Oracle 10g database restore/recovery - Test your tape

backup - Part 1: Different dbid

Oracle 10g database restore/recovery - Test your tape backup - Part 1: Different dbid
Step-by-step instructions on how to using RMAN DUPLICATE to restore/duplicate a database

To test my backup and recovery procedures, I restore the Production database backup into the testing database
once a year, and conduct tests against the new database through the testing application. Since the DBID is
different, I can’t use RESTORE and RECOVER commands. RMAN DUPLICATE is used for restore/recovery instead.

Here I list steps instructions on how to using RMAN DUPLICATE to restore/duplicate a database on Windows and
UNIX servers, either on a new machine or local machine.

My settings in this case are:

- The Database version is 10.2.0.3;

- The production database (the target database) is called TARG and the testing database (the duplicate
database) is called DUPL;
- Archive log mode is enabled on TARG. Weekly hot whole database backup of TARG is taken to disk by RMAN
and then copied to tape. The archive log files are also backed up and deleted with the weekly backup.
- The Tape backup and archived log files on disk are used for restore/recovery in this example;
- I use Flash Recovery Area to store backup related files;
- The directory structure of two systems are identical;
- No recovery catalog is used.

1 Before you get started:

1) Make sure the operating system on the target and duplicate systems are the same.
2) Make sure the same Oracle software release is used on the target and duplicate databases.
3) Make sure you have the necessary backups of the target database. Ensure sure the backups, and the
archived redo logs if needed, are accessible from the duplicate site.
4) Exam your RMAN configuration. Login to target database as a user with sysdba privileges.

$rman target <user>/<password>@TARG

RMAN> show all;

RMAN configuration parameters are:

CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 2;
CONFIGURE BACKUP OPTIMIZATION OFF; # default
CONFIGURE DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE TO DISK; # default
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP ON;
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO '%F'; # default
CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE DISK BACKUP TYPE TO BACKUPSET PARALLELISM 1;
CONFIGURE DATAFILE BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default
CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default
CONFIGURE MAXSETSIZE TO UNLIMITED; # default
CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION FOR DATABASE OFF; # default
CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION ALGORITHM 'AES128'; # default
CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG DELETION POLICY TO NONE; # default
CONFIGURE SNAPSHOT CONTROLFILE NAME TO 'E:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.2.0\DB_1\DATABASE\SNCFTARG.ORA';
# default

2 Delete the testing database using Oracle DBCA.

Retain a backup of the testing database in case the duplicate fails and you need to restore the original testing
database.

If you want to restore/duplicate the database to a new server, install Oracle Database software without the
starter database, and then patch it if needed.

3 Copy the appropriate tape backup files to Target database backup location using your tape management tool.

I renamed the original disk backup of TARG instead of overwriting it.

4 Create a password file for the testing database DUPL. The password for SYS must be identical on both
databases.

- On Windows:
$cd %ORACLE_HOME%\database
$orapwd file=pwdDUPL.ora password=xxxxxxxx force=y
(Note: Replace xxxxxxxxx with your actual password for the SYS user.)

- On UNIX:
$cd $ORACLE_HOME/dbs
$Orapwd file=pwdDUPL.ora password=xxxxxxxx force=y
(Note: Replace xxxxxxxxx with your actual password for the SYS user.)

5 Update tnsnames.ora and listener.ora of the Target database to add the duplicate database entries.

6 Create an Initialization parameter for the duplicate database.

On Target database TARG, issue the following command:

- On Windows:
SQL>create pfile=’<Oracle_home>\database\pfileDUPL.ora’ from spfile;
(Note- specify your Oracle home path to replace ‘<Oracle_home>’).

- On UNIX:
SQL>create pfile=’<Oracle_home>/dbs/pfileDUPL.ora’ from spfile;
(Note- specify your Oracle home path to replace ‘<Oracle_home>’).

7 Copy pfileDUPL.ora to duplicate database site and edit it.

1) Copy it to <ORACLE_HOME>\database directory on Windows or <ORACLE_HOME>/dbs directory on UNIX.

