At the end of Oracle RMAN for Beginners - Part 1 I was ready to begin a backup of the ant12 database. Read on …
Cold Backup - Backupset Type
There are two different types of cold backup. The first uses RMAN’s own internal format for the dump files - a backupset - the other uses image copies of the individual database files. In this part I’ll concentrate on a backuset type of cold backup. I’ll look at image copies later.
A cold backup is always a full backup. To take a cold backup the database needs to be MOUNTed. This is slightly different from a normal cold backup using the OS tools to copy files, as the database should be SHUTDOWN in that case.
A cold backup is all that you can do when the database is running in NOARCHIVELOG mode, however, you can take a cold backup of a database running in ARCHIVELOG mode using the commands shown below.
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| RMAN> connect target /
connected to target database: ANT12 (DBID=2799264292)
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| RMAN> shutdown;
database dismounted
Oracle instance shut down
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| RMAN> startup mount;
connected to target database (not started)
Oracle instance started
database mounted
...
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The following command creates a new backupset in the FRA. The files will be written to the FRA in a directory named backupset/SID.
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| RMAN> backup full database;
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| Starting backup at 2012/02/06 09:58:40
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: SID=18 device type=DISK
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting full datafile backup set
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying datafile(s) in backup set
input datafile file number=00010 name=/srv/nffs/oradata/ant12/data/NLWLDELFTFEWSModDat01_01.dbf
...
input datafile file number=00006 name=/srv/nffs/oradata/ant12/data/users01.dbf
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting piece 1 at 2012/02/06 09:58:41
channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 2012/02/06 09:59:16
piece handle=/srv/nffs/flashback_area/ant12/ANT12/backupset/2012_02_06/o1_mf_nnndf_TAG20120206T095841_7lz92krk_.bkp tag=TAG20120206T095841 comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:35
Finished backup at 2012/02/06 09:59:16
Starting Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 2012/02/06 09:59:16
piece handle=/srv/nffs/flashback_area/ant12/ANT12/autobackup/2012_02_06/o1_mf_s_774524380_7lz93qbg_.bkp comment=NONE
Finished Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 2012/02/06 09:59:23
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And that’s all there is to it. The backup file(s) will be created in the FRA as detailed above by various piece handle messages. You can see the backup details using the list backup command:
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| List of Backup Sets
===================
BS Key Type LV Size Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
------- ---- -- ---------- ----------- ------------ -------------------
6 Full 365.34M DISK 00:00:35 2012/02/06 09:59:16
BP Key: 6 Status: AVAILABLE Compressed: NO Tag: TAG20120206T095841
Piece Name: /srv/nffs/flashback_area/ant12/ANT12/backupset/2012_02_06/o1_mf_nnndf_TAG20120206T095841_7lz92krk_.bkp
List of Datafiles in backup set 6
File LV Type Ckp SCN Ckp Time Name
---- -- ---- ---------- ------------------- ----
1 Full 847342 2012/02/06 09:39:40 /srv/nffs/oradata/ant12/data/system01.dbf
...
12 Full 847342 2012/02/06 09:39:40 /srv/nffs/oradata/ant12/data/xdb01.dbf
BS Key Type LV Size Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time
------- ---- -- ---------- ----------- ------------ -------------------
7 Full 9.70M DISK 00:00:03 2012/02/06 09:59:20
BP Key: 7 Status: AVAILABLE Compressed: NO Tag: TAG20120206T095916
Piece Name: /srv/nffs/flashback_area/ant12/ANT12/autobackup/2012_02_06/o1_mf_s_774524380_7lz93qbg_.bkp
SPFILE Included: Modification time: 2012/02/06 09:40:06
SPFILE db_unique_name: ANT12
Control File Included: Ckp SCN: 847342 Ckp time: 2012/02/06 09:39:40
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The backup will be created in DB_RECOVERY_DEST/SID/backupset. A separate backup took place to copy the controlfile and spfile so that details of this current backup remain safe.
In most cases the SID will be used to determine the output directory in the FRA as specified by the database parameter DB_RECOVERY_DEST. However it is not ORACLE_SID that is actually used but the DB_UNIQUE_NAME initialisation parameter. I used SID as it’s easier to type!
