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Oracle® Secure Backup Administrator's Guide
Release 10.1

Part Number B14234-02
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7 Backing Up File System Data

This chapter explains how to make backups of the file system with Oracle Secure Backup. This chapter contains the following topics:

Overview of File System Backups

This section provides an overview of how to schedule and perform file system backups. Unlike Recovery Manager (RMAN) database backups made through the SBT interface, file system backups are initiated by Oracle Secure Backup and can include any file on the file system.

You can set up backup schedules so that file system backups occur automatically at user-defined intervals. You can also perform on-demand backups, which are one-time-only backups. You can create scheduled and on-demand file system backups with either the Web tool or obtool (but not Enterprise Manager). This chapter assumes that you are using the Web tool.

Before proceeding to set up your backups, make sure that you have performed all necessary configuration steps as described in "Overview of Administrative Domain Configuration".

See Also:

Chapter 6, "Using Recovery Manager with Oracle Secure Backup" to learn how to perform RMAN backups

Overview of Scheduled Backups

Scheduled backups are the basis of your backup strategy. Your first task after setting up the administrative domain choosing and configuring a backup schedule that makes sense for your environment.

This section contains the following topics:

Choosing a Backup Strategy

Because there is not a single best method for managing backups that works for all sites, Oracle Secure Backup gives you flexibility in the way that you perform backups. You need to consider several factors when determining the best method of performing backups at your site:

  • How much data do you need to back up?

    If you need to back up a large amount of data, then you will probably want to consider some combination of full and incremental backups. Incremental backups enable you to control how much data is backed up, thereby reducing the number of volumes you need for the backup image as well as the amount of time required to perform the backup.

    Make sure that your dataset files include only the path names that you need to include in the backup.

  • How will you protect the critical data on the administrative server?

    The administrative server manages all of the administrative data for your network and so must be protected. "Backing Up Critical Data on the Administrative Server" explains how to perform this task.

    Caution:

    You should regularly back up the Oracle Secure Backup home directory on the administrative server. The administrative server manages the backup and configuration data for the entire administrative domain.
  • How frequently will you be expected to make backups, both full and incremental?

    Your management or users may expect full backups to be performed at a certain frequency.

  • How frequently do you need to restore data?

    You may need to perform restore operations many times a day or only rarely. If you need to restore data frequently, then you may also want to perform full backups frequently to decrease the amount of time needed to restore. If you perform restore operations infrequently, however, then you may want to save time, media, and disk space by performing full backups less frequently.

  • How much time do you want to spend performing backup and restore operations?

    If your schedule includes frequent full backups, then you will probably spend more time performing the backups and less time restoring data. If you schedule includes less frequent full backups, then you will probably spend less time performing the backups and more time restoring data.

  • How much disk space do you have available?

    As explained in "Administrative Data", Oracle Secure Backup catalog files are stored in the Oracle Secure Backup home on the administrative server. If you need more disk space than is available on a single administrative server, then you may want to use more than one administrative domain.

Choosing a Backup Schedule

As explained in "Full and Incremental File System Backups", when you make a full backup, Oracle Secure Backup copies all data regardless of whether the data changed since the last backup. A full backup is equivalent to a level 0 incremental backup.

When you make an incremental backup, Oracle Secure Backup backs up only the data that has changed since a previous backup. A cumulative incremental backup copies only data that has changed since an incremental backup at a lower level. For example, a level 3 incremental backup only copies data that has changed since a level 2 backup. A differential incremental backup, which is equivalent to a level 10 incremental backup, copies data that has changed since an incremental backup at the same or lower level.

Incremental backups can help save time and media space, but they can also increase your use of media and the time required to restore data. If you were to perform only full backups, then you would only need to restore the contents of the most recent backup image to fully restore a given tree. If you use incremental backups, however, then you may need to restore several backup images.

A typical strategy is to use cumulative backups. For example, you could create a level 0 backup and then repeat level 3 backups on successive days. The level number that you select is arbitrary; the key is that the number is between 1 and 9 and that it is the same value every night. The advantage to a cumulative strategy is that in order to restore a directory, only the level 0 backup and one level 3 backup from the date required would be necessary.

A differential incremental backup backs up the files modified since the last backup at the same or lower level. The advantage to using a differential backup strategy is that less data is backed up every night so it is quicker and uses less tape. The disadvantage is that more backups are required to restore a directory.

By analyzing how data is used and when you may need to restore data, you can create a backup schedule that takes into account the trade-off between the cost to back up and the cost to restore. The following example demonstrates one way you might create a cumulative backup schedule.