2) Modify this pfile to include parameters DB_NAME, CONTROL_FILES, DB_FILE_NAME_CONVERT and
LOG_FILE_NAME_CONVERT. For example (here the file paths are from a windows system. For UNIX system,
specify the path accordingly):

db_name='DUPL'
control_files='E:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.2.0\ORADATA\DUPL\CONTROLFILE\CONTROL01.CTL', 'F:\ORACLE\
FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\DEVL\CONTROLFILE\CONTROL02.CTL'
# Specify the location of the target DB datafiles followed by the duplicate location
db_file_name_convert='E:\oracle\product\10.2.0\oradata\TARG\DATAFILE', 'E:\oracle\Product\10.2.0\oradata\
DUPL\DATAFILE'
# Specify the location of the target DB online redo log files followed by the duplicate location
log_file_name_convert='E:\oracle\product\10.2.0\oradata\TARG\ONLINELOG', 'E:\oracle\product\10.2.0\oradata\
DUPL\ONLINELOG', 'F:\oracle\flash_recovery_area\TARG\ONLINELOG','F:\oracle\flash_recovery_area\DUPL\
ONLINELOG'

Modify some other parameters for DUPL such as adump, bdump, cdump, udump, and dpdump.

8 Create following dump directories for the duplicate database.

Create adump, bdump, cdump, udump, dpdump directories.

9 Create data directories where you want to store new data files.
Create directories for controlfile, datafile and onlinelog.

10 On Windows start the Oracle Services.

$oradim –new –sid DUPL –startmode auto

Now go to control panel>administrative tools, open services and see whether oracle services for DUPL is
running.

Change the Oracle DB Server account from local system to a user with administrative account. After the change
stop and start Oracle DB Services.

11 Startup nomount the Duplicate instance and generate a spfile.

- On Windows:
SQL>shutdown immediate
 SQL>startup nomount pfile=’<Oracle_home>\database\initDUPL.ora’;
SQL> create spfile from pfile=’<Oracle_home>\database\initDUPL.ora';
-- Restart the duplicate instance using the newly created SPFILE.
SQL>shutdown immediate;
SQL>startup mount;

- On UNIX:
SQL>shutdown immediate
SQL>startup nomount pfile=’<Oracle_home>/dbs/initDUPL.ora’;
SQL> create spfile from pfile=’<Oracle_home>/dbs/initDUPL.ora';
-- Restart the duplicate instance using the newly created SPFILE.
SQL>shutdown immediate;
SQL>startup mount;

12 Mount or open the target database TARG if it is not already mount or open.

13 Ensure you have the necessary backups and archived redo logs.
$rman target <user>/<password>@TARG
Rman>list backup summary
Rman>exit

14 Resote/Duplicate the database using RMAN DUPLICATE command.

1) Login to the target and duplicate database

$rman target <user>/<password>@TARG auxiliary <user>/<password>@DUPL

2) Run the RMAN duplicate command:

RMAN>run {
allocate auxiliary channel ch1 type disk;
duplicate target database to DUPL;
}

15 Create DB console for the duplicate database.

- On Windows
$cd %ORACLE_HOME%\bin
$emca –config dbcontrol db

- On UNIX
$cd $ORACLE_HOME/bin
$emca –config dbcontrol db

Enter SID, password for users sys, sysman, dbsnmp when prompted.

16 Modify settings in Application and the DUPL database to reflect the changes if necessary.

17 Test the duplicate database through Oracle tools and through the front-end application.

Reference:
Oracle® Database Backup and Recovery Advanced User’s Guide,
10g Release 2 (10.2), B14191-02

Comments/Reviews on this article:

Ferhat Ozturk
Aug 09, 2008

hi, below commands give error:

- On Windows:
SQL>shutdown immediate
SQL>startup nomount pfile=’\database\initDUPL.ora’;
SQL> create spfile from pfile=’\database\initDUPL.ora';
-- Restart the duplicate instance using the newly created SPFILE.
SQL>shutdown immediate;
SQL>startup mount;

error is :
ORA-00202: control file: 'E:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\10.2.0\ORADATA\DUPL\CONTROL01.CTL'
ORA-27041: unable to open file
OSD-04002: unable to open file
O/S-Error: (OS 2) The system cannot find the file specified.

i guess this error is normal, because we have not created a control file for new DUPL db, am i right pls post me ba
trying your steps.