It is possible to avoid backing up to the FRA by specifying a FORMAT parameter:
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| RMAN> backup format='/media/oracle_backups/ant12/ant12_backupset.rman' full database;
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| Starting backup at 2012/02/06 12:30:20
using channel ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting full datafile backup set
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying datafile(s) in backup set
input datafile file number=00010 name=/srv/nffs/oradata/ant12/data/NLWLDELFTFEWSModDat01_01.dbf
...
input datafile file number=00006 name=/srv/nffs/oradata/ant12/data/users01.dbf
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting piece 1 at 2012/02/06 12:30:20
channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 2012/02/06 12:31:45
piece handle=/media/oracle_backups/ant12/ant12_backupset.rman tag=TAG20120206T123020 comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:01:25
Finished backup at 2012/02/06 12:31:45
Starting Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 2012/02/06 12:31:46
piece handle=/srv/nffs/flashback_area/ant12/ANT12/autobackup/2012_02_06/o1_mf_s_774524380_7lzl1lcg_.bkp comment=NONE
Finished Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 2012/02/06 12:31:47
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Unfortunately, if you look carefully at the last few lines of output, the controlfile and spfile autobackup have still gone to the FRA and not to the desired location. What to do?
You can temporarily turn off the controlfile autobackup, run a database backup followed by a manual controlfile (and spfile) backup and then turn controlfile autobackup back on, as follows. You don’t have to use a run {} block as RMAN will happily accept all the commands separately. (This is not always the case!)
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| RMAN> run {
2> configure controlfile autobackup off;
3> backup format = '/media/oracle_backups/ant12/backupset_4.rman' full database;
4> backup format = '/media/oracle_backups/ant12/cf_backup_manual.f' current controlfile;
5> configure controlfile autobackup on;
}
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| old RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP ON;
new RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP OFF;
new RMAN configuration parameters are successfully stored
Starting backup at 2012/02/06 15:46:06
using channel ORA_DISK_1
...
piece handle=/media/oracle_backups/ant12/backupset_4.rman tag=TAG20120206T154606 comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:25
Finished backup at 2012/02/06 15:46:32
Starting backup at 2012/02/06 15:46:32
using channel ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting full datafile backup set
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying datafile(s) in backup set
including current control file in backup set
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting piece 1 at 2012/02/06 15:46:33
channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 2012/02/06 15:46:40
piece handle=/media/oracle_backups/ant12/cf_backup_manual.f tag=TAG20120206T154632 comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:07
Finished backup at 2012/02/06 15:46:40
old RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP OFF;
new RMAN configuration parameters:
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP ON;
new RMAN configuration parameters are successfully stored
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There has to be an easier way to do this doesn’t there? What about when you don’t know for sure that the configuration parameter is on or off? I’m sure there’s a way, and if there is, I’ll find it.
UPDATE there is a way. Simply use the set command instead of configure. For example, the above should be replaced by:
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| RMAN> run {
2> set controlfile autobackup off;
3> backup format = '/media/oracle_backups/ant12/backupset_4.rman' full database;
4> backup format = '/media/oracle_backups/ant12/cf_backup_manual.f' current controlfile;
}
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The set remains in force until the end of the session, or, as in this case, until the end of the run block.
Anyway, you now have a cold backup of the database and a safety copy of the controlfile. Unfortunately, perhaps, the backup of the controlfile didn’t take a backup of the spfile. To do that you need to add in a separate manual copy of the spfile similar to the following:
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| RMAN> backup format = '/media/oracle_backups/ant12/sp_backup_manual.f' spfile;
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| Starting backup at 2012/02/06 15:58:31
using channel ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting full datafile backup set
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying datafile(s) in backup set
including current SPFILE in backup set
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting piece 1 at 2012/02/06 15:58:31
channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 2012/02/06 15:58:32
piece handle=/media/oracle_backups/ant12/sp_backup_manual.f tag=TAG20120206T155831 comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:01
Finished backup at 2012/02/06 15:58:32
Starting Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 2012/02/06 15:58:33
piece handle=/srv/nffs/flashback_area/ant12/ANT12/autobackup/2012_02_06/o1_mf_s_774524380_7lzy59go_.bkp comment=NONE
Finished Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 2012/02/06 15:58:34
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Did you notice? The backup of the spfile includes a backup of the controlfile. Is nothing consistent with RMAN? ;-)
Coming soon, restoring and recovering a database from a cold backup.