Cumulative Incremental Backup Strategy: Example

Suppose that most changes to the /data file system tree on client c_host occur during the week. Few changes, if any, occur on the weekend. In this situation, you might use the following schedule:

  • Full backup (level 0) on Sunday night

  • Level 1 incremental backups on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights to capture changes made after the Sunday backup

  • Level 2 incremental backup on Friday night to capture changes made after the Thursday backup

Given the preceding backup schedule, restoring /data on Monday would require only the volumes written during the full backup on Sunday.

Restoring /data on Tuesday through Friday would require the volumes from two backups:

  • The full backup made on Sunday

  • The most recent incremental backup

Restoring /data on Saturday or Sunday would require the volumes from three backups:

  • The full backup made on Sunday

  • The incremental backup made on Thursday

  • The incremental backup made on Friday

Configuring a Backup Schedule

The basic steps for configuring a backup schedule are as follows:

  1. Log in to the administrative domain as admin or a user with the modify administrative domain's configuration right.

  2. Create datasets.

    Dataset files are text files that describe the contents of a backup, that is, the files and directories to be included in the backup. You can create dataset files for the hosts in your domain and specify which paths should be included in the backup of each host. "Creating Dataset Files" explains how to create dataset files.

  3. Create backup windows.

    Backup windows are time ranges within which Oracle Secure Backup can run scheduled backup jobs. If no backup windows exist, then no scheduled backups will run. The default backup window is daily 00:00-24:00 and should only be changed if necessary for your environment. "Configuring Backup Windows" explains how to configure backup windows.

  4. Create backup schedules.

    Backup schedules specify the dataset, media family, backup priority, and so on. "Configuring Backup Schedules" explains how to configure schedules.

  5. Create triggers.

    Triggers are the days and times that the scheduled backups will run. If you create a backup schedule but do not configure triggers for this schedule, no backups will occur. "Configuring Triggers" explains how to configure triggers.

Overview of On-Demand Backups

Although scheduled backups are the basis of your backup strategy, you may also need to make one-time-only backups. On-demand backups are useful for supplementing your scheduled backups as well as testing whether the administrative domain is correctly configured.

The basic steps for creating on-demand backups are as follows:

  1. Create datasets (if they are not already created).

    "Creating Dataset Files" explains how to create dataset files. Note that to create dataset files you must have the modify administrative domain's configuration right.

  2. Log in to the administrative domain as an Oracle Secure Backup user with the rights to perform the backup and the UNIX/Linux or Windows account needed to access the data to be backed up.

    You need the perform backups as self right to perform unprivileged backups and perform backups as privileged user to perform privileged backups.

  3. Create one or more backup requests.

    As explained in "Jobs and Requests", Oracle Secure Backup saves each backup request locally in your Web tool or obtool session until you send it to the scheduler. In this state, the backup is not eligible to run.

    "Creating an On-Demand Backup Request" explains how to create backup requests.

  4. Optionally, review, delete, or add to the list of backup requests.

    "Displaying the Backup Now Page" shows the page in which you can display backup requests. "Removing a Backup Request" explains how to delete backup requests.

  5. Send all queued backup requests to the Oracle Secure Backup scheduler.

    "Sending Backup Requests to the Scheduler" explains how to send backup requests to the scheduler. After requests are sent to the scheduler, they are jobs and are eligible to run.

Creating Dataset Files

This section describes how to create dataset files, which describe the file system data that Oracle Secure Backup should back up. "Backup Datasets" provides a conceptual overview of datasets. Oracle Secure Backup Reference describes the dataset language syntax.

This section contains the following topics:

About Dataset Files

When configuring your dataset files, it may be helpful to study the dataset files in the samples subdirectory of the Oracle Secure Backup home directory. The sample dataset files use the *.ds extension.

Including One Host in Every Dataset File

A typical strategy is to create one dataset file for every host that you want to back up. For example, assume that your administrative domain includes clients brhost2, brhost3, and brhost4. You could create the dataset files brhost2.ds, brhost3.ds, and brhost4.ds as shown in the following examples. Each of the examples excludes core dumps and editor backup files.

Example 7-1 includes all files in the /, /usr, and /home file systems on host brhost2 except for core dumps and editor backup files.

Example 7-1 brhost2.ds

include host brhost2 {
    exclude name core
    exclude name *.bak
    exclude name *~ 

    include path /
    include path /usr
    include path /home
}

Example 7-2 includes all files in the / and /usr file systems on host brhost3 except for core dumps and editor backup files.