Ferhat Ozturk
Aug 10, 2008

i guess i solved the problem, before we use rman duplicate command, dupl db must be in nomount status, not mo
because rman will create control files from backup.

Oracle 10g database restore/recovery - Test your tape

backup Part 2: Same dbid

Oracle 10g database restore/recovery - Test your tape backup Part 2:

Same dbid
It is very critical to have solid backup and recovery procedures to protect your database.
You should test the procedure periodically. This article provides step-by-step instructions
on how to test your tape backup by restoring the database to a new host using Oracle
RMAN. The DBID and ORACLE_SID of the restored database will be the same as the ones
for the original (source) database.

My settings in this case are:

- The Database version is 10.2.0.3;

- The source database is called TARG;
- Weekly hot whole database backup of TARG is taken to disk by RMAN and then copied to
tape. The latest whole database backup of TARG is used for restore/recovery in this
example;
- I use Flash Recovery Area to store backup related files;
- The directory structure of two systems are identical;
- No recovery catalog is used. If you use recovery catalog, NEVER connect RMAN to the
recovery catalog, otherwise the restored database is registered automatically in the
recovery catalog.

1 Before you get started:

1) Make sure the operating system on the source and new servers are the same;

2) Make sure the same Oracle software release is used on the source and restored
databases.

3) Record the DBID for the source database. Get DBID. In order to start the oracle db
restore you need to know Oracle Database ID to start with. You can get DBID from the
control file backup, or by connecting to RMAN.
$rman
Recovery Manager: Release 10.2.0.3.0 - Production on Thu Jan 31 15:41:00 2008
Copyright (c) 1982, 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved.
RMAN> connect target <user>/<password>@TARG
connected to target database: TARG (DBID=123456789)

4) Make sure you have the necessary backups of the source database. You will need data
file backup, Control file & SPFILE autobackup, and backups of archived log required to
recover the datafiles.

5) Exam your RMAN configuration settings of source database.

Login to source database as a user with sysdba privilege and show RMAN configurations.
Note control file autobackup is ON.
RMAN> show all;

RMAN configuration parameters are:

CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 2;
CONFIGURE BACKUP OPTIMIZATION OFF; # default
CONFIGURE DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE TO DISK; # default
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP ON;
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO \%F\; #
default
CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE DISK BACKUP TYPE TO BACKUPSET PARALLELISM 1;
CONFIGURE DATAFILE BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default
CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default
CONFIGURE MAXSETSIZE TO UNLIMITED; # default
CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION FOR DATABASE OFF; # default
CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION ALGORITHM \AES128\; # default
CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG DELETION POLICY TO NONE; # default
CONFIGURE SNAPSHOT CONTROLFILE NAME TO \<path>\SNCFTARG.ORA\; # default

2 If Oracle Database software is not installed on the new host, install it without the starter
database.
Note down Oracle Home Directory. Install required patches if necessary.

3 Set ORACLE_HOME and ORACLE_SID on the new host to the same value on source host.
You can either locally do it every time by set commands or set it under environment
variable.

4 Copy Control file & SPFILE autobackup, database backup files and archive logs backup
files to locations from where you are restoring.

5 Copy the password file over to the new host.

On Windows, copy it to %Oracle_home%\database.

On UNIX, copy it to $Oracle_home/dbs.

6 Copy tnsnames.ora to new host. Edit it with right server name and other information.
On Windows, copy it to %ORACLE_HOME%\network\admin.

On UNIX, copy it to $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin.

7 Create data directories on the new host where you want to store new data files.
Create directories for controlfile, datafile and onlinelog on the new host.

8 Create following dump directories for the restored database.

Create adump, bdump, cdump, udump, dpdump directories on the new host.

