Online Backup of Oracle DataBase via FTP - a practical example of using D


17-May-2008	Home \| Backup Oracle DataBase

Using D_back to back up Oracle DataBase

With the increasing popularity of Oracle™ DataBases comes the need for a reliable and easy to use solution to back up those assets. That's why we introduce a practical example of using D_back to back up Oracle DataBase.

The task:

The source Oracle DataBase server (Oracle 7.3.4) is located on Unix system (reliant Unix 5.43). The task is to perform unattended online back up of Oracle DataBase tablespases from the Unix system to destination backup host, running Windows. Both hosts are in the same network, the database tablespace files are accessible via the FTP.

The solution:

First of all you need to install our backup tool on the destination backup host. Don't forget to install backup scheduler service also, to schedule backup jobs.

Oracle database client software must be installed too and your Oracle Database Server must be accessible from the destination host. Pay attention that the online Oracle backup can only be done when the database is running in ARCHIVELOG mode and the database is open.
For correct hot tablespace backup you must put the tablespaces in backup mode by using ALTER TABLESPACE ... BEGIN BACKUP statement. It should be made before the program will start downloading files from FTP. The best way is to create and plug in backup profile a separate SQL script with alter statements such as begin_backup.sql.
It is necessary to put all tablespaces back in normal mode after finishing of backing up. This is made by executing of ALTER TABLESPACE ... END BACKUP statement for each tablespace. We have prepared the end_backup.sql script for this purpose. The execution of this script will be included in backup profile at the following steps.
At this point you should create a backup profile to back up Oracle tablespace datafiles.

Backup profile is a file which keeps all settings of the backup job and unites all backup steps into one automated procedure. This file is created by the backup manager. Backup profile is used for regular backing up by the command-line backup utility or by the backup manager (both tools are based on the same backup profile).

First of all you should customize the FTP settings in your backup profile for the host with your Oracle DataBase. Next you should connect to the FTP and select tablespace data files to be backed up:
At this step you should plug launching of begin_backup and end_backup sql scripts in your backup profile. That is done on the OS commands sheet. The begin_backup.sql script is located at Before Backing Up section (it should be executed before backing up), while the end_backup.sql is located at the Finally section (the statement will be executed after backing up):

In our example we used the server manager program (svrmgr23) for launching scripts. You can use any other oracle client as well - for example sqlplus. Pay attention that the scripts should be executed without prompting of any input from the user. We recommend to test the scripts on the DOS-prompt window before including in backup profile.