-based authentication, ensure that the password is correctly configured and that the user can log in without facing any other prompts, such as prompts to reset the password.
- For key-based authentication, ensure that the public SSH key is placed in the appropriate authorized_keys file for the IBM Storage Copy Data Management agent user.
- Typically, the file is at /home/<username>/.ssh/authorized_keys
- Typically, the .ssh directory and all files under it need their permissions set to 600.
Privileges
The IBM Storage Copy Data Management agent user needs the following privileges:
- Privileges to run commands as root and other users by using sudo. IBM Storage Copy Data Management requires these privileges for various tasks such as discovering storage layouts and mounting and unmounting disks.
- The sudoers configuration must allow the IBM Storage Copy Data Management agent user to run commands without a password.
- The !requiretty setting must be set.
- The ENV_KEEP setting must allow the ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_SID environment variables to be retained.
- Privileges to read the Oracle inventory. IBM Storage Copy Data Management requires those privileges to discover and collect information about Oracle homes and databases. To achieve discovery and collection of information, the IBM Storage Copy Data Management agent user must belong to the Oracle inventory group, typically named oinstall.
- SYSDBA privileges for database instances. IBM Storage Copy Data Management needs to run database tasks like querying instance details, hot backup, RMAN cataloging, and starting and stopping instances during recovery.
- To achieve database tasks, the IBM Storage Copy Data Management agent user must belong to the OSDBA operating system group, typically named dba.
- If multiple Oracle homes each with a different OSDBA group, the IBM Storage Copy Data Management agent user must belong to each group.
- SYSASM privileges, if Automatic Storage Management (ASM) is installed. IBM Storage Copy Data Management needs to run storage tasks like querying ASM disk information, and renaming, mounting, and unmounting diskgroups.
- To achieve storage tasks, the IBM Storage Copy Data Management agent user must belong to the OSASM operating system group, typically named asmadmin.
- Shell user limits for the IBM Storage Copy Data Management agent user must be the same as those limits for the user that owns the Oracle home, typically named oracle. Refer to Oracle documentation for requirements and instructions on setting shell limits. Run ulimit -a as both the oracle user and the IBM Storage Copy Data Management agent user and ensure that their settings are identical.
For examples on creating a new user with the necessary privileges, see Sample Configuration in Oracle requirements.
Oracle Home Discovery for Symbolic Links
IBM Storage Copy Data Management discovers Oracle installations and databases by looking through the files /etc/oraInst.loc and /etc/oratab, we well as the list of running Oracle processes. When you connect to a database instance to discover its properties, IBM Storage Copy Data Management connects by setting the ORACLE_HOME environment variable based on the path that was auto-discovered. In some cases, when Oracle databases are used in combination with SAP software for instance, a symbolic link to the Oracle Home path might be created. This link path can then be used by the database administrator to connect to the database.
Consider the following example where the real Oracle Home path can be /u01/app/oracle/product/1210/dbhome_1, while the symbolic link that points to it is /oracle/PRODDB/1210.
$ ls -l /oracle/PRODB lrwxrwxrwx. 1 oracle oinstall 1210 -> /u01/app/oracle/product/1210/dbhome_1
When IBM Storage Copy Data Management connects to the instance by using the real, auto-discovered path, queries against the database can fail due to the ORACLE_HOME environment variable being incorrectly set. To override the auto-discovered path and force IBM Storage Copy Data Management to use the correct symbolic link path, a configuration file must be defined on each Oracle server where symbolic links are in use.
Create or edit if it exists a file named /etc/guestapps_oraHomes.conf. Insert into this file these entries:
# Define one entry per line.
# Each entry must be in the form: <instanceName> = <oraHomePath>
# Lines beginning with the '#' character are ignored.
PRODDB = /oracle/PRODDB/1210
TESTDB = /oracle/TESTDB/1210
To ensure that the configuration file is readable by the agent user, run the following command:
chmod 644 /etc/guestapps_oraHomes.conf
Database Discovery
IBM Storage Copy Data Management discovers Oracle installations and databases by looking through the files /etc/oraInst.loc and /etc/oratab, and the list of running Oracle processes. If the files are not present in their default location, the "locate" utility must be installed on the system so that IBM Storage Copy Data Management can search for alternative locations of these files.