Example 7-2 brhost3.ds

include host brhost3 {
    exclude name core
    exclude name *.bak
    exclude name *~

    include path /
    include path /usr
}

Example 7-3 includes all files in the C:\Documents and Settings folder on host winhost1 except for log files.

Note:

Surround path names containing spaces with single or double quotes, for example, "C:\Documents and Settings".

Example 7-3 winhost1.ds

include host winhost1
include path "C:\Documents and Settings" {
  exclude name *.log
}

When you want Oracle Secure Backup to back up data, you specify the name of the dataset file that describes the contents of the backup. Example 7-4 uses obtool to schedule three backups jobs on Saturday morning.

Example 7-4 Scheduling Three Backups

ob> mksched --dataset brhost2.ds --day saturday --time 08:00 brhost2.sch
ob> mksched --dataset brhost3.ds --day saturday --time 09:00 brhost3.sch
ob> mksched --dataset winhost1.ds --day saturday --time 10:00 winhost1.sch

Alternatively, you could create a dataset directory and save the dataset files into this directory. You could then schedule a backup that specifies this dataset directory, which is equivalent to naming all of the dataset files contained within the directory tree. For example, if you create a dataset directory brhost that includes brhost2.ds, brhost3.ds, and winhost1.ds, you could schedule a backup as follows:

ob> mksched --dataset brhost --day saturday --time 08:00 brhost.sch

Including Multiple Hosts in One Dataset File

If you have a number of hosts that use the same file system structure, then you can create a single dataset file that specifies all of the hosts. The brhosts.ds dataset file in Example 7-5 specifies the backup of the / and /home file systems on hosts brhost2, brhost3, and brhost4.

Example 7-5 brhosts.ds

include host brhost2
include host brhost3
include host brhost4
                                                                                       
include path /
include path /home

You could schedule a backup as follows:

ob> mksched --dataset brhosts.ds --day saturday --time 08:00 brhosts.sch

Unless an unusual event occurs, such as a tape device failure or a client host that is not available, Oracle Secure Backup attempts to back up the hosts in the order listed in the dataset file to the same volume set on the same media server.

See Also:

Oracle Secure Backup Reference for dataset syntax and examples of datasets

Displaying the Datasets Page

In the Backup page, click Datasets to display the page shown in Figure 7-1. This page lists all dataset files and dataset directories. Dataset directories appear in the Path box with a forward slash as the last character in the name. You can perform all dataset configuration tasks in this page or in pages to which it provides links.

See Also:

Oracle Secure Backup Reference to learn about the dataset commands in obtool

Creating a Dataset File

To create a dataset file:

  1. In the Datasets page, click the Add button to create a new dataset file.

    Note:

    When you create a new dataset file, the initial contents of the dataset are defined by a dataset template.
  2. In the Dataset type list, select File or Directory.

    Like Windows and UNIX file systems, Oracle Secure Backup dataset files are organized in a naming tree. You can optionally create dataset directories to help you organize your data files.

    When you want Oracle Secure Backup to back up data, you identify the name of the dataset file that defines the data. If you give the name of a dataset directory, it is equivalent to naming all of the dataset files contained within the dataset directory tree.

    Note:

    Dataset directories can be nested up to 10 levels deep.
  3. In the Name field, enter a name for the dataset file.

  4. Update the dataset statements displayed in the template file to define your backup data. Refer to Oracle Secure Backup Reference for dataset syntax and examples of datasets.

  5. Choose one of the following:

    • Click the Save button to accept your entries and return to the Datasets page.

    • Click Cancel to void the operation and move back one page.

    Oracle Secure Backup displays a message in the Status box if your dataset file has errors. See "Checking a Dataset File" for details on errors.

Checking a Dataset File

This section explains how to check a dataset file for errors. You can check a dataset file at any time during editing.

When you check a dataset file, you perform a syntactic check to ask the dataset parser if your use of the dataset language is correct.

To check a dataset file for errors:

  1. In the Datasets page, select a dataset file name from the Path box.

    Note:

    You can only check a dataset file, not a dataset directory.
  2. Click the Check Dataset button.

    If the dataset syntax has no errors, the Web tool displays a message verification.

    If the dataset syntax has an error, the Web tool displays a message indicating the error.

  3. Fix any errors that appear and recheck the dataset syntax.

Editing a Dataset File

To edit parameters for an existing dataset file:

  1. In the Datasets page, select the name of the dataset file from the Path box.

  2. Click the Open button.

    The Web tool displays a page with details of the dataset file.

  3. Make needed changes and select one of the following:

    • Press Save to accept your changes and return to the Datasets page. Oracle Secure Backup automatically checks the dataset file for errors.

    • Click Cancel to void the operation and move back one page.