9 On Windows start the Oracle Services.

Run the following command on Windows:
$oradim –new –sid TARG –startmode auto

Now go to control panel>administrative tools, open services and see whether oracle
services for TARG is running.

Change the Oracle DB Server account from local system to a user with administrative
account. After the change, stop and start this Oracle DB Services.

(Note: The following commands will be run on the new host)

10 On the new host, invoke RMAN from command prompt and startup nomount.
$RMAN target / NOCATALOG
RMAN > SET DBID 123456789;
RMAN > Startup nomount

Hereyou will see error message like:

startup failed: ORA-01078: failure in processing system parameters

LRM-00109: could not open parameter file \<path>\INITTARG.ORA\
starting Oracle instance without parameter file for retrival of spfile
Oracle instance started
……….

This is fine because the PFILE has not been restored from the auto backup yet. It will be
restored at next step. The instance is started with a dummy file.

11 Restore pfile from the control file and spfile auto backup.
- On Windows
RMAN> restore spfile to pfile \<Oracle_home>\database\initTARG.ora\ from ‘<path and
name of the Control file & SPFILE autobackup file>\;

- On UNIX
RMAN> restore spfile to pfile \<Oracle_home>/dbs/initTARG.ora\ from \<path and name of
the SPFILE and control file auto backup file>\;

The output is like this:

Starting restore at 31-JAN-08
using target database control file instead of recovery catalog
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: sid=37 devtype=DISK

channel ORA_DISK_1: autobackup found: <here you will see the path and name of the
SPFILE and control file auto backup file >
channel ORA_DISK_1: SPFILE restore from autobackup complete
Finished restore at 31-JAN-08

12 Make necessary changes to parameter file.

Necessary changes include locations for dump files, locations for control file, etc..

13 Restart the instance using the edited pfile.

- On Windows:
RMAN> startup force nomount pfile=\<Oracle_home>\database\initTARG.ora\;

- On UNIX
RMAN> startup force nomount pfile=\<Oracle_home>/dbs/initTARG.ora\;

14 Restore control file from control file auto backup.

RMAN> restore controlfile from \<path + name of the Control file & SPFILE autobackup>\;

Starting restore at 31-JAN-08

allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: sid=157 devtype=DISK
channel ORA_DISK_1: restoring control file
channel ORA_DISK_1: restore complete, elapsed time: 00:00:02
output filename=<you will see the path and name of the control file here>
output filename=<multiplexing - you will see the path and name of the control file here>
Finished restore at 31-JAN-08

15 Mount the database and Restore and Recover database.

RMAN>alter database mount;
RMAN>restore database;
RMAN>recover database;
--Open resetlogs on the restored database
RMAN >alter database open resetlogs;

If the new host has different directory structure from the source host, you have to run ‘SET
NEWNAME’ commands before performing restore and recovery. Refer to the Reference for
details.

16 Login to database using sqlplus as sysdba, and create spfile from pfile.
- On Windows:
SQL>Create spfile from pfile =\<Oracle_home>\database\initTARG.ora\
-- Restart the restored instance using the newly created SPFILE.
SQL>shutdown immediate;
SQL>startup mount;

- On UNIX:
SQL>Create spfile from pfile =\<Oracle_home>/dbs/initTARG.ora\
-- Restart the restored instance using the newly created SPFILE.
SQL>shutdown immediate;
SQL>startup mount;

17 Test the restored database through EM and command line if you want to.
To create DB console for the restored database:

- On Windows
$cd %ORACLE_HOME%\bin
$emca –config dbcontrol db

- On UNIX
$cd $ORACLE_HOME/bin
$emca –config dbcontrol db

Enter SID, password for users sys, sysman and dbsnmp when prompted.

18 Drop the restored database if you want to.

The database must be mounted exclusive and not open, and started in RESTRICT mode to
be dropped.
RMAN>startup force nomount
RMAN> SQL \ALTER SYSTEM ENABLE RESTRICTED SESSION\;
RMAN>DROP DATABASE;

Reference:
Oracle® Database Backup and Recovery Advanced User’s Guide, 10g Release 2 (10.2),
B14191-02