RE: Backing up Oracle database
On Tue, 21 Nov 2000, Tuthill, Ed wrote: So if you'd like to look at a perl version of this, let me know and I can ship a copy your way. I'd love to have a copy of your perl script when you're finished with it. I have MySql on my box supporting my own private website search engine and our internal bugzilla. Not a real high-traffic server but I'd still like to get the bugzilla backed up better than it is now. -- Joi Ellis [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.visi.com/~gyles19/
RE: Backing up Oracle database
I'm putting the finishing touches this week on a perl script that handles Oracle database hot backups (to keep the database up and running 24/7). It's very much like the tcl script John Jackson wrote, but uses the Expect perl module to interact with the database. The script essentially backs up all of the tablespaces, control files, and config files to a spare partition set up specifically for this purpose. This partition is then set to be backed up with Amanda, along with all the regular partitions on the system (e.g., /usr, /var, etc.). So if you'd like to look at a perl version of this, let me know and I can ship a copy your way. -Original Message- From: Fredrik Persson P (QRA) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, November 20, 2000 8:46 AM To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: RE: Backing up Oracle database [Fredrik Persson P (QRA)] Please read the entire mail! In the end, I'm coming to a conclusion that probably obsoletes a lot of the previous junk that I wrote. I've been writing this email all day and I've become wiser along the day too... I've been assigned the task to back up an Oracle database w/ amanda. I'm also told (by the db administrator) that a have to read the files under /u02 (a directory in the root of the file hierarchy) in a certain order. Ummm, that's very odd. I've talked with my Oracle admin and we're not sure what it is you're trying to do here. Could you elaborate? [Fredrik Persson P (QRA)] Absolutely! Our main concern seems to be that the database must operate 24/7. The scheme that we thought up was to run the "begin backup" command on all tablespaces before amanda starts her work. When she's finished, the "end backup" command is run on all tablespaces. When all the tablespaces are brought "back into action", the command ALTER SYSTEM SWITCH LOGFILE is issued, to create a new ARCHIVELOG file, even thought the old one might not be "full". To restore the contents of the db, we first bring the tablespaces back, and then apply the archivelog file to them. Now, there seems to be a file called the "control file". If this file is backed up before the tablespaces, and the tablespaces are altered during backup, we cannot restore the system. The control file is out of date and we get an error message similar to "control file older than tablespace". Can't recall the exact words, but that's what it means. So, what I want to do is to backup the tablespaces first, and the control file after that. That's why I need to tell amanda to do things in a certain order. Also, the way we back up our Oracle system is to dump it to a scratch disk area and then let Amanda back that up. And yes, we've done restores :-). And they even worked :-). [Fredrik Persson P (QRA)] Are you running 24/7? If so, how do you deal with the issue of changes in the db during file transfer? Do you use raw partitions or does Oracle run on top of a file system? The scripts we use are at: ftp://gandalf.cc.purdue.edu/dbbackup.* [Fredrik Persson P (QRA)] That link didn't work. Did you mean ftp://gandalf.cc.purdue.edu/pub/amanda/dbbackup.* Is there a way to tell Amanda this? If this really ends up being the way you need to do this, I have some hacks that I think would work. But let's make sure you're headed down the right path first. [Fredrik Persson P (QRA)] After spending the day pondering this issue, I think we've come to the conclusion that we'll copy the db files to a temp storage, and then backup them from there as if they were regular files. This is your approach too. I'd say it's a good one. Minimizes db backup time and gives us control over the order when storing db files. I've browsed your scripts. Are those GPL'ed or something similar? Right now, we're using our own scripts that can be said to be stripped versions of yours. However, I might be interested in your stuff later. Thanks for your help! Using a temp storage was pretty smart. /Fredrik Persson
Re: Backing up Oracle database
Are you running 24/7? If so, how do you deal with the issue of changes in the db during file transfer? ... Yes, we're running 24/7. And it's my understand the technique the script we use employs deals with that. The scripts we use are at: ftp://gandalf.cc.purdue.edu/dbbackup.* [Fredrik Persson P (QRA)] That link didn't work. Did you mean ftp://ga ndalf.cc.purdue.edu/pub/amanda/dbbackup.* Hey! At least I got the host name right. The rest is **supposed** to be an adventure. :-) Yes, what you found was what I meant to point you at. I've browsed your scripts. Are those GPL'ed or something similar? ... They say pretty clearly they are copyright Purdue University but freely redistributable. And don't anybody bother starting a war with me about free software, copyrights, copylefts, GPL's or anything else. I'm not interested. /Fredrik Persson John R. Jackson, Technical Software Specialist, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Backing up Oracle database
[Fredrik Persson P (QRA)] Please read the entire mail! In the end, I'm coming to a conclusion that probably obsoletes a lot of the previous junk that I wrote. I've been writing this email all day and I've become wiser along the day too... I've been assigned the task to back up an Oracle database w/ amanda. I'm also told (by the db administrator) that a have to read the files under /u02 (a directory in the root of the file hierarchy) in a certain order. Ummm, that's very odd. I've talked with my Oracle admin and we're not sure what it is you're trying to do here. Could you elaborate? [Fredrik Persson P (QRA)] Absolutely! Our main concern seems to be that the database must operate 24/7. The scheme that we thought up was to run the "begin backup" command on all tablespaces before amanda starts her work. When she's finished, the "end backup" command is run on all tablespaces. When all the tablespaces are brought "back into action", the command ALTER SYSTEM SWITCH LOGFILE is issued, to create a new ARCHIVELOG file, even thought the old one might not be "full". To restore the contents of the db, we first bring the tablespaces back, and then apply the archivelog file to them. Now, there seems to be a file called the "control file". If this file is backed up before the tablespaces, and the tablespaces are altered during backup, we cannot restore the system. The control file is out of date and we get an error message similar to "control file older than tablespace". Can't recall the exact words, but that's what it means. So, what I want to do is to backup the tablespaces first, and the control file after that. That's why I need to tell amanda to do things in a certain order. Also, the way we back up our Oracle system is to dump it to a scratch disk area and then let Amanda back that up. And yes, we've done restores :-). And they even worked :-). [Fredrik Persson P (QRA)] Are you running 24/7? If so, how do you deal with the issue of changes in the db during file transfer? Do you use raw partitions or does Oracle run on top of a file system? The scripts we use are at: ftp://gandalf.cc.purdue.edu/dbbackup.* [Fredrik Persson P (QRA)] That link didn't work. Did you mean ftp://gandalf.cc.purdue.edu/pub/amanda/dbbackup.* Is there a way to tell Amanda this? If this really ends up being the way you need to do this, I have some hacks that I think would work. But let's make sure you're headed down the right path first. [Fredrik Persson P (QRA)] After spending the day pondering this issue, I think we've come to the conclusion that we'll copy the db files to a temp storage, and then backup them from there as if they were regular files. This is your approach too. I'd say it's a good one. Minimizes db backup time and gives us control over the order when storing db files. I've browsed your scripts. Are those GPL'ed or something similar? Right now, we're using our own scripts that can be said to be stripped versions of yours. However, I might be interested in your stuff later. Thanks for your help! Using a temp storage was pretty smart. /Fredrik Persson