Removing a Dataset File

To remove a dataset file or directory:

  1. In the Datasets page, select the name of the dataset file or directory from the Path box.

  2. Click the Remove button.

    The Web tool prompts you to confirm the removal of the dataset file or directory.

  3. Click Yes to remove the dataset file or directory.

    The dataset file or directory is removed and you are returned to the Datasets page.

Renaming a Dataset

To rename a dataset file or directory:

  1. In the Datasets page, select the name of the dataset file or directory from the Path box.

  2. Click the Rename button.

    The Web tool prompts you for the new name.

  3. In the Rename box, enter the new name for the dataset file or directory.

  4. Click Yes to accept the new name.

    The dataset file or directory is renamed and you are returned to the Datasets page.

Configuring Backup Windows

This section describes backup windows, which are user-specified time ranges within which Oracle Secure Backup can perform scheduled backup jobs. The default backup window is daily 00:00-24:00 and should only be changed if necessary for your environment.

This section contains the following topics:

See Also:

"Scheduled and On-Demand Backups" for a conceptual overview of backup windows

Displaying the Backup Windows Page

In the Backup page, click Backup Windows to display the page shown in Figure 7-2. In the central box, the Web tool displays any existing backup windows.

You can perform all backup window creation and configuration tasks in this page or in pages to which it provides links.

Figure 7-2 Backup Windows Page

Shows the Backup Windows page.
Description of "Figure 7-2 Backup Windows Page"

See Also:

Oracle Secure Backup Reference to learn about the backup window commands in obtool

Creating a Backup Window

To create a backup window:

  1. From the Backup window, click Backup Windows.

  2. Click the Add button to add a new backup window.

  3. In the Type list, select a backup window type. Your choices are:

Specifying a Day Range

To specify a day range:

  1. Select the days for which you want to set the backup window. Your choices are:

    • Select daily

      Specify this option to set the backup window for each day of the week.

    • Select weekdays

      Specify this option to set the backup window for Monday through Friday.

    • Select weekend

      Specify this option to set the backup window for Saturday and Sunday.

  2. In the Time range box, enter a local time range. Oracle Secure Backup starts scheduled backups during this time range.

    The Time range option is a time-of-day specifier in the form hour:minute:second or a 4-digit hour-minute specifier (for example, 1430, which indicates 2:30 pm). Time ranges are expressed in 24-hour format. The time range is local-time based and takes into account Daylight Savings Time, if it applies to your locale.

    When the backup window close time arrives, Oracle Secure Backup completes any backups that have already been started. No more backups are started until the window opens again.

    If the close time precedes the open time, then Oracle Secure Backup assumes that the close time refers to the following day. For example, 20:00-24:00 indicates 8:00 pm as the open time and midnight at the end of the same day as the close time.

  3. Click OK or Cancel.

Specifying a Single Date

This section explains how to backup one day a month only

  1. In the Month, Day, and Year boxes, specify the date on which you want the backup to run.

  2. In the Time range box, select a local time range (hour and minutes) of day in which to execute a backup job. The time is expressed in 24-hour format.

  3. Click OK or Cancel.

Removing a Backup Window

To remove an existing backup window:

  1. In the Backup Windows page, select the name of the backup window that you want to remove.

  2. Click the Remove button.

    The Web tool prompts you to confirm the removal of the backup window.

  3. Click Yes to remove the backup window.

Configuring Backup Schedules

This section explains how to create and configure backup schedules. This section contains the following topics:

About Backup Schedules

A backup schedule tells Oracle Secure Backup what data to back up and when. In the backup schedule you specify:

  • Days of the week, month, quarter, or year on which you want to perform a backup job

  • Time (on each day) that a backup is to begin

  • Time (on each day) that a backup is to begin

  • Name of a media family to use. Oracle Secure Backup uses the characteristics of volume sets eligible to use for the backup from the media family name

Displaying the Schedules Page

In the Backup page, click Schedules to display the page shown in Figure 7-3. In the central box, the Web tool displays any existing backup schedules. You can perform all backup schedule creation and configuration tasks in this page or in pages to which it provides links.

Figure 7-3 Backup Schedules Page

Shows the Schedules page.
Description of "Figure 7-3 Backup Schedules Page"

See Also:

Oracle Secure Backup Reference to learn about the schedule commands in obtool

Creating a Backup Schedule

To create a backup schedule:

  1. In the Schedules page, click the Add button to open the New Schedules page.

  2. In the Schedule box, enter a name for the schedule.

    The name you enter must start with an alphanumeric character. It can contain letters, numerals, dashes, underscores, or periods. The maximum character length of 127 characters. You cannot uses spaces in the name you enter.

