HP 3PAR Application Software Suite for Oracle - Manual (Page 7)

1 Overview of Recovery Manager Operations
Recovery Manager for Oracle offers a specific data protection solution that has been enhanced
to provide rapid online recovery from space-efficient online point-in-time snapshots of an Oracle
database. Further, Recovery Manager for Oracle enables off-host backup of an Oracle database
to tape, minimizing any impact to the production Oracle server.
This chapter introduces virtual copy technology and describes how HP 3PAR Recovery Manager
for Oracle backs up and restores Oracle databases.
In this document, the following terminology is used:
•
Database server - A host where the Oracle database is running.
•
Backup server - A host where all HP 3PAR Recovery Manager operations are initiated.
Virtual Copies
A virtual copy is a point-in-time image of a virtual volume created using the copy-on-write technique.
It is composed of a pointer to the parent virtual volume and a record of all the changes made to
the parent since the virtual copy was created. These changes can be rolled back to reproduce the
parent’s earlier state.
A virtual copy can be exported to or mounted on a server to allow regular operations such as
backup or off-host processing.
Within HP 3PAR Recovery Manager for Oracle, a virtual copy of a database is a point-in-time
image of the database. It consists of virtual copies of the virtual volumes where the data files and/or
archive logs reside. Recovery Manager can be used to create an online, offline, datafile, or archive
log virtual copy of an Oracle database. An online or offline virtual copy is a point-in-time image
of a database, which is taken while the database is OPEN (online) or CLOSED (offline), respectively.
A datafile virtual copy is a point-in-time image of all database's datafiles, which is taken while the
database is OPEN (online). An archive log virtual copy is a point-in-time image of database's
archive log destination, which is taken while the database is online (OPEN). Hereinafter, the term
virtual copy is used to refer to a virtual copy of a database, rather than of a virtual volume.
About the Recovery Manager for Oracle Repository
Information about virtual copies, database structures, and backup images (if backed up via Oracle
RMAN and/or Symantec NetBackup) are stored in the HP 3PAR Recovery Manager for Oracle
repository when a virtual copy is created, or when a backup operation is performed. The information
in the repository is used to manage virtual copies and to restore from a virtual copy backup image.
Some other Oracle-related files such as parameter files, password files, ASM metadata, and control
files are also saved in the Recovery Manager repository, along with the backup image information,
for each virtual copy created.
WARNING! Do not modify these repository files.
The Recovery Manager for Oracle repository is located in the following directory on the backup
server:
/etc/3par/solutions/<db_server>.ora.<oracle_sid>
where:
•
<db_server> is the host name of the database server.
•
<oracle_sid> is the Oracle SID of the database instance.
Virtual Copies 7