HP 3PAR Application Software Suite for Oracle Licenses - Manual (Page 16)

Integration with HP 3PAR Virtual Lock Software
HP 3PAR Virtual Lock Software allows administrators to apply a configurable retention period to
virtual volumes - including thin volumes created with HP 3PAR Thin Provisioning Software and
virtual volume copies, such as those created with HP 3PAR Recovery Manager for Oracle.
The Virtual Lock utilities prevent read-only Virtual Copies from being accidentally or intentionally
removed. This is achieved by enforcing a predefined retention time for the read-only Virtual Copy.
Be cautious that once the retention time is set, it cannot be removed or reduced. It can only be
removed after the retention time ends.
This feature is only available for HP 3PAR OS 2.3.1 or above and requires an HP 3PAR Virtual
Lock Software license.
There are a few ways to enforce the retention time for read-only Virtual Copies.
•
During configuration, the retention value specified will be the default value for new read-only
Virtual Copies created via rmora_create, rmora_rsync, and rmora_backup (without
the -t option).
•
Use rmora_create -r or rmora_rsync -r to override the default value specified during
configuration.
•
Use the rmora_set command for the specified Virtual Copy to extend its retention time.
•
Retention time can be displayed by using rmora_display with the -r option.
The Virtual Copy Repository
HP 3PAR Recovery Manager Software for Oracle records important information for each Virtual
Copy taken by the Recovery Manager for Oracle utilities. The information is used by Recovery
Manager for Oracle, especially for database restoration. The information is stored in the repository
at:
/etc/3par/solutions/<db_server>.ora.<oracle_sid>/<timestamp>
To avoid unpredictable errors, do not manually modify the directories and files in this repository.
The Virtual Copy Repository Removal Utility
HP 3PAR Recovery Manager Software for Oracle’s Virtual Copy repository removal utility removes
a Virtual Copy’s repository that was created using the create utility (
“The Virtual Copy Creation
Utility” (page 10) ). The Virtual Copy that has been removed must have Removed status in order
for Recovery Manager for Oracle to remove the repository. The status of a Virtual Copy can be
obtained using the display utility (
“The Virtual Copy Display Utility” (page 12) ).
If a Virtual Copy has been backed up, the remove repository utility command fails unless the -f
option is used.
Virtual Copy Policy
HP 3PAR Recovery Manager Software for Oracle provides the capability to limit the number of
Virtual Copies per database at any time. There are two ways to achieve this. One is to use a
time-based policy, which is based on the expiration time (the Virtual Copy is removed automatically
by an internal scheduler once the expiration time is reached) of the Virtual Copy . The second way
is to use a numeric-based policy, which is based on the maximum number of Virtual Copies specified
in the configuration file (the maximum allowed value is 500).
For a numeric-based policy example, a policy can be set to only allow twelve Virtual Copies at
any time for a database. Recovery Manager for Oracle always maintains the twelve latest Virtual
Copies by removing the oldest Virtual Copy before creating a new copy. If a Virtual Copy is
protected by retention time, it can only be removed after the retention time ends. The default and
maximum allowed number is 500, meaning that up to 500 read-only Virtual Copies can be created
if you have sufficient snapshot space.
16 Overview of Recovery Manager Operations