  3. In the Priority box, enter a priority number for the backup job. The default priority is 100.

    The priority for a job is a positive numeric value. The lower the value, the greater the importance assigned to the job by the scheduler. The scheduler gives preference to dispatching more important jobs over those having lesser importance.

  4. In the Datasets box, select one or more dataset files or directories that you want to include in the backup job.

  5. In the Restrictions box, optionally select a restriction. You can restrict scheduled backups to specific devices. If you do not select a restriction (default), then the backups defined by the schedule can use any available device on any media server, at the discretion of the Oracle Secure Backup scheduling system.

  6. In the Comments box, optionally enter any information that want to store with the backup schedule.

  7. Click Apply, OK, or Cancel.

Editing a Backup Schedule

To edit properties for an existing backup schedule:

  1. In the Schedules page, click the Edit button.

    The Web tool displays a page with details of the backup schedule.

  2. Make changes to the schedule properties.

  3. Choose one of the following:

    • Click Apply, OK, or Cancel.

    • Click Triggers to define triggers for a backup schedule.

      A trigger is a calendar-based time at which a scheduled backup becomes eligible to run. Without at least one trigger, a backup you have scheduled will never run. See "Configuring Triggers" for more information.

Removing a Backup Schedule

To remove an existing backup schedule:

  1. From the Backup menu, click Schedules in the submenu under Settings.

  2. Select the name of the backup schedule that you want to remove from the Schedule name box.

  3. Click the Remove button.

    A message appears prompting you to confirm the removal of the schedule.

  4. Click Yes to remove the backup schedule.

    You are returned to Schedules page and the message "Success: name removed" appears in the Status box.

Renaming a Backup Schedule

To rename a backup schedule:

  1. From the Backup menu, click Schedules in the submenu under Settings.

  2. Select the name of the backup schedule that you want to rename from the Schedule name box.

  3. Click the Rename button.

    A message appears prompting you to enter the new name.

  4. Enter a new name for the backup schedule.

  5. Click Yes to accept the new name.

    You are returned to Schedules page and a message appears in Status box telling you that the schedule was successfully renamed.

Viewing Schedule Properties

To view schedule properties:

  1. From the Backup menu, click Schedules in the submenu under Settings.

  2. Select the name of the schedule from which you want to view properties from the Schedule name box.

  3. Click the Edit button.

    The Web tool displays a page with the properties for the schedule name you selected.

  4. Click Triggers.

    The Triggers page appears.

  5. Select the trigger that you want to view and click Preview.

Configuring Triggers

This section explains how to create and configure backup schedules. This section contains the following topics:

About Triggers

A trigger is a calendar-based time at which a scheduled backup becomes eligible to run. For example, you can specify that a backup is eligible to run on the first and third Sunday of the month. You can add multiple triggers to a backup schedule. Without at least one trigger, a backup you have scheduled will never run.

Creating a Trigger

To create a trigger:

  1. In the Schedules page, select the schedule for which you want to create a trigger and click the Edit button.

  2. Click the Triggers button.

    The Web tool displays the Triggers page.

  3. In the Trigger type box, select a time representation you want to use to define when to perform the backup job. Your choices are the following:

Creating a Daily Backup Trigger

To create a daily backup trigger:

  1. In the Schedules page, select the schedule for which you want to create a trigger and click the Edit button.

  2. Click the Triggers button.

    The Web tool displays the Triggers page.

  3. Select a backup level from the Backup level box. Your choices are:

    • full (default)

      Select this option to back up all data in a dataset, regardless of when they were last backed up. This option is the same as backup level 0.

    • 1 to 9

      Select an integer value to back up only those files that have changed since the last backup at a lower numerical backup level.

    • incr

      Select this option to back up only data modified since the last backup, regardless of its backup level. This option is the same as backup level 10.

      Caution:

      Oracle Secure Backup does not support the incr backup level in conjunction with some platforms, including NAS devices. Notably, the incr option does not apply to Network Appliance filers.
    • offsite

      Select this option to specify a full (level 0) backup and instruct Oracle Secure Backup to keep a record of this backup in such a manner that it does not affect the full/incremental backup schedule. This option is useful when you want to create a backup image for offsite storage without disturbing your schedule of incremental backups.

  4. In the Backup at lists, select the time at which you want to start the backup. The time is in military format and is expressed in hours and minutes.