IBM Storage Copy Data Management discovers databases and their storage layouts by connecting to running instances and querying the locations of their data files, log files, and other files. In order for IBM Storage Copy Data Management to correctly discover databases during cataloging and copy operations, databases must be in "MOUNTED," "READ ONLY," or "READ/WRITE" mode. IBM Storage Copy Data Management cannot discover or protect database instances that are shut down.
Databases must be used a server parameter file (spfile). IBM Storage Copy Data Management does not support copy operations for databases that are used a text-based parameter file (pfile).
ASM Disk Discovery
When IBM Storage Copy Data Management mounts snapshots or clones of ASM disks, it configures the disks to set the appropriate permissions required to make them discoverable by ASM:
- The disk owner and group are set to the owner of the Grid installation and the OSASM group, which are typically grid and asmadmin. IBM Storage Copy Data Management automatically discovers the appropriate owner and group information on each server.
- The disk permissions are set to 660.
IBM Storage Copy Data Management creates aliases or symbolic links with names that follow a consistent pattern. Ensure that ASM is able to discover the disks mapped by IBM Storage Copy Data Management, and update the ASM_DISKSTRING parameter to add this pattern.
Linux: IBM Storage Copy Data Management creates udev rules for each disk to set the appropriate ownership and permissions. The udev rules also create symbolic links of the form /dev/ecx-asmdisk/<diskId> that point to the appropriate device under /dev.
To ensure that the disks are discoverable by ASM, add the following pattern to your existing ASM_DISKSTRING: /dev/ecx-asmdisk/*
AIX: IBM Storage Copy Data Management creates a device node (by using mknod) of the form /dev/ecx_asm<diskId> that points to the appropriate hdisk under /dev. IBM Storage Copy Data Management also sets the appropriate ownership and permissions for this new device.
To ensure that the disks are discoverable by ASM, add the following pattern to your existing ASM_DISKSTRING: /dev/ecx_asm*
Notes:
- If the existing value of the ASM_DISKSTRING is empty, you might have to first set it to an appropriate value that matches all existing disks, then append the previous value.
- If the existing value of the ASM_DISKSTRING is broad enough to discover all disks (for example: /dev/*), you might not need to update it.
- Refer to Oracle documentation for details about retrieving and modifying the ASM_DISKSTRING parameter.
The following commands are examples for creating and configuring an operating system user that IBM Storage Copy Data Management 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 Storage Copy Data Management agent user:
useradd -m cdmagent - If you use password-based authentication, set a password:
passwd cdmagent - If you use key-based authentication, place the public key in /home/cdmagent/.ssh/authorized_keys, or the appropriate file depending on your sshd configuration, and ensure that the correct ownership and permissions are set, such as:
chown -R cdmagent:cdmagent /home/cdmagent/.ssh chmod 700 /home/cdmagent/.ssh chmod 600 /home/cdmagent/.ssh/authorized_keys - Add the user to the Oracle installation and OSDBA group:
usermod -a -G oinstall,dba cdmagent - If ASM is in use, also add the user to the OSASM group:
Note: If on AIX, the append argument (-a) needs to be omitted when you use the usermod command.usermod -a -G asmadmin cdmagent - Place the following lines at the end of your sudoers configuration file, typically /etc/sudoers. If the existing sudoers file is configured to import configuration from another directory (for example, /etc/sudoers.d), you can also place the lines in a new file in that directory:
Defaults:cdmagent !requiretty Defaults:cdmagent env_keep+="ORACLE_HOME" Defaults:cdmagent env_keep+="ORACLE_SID" cdmagent ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL
Related Information
Product Synonym
IBM Spectrum Copy Data Management;
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Document Information
Modified date:
13 June 2023
UID
ibm16992009