  5. In the Media family box, select a media family to which the data of this scheduled backup should be assigned.

  6. In the Expire after box, optionally choose an expiration time period for the backup job.

  7. Select the days which Oracle Secure Backup will run the scheduled backup. Your choices are the following:

    • Select daily

      Check this box to trigger the schedule to run on all 7 days of the week. For example, trigger the backup to run every day at 8:00 a.m.

    • Select weekdays

      Check this box to trigger the backup to run on weekdays only (Monday through Friday). For example, trigger the backup to run weekdays at 8:00 a.m.

    • Select weekend

      Check this box to trigger the backup to run on weekends only (Saturday and Sunday). For example, trigger the backup to run weekends at 8:00 a.m.

    • Alternatively, from both the Select weekdays and Select weekends boxes you can select a mix of individual days on which you can trigger scheduled backups to run. For example, trigger the backup on Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday at 8:00 a.m.

  8. From the Week in month group, select an option to limit which week in the month the backup schedule will run. Your choice are:

    • All

      Select this option to include all weeks.

    • Selected

      Select this option to specify the week to include. For example, select First to trigger the backup in the first week of the month.

  9. In the Except list, specify weekday exceptions. An exception prevents Oracle Secure Backup from backing up data on the day you specify. Your choices are:

    • none (default)

      Select this option to specify that there are no exceptions.

    • except

      Select this option to enable an exception.

  10. In the Time list, select a time for the exception. Your choices are:

    • before

      Select this option to specify an exception before a specified day.

    • after

      Select this option to specify an exception after a specified day.

  11. In the Specify day lists, select the day of the exception. For example, you can specify last Monday. By using the values in the previous steps, you can tell Oracle Secure Backup to trigger every weekend except after the last Monday of the month.

  12. Select among the following:

    • Click Add to accept your entries and add the trigger.

      The schedule is displayed in the main tax. The schedule displays the level of the backup, the time at which it is to begin, and the days on which the backup is to be performed.

    • Click Remove to delete the trigger.

    • Click Cancel to void the operation and move back one page.

Creating a One-Time Backup Trigger

To create a one-time backup trigger:

  1. In the Schedules page, select the schedule to which you want to add a trigger and click the Edit button.

    The Web tool displays a page with details of the backup schedule.

  2. Click the Triggers button.

  3. Select One time from the Trigger type box.

  4. Follow Steps 3 through 6 in the section entitled "Creating a Daily Backup Trigger".

  5. In the Month, Day, and Year boxes, select the date that you want the one-time backup to run.

  6. Click Add to accept your entries and add the trigger.

    The Web tool returns you to the Triggers page. The schedule is displayed in the central text box.

Creating a Monthly Backup Trigger

To schedule a monthly backup trigger:

  1. In the Schedules page, select the schedule for which you want to create a trigger and click the Edit button.

  2. Click the Triggers button.

    The Web tool displays the Triggers page.

  3. In the Trigger type box, select Month.

  4. Follow Steps 3 through 6 in the section entitled "Creating a Daily Backup Trigger".

  5. In the Day in month group, select a day of the month.

  6. Click Add to accept your entries and add the trigger.

    The Web tool returns you to the Triggers page. The schedule is displayed in the central text box.

Creating a Quarterly Backup Trigger

To schedule a quarterly backup trigger:

  1. In the Schedules page, select the schedule for which you want to create a trigger and click the Edit button.

  2. Click the Triggers button.

    The Web tool displays the Triggers page.

  3. In the Trigger type box, select Quarter.

  4. Follow Steps 3 through 6 in the section entitled "Creating a Daily Backup Trigger".

  5. Select one of the following options:

    • Day of quarter (day 01 to 92)

      Select this option to specify a day of the quarter. Day 92 is treated as last even if there are less than 92 days in the quarter.

    • Month and day of quarter

      Select a month of the quarter (01, 02, 03) and day in the month.

  6. Click Add to accept your entries and add the trigger.

    The Web tool returns you to the Triggers page. The schedule is displayed in the central text box.

Creating a Yearly Backup Trigger

To create a yearly backup trigger:

  1. In the Schedules page, select the schedule for which you want to create a trigger and click the Edit button.

  2. Click the Triggers button.

    The Web tool displays the Triggers page.

  3. In the Trigger type box, select Year.

  4. Follow Steps 3 through 6 in the section entitled "Creating a Daily Backup Trigger".

  5. Select one of the following options:

    • Day of the year

      Select this option to specify a day of the year (1 to 366).

    • Date each year

      Select this option to specify a month (1 to 12) and day (1 to 31)

  6. Click Add to accept your entries and add the trigger.

    The Web tool returns you to the Triggers page. The schedule is displayed in the central text box.

Editing a Trigger

To edit a trigger:

  1. In the Schedules page, select the schedule for which you want to edit a trigger and click the Edit button.

  2. Click the Triggers button.

    The Web tool displays the Triggers page.

  3. Click the Edit button.

  4. Make needed changes.

  5. Click Apply or Cancel.

Removing a Trigger

To remove a trigger:

  1. In the Schedules page, select the schedule for which you want to edit a trigger and click the Edit button.

  2. Click the Triggers button.

    The Web tool displays the Triggers page.

  3. In the central box, select the trigger to be removed.

  4. Click Remove.

Displaying a Trigger Schedule

To display a trigger schedule:

  1. In the Schedules page, select the schedule for which you want to edit a trigger and click the Edit button.

  2. Click the Triggers button.

    The Web tool displays the Triggers page.

  3. In the central box, select the trigger to be displayed.

  4. Click the Preview button.

Performing On-Demand File System Backups

This section contains the following topics:

About On-Demand File System Backups

On-demand backups are ad hoc or one-time-only backups of the data in a dataset. For example, you can instruct Oracle Secure Backup to back up the Oracle home on client host brhost2. "Scheduled and On-Demand Backups" provides a conceptual overview of on-demand backups.

Before You Begin

Before you can back up file system data on demand, you must perform the following tasks:

On-Demand Backup Work Flow

Perform the following steps to direct Oracle Secure Backup to create on-demand backups of file system data:

  1. Create one or more backup requests.

    As explained in "Jobs and Requests", Oracle Secure Backup saves each backup request privately in your Web tool or obtool session until you send it to the scheduler. In this state, it is not eligible to run.

    All restore requests that have not yet been sent to the scheduler persist until the background timeout expires. The background timeout value identifies the maximum idle time of certain obtool background processes. See "Preferences" for more information.

  2. At any time, add to, review or change this list of backup requests.

    You can add to, review, or change the list of restore requests at any time.

  3. Send your backup requests to the scheduler.

    As explained in "Jobs and Requests", this action turns each backup request into a dataset job, making it eligible to run.

Displaying the Backup Now Page

In the Backup page, click Backup Now to display the page shown in Figure 7-4. In the central box, each backup request that you have created but not yet sent to the scheduler displays. Backup requests are identified by a backup name and number.

You can perform all on-demand backup creation and configuration tasks in this page or in pages to which it provides links.

Figure 7-4 Backup Now Page

Shows the Backup Now page.
Description of "Figure 7-4 Backup Now Page"

See Also:

Oracle Secure Backup Reference to learn about the backup commands in obtool

Creating an On-Demand Backup Request

To create an on-demand backup request:

  1. In the Backup Now page, click the Add button to display the Options page.

  2. In the Datasets box, select one or more dataset files or directories.

  3. In the Backup date and Backup time boxes, select a future date and time for the backup to run. If you leave these fields unchanged, then Oracle Secure Backup considers your backup job as eligible to run immediately.

  4. Using the Expire after box and list, optionally enter a time interval. For example, enter 3 and select days to specify a duration of 3 days. By default the expiration is disabled, which means that it will never expire. Refer to the duration placeholder description in Oracle Secure Backup Reference for more information.

    This option instructs Oracle Secure Backup to automatically expire this backup job if it has not started within the specified expiration period after the date and time intervals defined earlier in the Backup date and Backup time boxes.

  5. Select a backup level from the Backup level box. Your choices are:

    • full (default)

      Select this option to back up all data in a dataset, regardless of when it was last backed up. This option is the same as backup level 0.

    • 1 to 9

      Select an integer value to back up only those files that have changed since the last backup at a lower numerical backup level.

    • incr

      Select this option to back up only data modified since the last backup, regardless of its backup level. This option is the same as backup level 10.

      Caution:

      Oracle Secure Backup does not support the incr backup level in conjunction with some platforms, including NAS devices. Notably, the incr option does not apply to Network Appliance filers.
    • offsite

      Select this option to specify a full (level 0) backup and instruct Oracle Secure Backup to keep a record of this backup so that it does not affect the full/incremental backup schedule. This option is useful when you want to create a backup image for offsite storage without disturbing your schedule of incremental backups.

  6. In the Media family box, select a media family to which the date of this backup should be assigned. As explained in "Media Families", a media family is a named classification of backup volumes.

  7. In the Restrictions box, optionally enter the names of devices to which backups controlled by this database backup storage selector are restricted. Restrictions come in the following forms:

    • device, which specifies a particular device

    • @hostname, which specifies any drive attached to the specified host

    • device@hostname, which specified any drive-host attachment

    If this option is left blank, then Oracle Secure Backup uses device polling to find any available device for use in backup and restore operations.

  8. In the Priority box, optionally change the priority of the backup job. The default value is 100. The priority of a job is a positive integer value. The lower this value, the greater the priority assigned to the job by the scheduler. It considers priority 20 jobs, for example, more important than priority 100 jobs. The scheduler always gives preference to dispatching higher priority jobs over lower priority ones.

  9. Choose whether you want the backup to operate in unprivileged or privileged mode (see "Privileged and Unprivileged Backups"). Unprivileged mode is the default.

  10. Click OK or Cancel.

Removing a Backup Request

This section explains how to remove a backup request you have created, but have not yet sent to the scheduler.

To remove a backup request:

  1. From the Backup menu, click Backup Now in the submenu under Operations.

    The Backup Now page appears.

  2. Select a backup request from the Number/Dataset box in the central panel.

  3. Click the Remove button.

    A message appears in the status area advising you of the Number of the backup removed.

Sending Backup Requests to the Scheduler

To send all pending backup requests to the scheduler:

  1. In the Backup Now page, click the Go button

    The Web tool sends each backup request that appears in the central box to the Oracle Secure Backup scheduler.

    The Web tool displays a message in the status area for each request acknowledged by the scheduler. For example:

    backup request 1 (dataset datadir.ds) submitted; job id is admin/6.
    
    

    Oracle Secure Backup deletes each backup request upon its acceptance by the scheduler. As a result, the central box is empty upon completion of the Go operation.

  2. See "Displaying Job Transcripts" to view the output for each job.

Backing Up Critical Data on the Administrative Server

"Administrative Data" explains the importance of administrative data for the domain. If you lose the critical data stored on the administrative server, then you lose the configuration data for the domain as well as all backup and volume records.

It is recommended that you back up critical data on your administrative server as part of your normal backup routine. For example, you could make a full backup of the Oracle Secure Backup home every two weeks and an incremental backup every night. As part of your disaster recovery scenario, you should periodically make a backup of the Oracle Secure Backup home and related helpful files and store it in a safe place offsite. For example, you could back up this data every month.

It is recommended that you create one media family especially for your daily backups and one for your offsite backups. In this way, the tapes have readily identifiable volume IDs if you need to identify them quickly in a media failure or disaster recovery situation.

To back up critical data on the administrative server:

  1. Create a dataset that includes the following directories and files on the administrative server:

    • Oracle Secure Backup home directory

    • The /etc/obconfig file (Linux and UNIX only)

    • The /usr/etc/ob file (Linux and UNIX only)

    Example 7-6 shows a sample dataset for the critical files on a Linux administrative server named ashost.

    Example 7-6 ashost.ds

    include host ashost {
        include path /usr/local/oracle/backup
        include path /etc/obconfig
        include path /usr/etc/ob
    }
    
    

    Example 7-7 shows a sample dataset for the critical files on a Windows administrative server named winserver.

    Example 7-7 winserver.ds

    include host winserver {
       include path "C:\Program Files\Oracle\Backup"
    }
    
    
  2. Create a privileged backup request, either on-demand or scheduled, that specifies the dataset created in the preceding step.

  3. If the backup request is on-demand, then submit the request to the Oracle Secure Backup scheduler.

    If you are creating an offsite backup, proceed to the following steps.

  4. After the backup job executes, save a transcript of the backup as a file and print the file. The following example uses the catxcr command in obtool to save the transcript of the admin/4.1 backup job:

    obtool catxcr --level 0 admin/4.1 > /tmp/ashost.out
    
    

    You can also navigate to the /usr/etc/ob/xcr directory, which contains job transcripts. For example, you can display admin@4.1 as follows:

    # cd /usr/etc/ob/xcr
    # ls
    admin@1.1       admin@3.1       admin@5.1       admin@7.1
    admin@2.1       admin@4         admin@6.1
    # more admin@4.1
    [4100000001]2006/01/23.15:16:12
    __________________________________
    [4100000001]2006/01/23.15:16:12
    [4100000002]2006/01/23.15:16:12 Transcript for job admin/4.1 running on ella
    [4100000002]2006/01/23.15:16:12
    [3100000003]2006/01/23.15:16:23 Info: mount data verified.
    [3100000004]2006/01/23.15:16:23 Info: volume in ellatape is
    
    
  5. Optionally, print a copy of the SCSI parameters that you used to create the device special files for your tape devices (see Oracle Secure Backup Installation Guide for instructions on obtaining SCSI data).

  6. Clearly mark the volume and store it in a safe location together with the printed job transcript and SCSI parameter summary.