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Veritas InfoScale™ 8.0.2 Storage and Availability Management for Oracle Databases - AIX, Linux, Solaris

Last Published: 2023-06-12

Product(s): InfoScale & Storage Foundation (8.0.2)

Platform: AIX,Linux,Solaris

Section I. Storage Foundation High Availability (SFHA) management solutions for Oracle databases
1. Overview of Storage Foundation for Databases
Section II. Deploying Oracle with Veritas InfoScale products
Section III. Configuring Storage Foundation for Database (SFDB) tools
1. Configuring and managing the Storage Foundation for Databases repository database
2. Configuring authentication for Storage Foundation for Databases (SFDB) tools
Section IV. Improving Oracle database performance
Section V. Using point-in-time copies
Section VI. Optimizing storage costs for Oracle
Section VII. Managing Oracle disaster recovery
1. Using Storage Foundation for Databases (SFDB) tools in a replicated environment
2. Using volume snapshots in a replicated environment
Section VIII. Storage Foundation for Databases administrative reference
Section IX. Reference

Creating a snapplan (dbed_vmchecksnap)

The dbed_vmchecksnap command creates a snapplan that dbed_vmsnap uses to create a snapshot of an Oracle database.

The snapplan specifies snapshot scenarios: online, offline, or instant.

You can name a snapplan file whatever you choose. Each entry in the snapplan file is a line in parameter=argument format.

Table: Parameter values for dbed_vmchecksnap describes the parameters that can be set when using the dbed_vmchecksnap command to create or validate a snapplan.

Table: Parameter values for dbed_vmchecksnap

Parameter	Value
SNAPSHOT_VERSION	Specifies the snapshot version for this major release of SF Enterprise products.
PRIMARY_HOST	The name of the host where the primary database resides.
SECONDARY_HOST	The name of the host where the database will be imported.
PRIMARY_DG	Colon-seperated list of names of the VxVM disk group's used by the primary database
SNAPSHOT_DG_PREFIX	The name of the prefix attached to the disk group name. A snapshot disk group's name is a concatination of SNAPSHOT_DG_PREFIX and the corresponding primary dg name. Its default value will be "SNAP_". The snapshot volumes will be put into this disk group on the primary host and deported. The secondary host will import this disk group to start a clone database. SNAPSHOT_DG is not supported in release 5.1. It is replaced by SNAPSHOT_DG_PREFIX.
ORACLE_SID	The name of the Oracle database. By default, the name of the Oracle database is included in the snapplan.
ARCHIVELOG_DEST	The full path of the archive logs. There are several archive log destinations that can be used for database recovery if you are multiplexing the archive logs. You must specify which archive log destination to use. It is recommended that you have the archive log destination on a separate volume if SNAPSHOT_ARCHIVE_LOG is yes.
SNAPSHOT_ARCHIVE_LOG	yes or no Specifies whether to create a snapshot of the archive log volumes. Specify yes to split the archive log volume mirrors and deport them to the secondary host. When using the Oracle remote archive log destination feature to send the archive logs to the secondary host, you can specify no to save some space. Because the archive logs may not always be delivered to the secondary host reliably, it is recommended that you specify yes.
SNAPSHOT_MODE	Specifies the database snapshot mode. Values can be online, offline, or instant. If the snapshot is created while the database is online, the dbed_vmsnap command will put the tablespaces into backup mode. After dbed_vmsnap finishes creating the snapshot, it will take the tablespaces out of backup mode, switch the log files to ensure that the extra redo logs are archived, and create a snapshot of the archived logs. If the database is offline, it is not necessary to put the tablespaces into backup mode. The database must be shut down before creating an offline snapshot. If the database snapshot is instant, dbed_vmsnap will skip putting the tablespace into backup mode. Note: If SNAPSHOT_MODE is set to offline or instant, an off-host configuration is required and the -r relocate_path option is not allowed.
SNAPSHOT_PLAN_FOR	The default value is `database` and cannot be changed. Specifies the database object for which you want to create a snapshot.
SNAPSHOT_PLEX_TAG	Specifies the snapshot plex tag. Use this variable to specify a tag for the plexes to be snapshot. The maximum length of the plex_tag is 15 characters. The default plex tag is dbed_flashsnap.
SNAPSHOT_VOL_PREFIX	Specifies the snapshot volume prefix. Use this variable to specify a prefix for the snapshot volumes split from the primary disk group. A volume name cannot be more than 32 characters. You should consider the length of the volume name when assigning the prefix.
SNAPSHOT_MIRROR	Specifies the number of plexes to be snapshot. The default value is 1.
DG:VOL	Optional These entries are created by default if the dbed_vmchecksnap command is run with the -o setdefaults -m option. These entries specify the mount path for the associated snapshot volumes when we perform a clone operation using dbed_vmclondb. The values for these fields can be left blank, if they are blank then the -r relocate_path needs to be specified when performing a dbed_vmclonedb operation.

When you first run dbed_vmchecksnap, use the -o setdefaults option to create a snapplan using default values for variables. You may then edit the file manually to set the variables for different snapshot scenarios.

Before creating a snapplan, make sure the following conditions have been met:

Prerequisites

Storage must be configured as specified:
You must be the Oracle database administrator.
The disk group must be version 110 or later. For more information on disk group versions, see the vxdg(1M) manual page.
Be sure that a DCO and DCO volume are associated with the volume for which you are creating the snapshot.
Snapshot plexes and their associated DCO logs should be on different disks than the original plexes, and should be configured correctly for creating snapshots by the system administrator.
Persistent FastResync must be enabled on the existing database volumes and disks must be assigned for the snapshot volumes.
The database must be running in archive log mode. Archive log mode is set in the Oracle initialization parameter file.
The Oracle database must have at least one mandatory archive destination.
ORACLE_HOME cannot reside on a disk which will be used for snapshot.
The Oracle database files and archive log files should use different volumes with unique disks in same disk group.

Usage Notes

If you are performing offhost processing, the snapplan should be created on the primary host.
After creating the snapplan using the dbed_vmchecksnap command, you can use a text editor to review and update the file, if necessary.
It is recommended that you create a local working directory to store your snapplans in.
See the dbed_vmchecksnap (1M) online manual page for more information.
If the SNAPSHOT_MODE for the database is set to online, the primary and secondary hosts can be the same.
If the SNAPSHOT_MODE is set to offline or instant, the primary and secondary hosts must be different.

To create a snapplan

Perform the following steps as an Oracle database administrator.
Change directories to the working directory you want to store your snapplan in.
```
$ cd /working_directory
						
```

Create a snapplan with default values using the dbed_vmchecksnap command:

$ /opt/VRTS/bin/dbed_vmchecksnap -S  ORACLE_SID \
-H ORACLE_HOME -f SNAPPLAN -o setdefaults -t  host_name \
[-p PLEX_TAG] [-m]

Example output for using multi-dg and for when when you specify -m option for mapped mount point.

$ /opt/VRTS/bin/dbed_vmchecksnap -S slave -H $ORACLE_HOME \
-f snapplan3 -o setdefaults -t mensa -m
SFDB vxsfadm WARNING V-81-0000 dbed_vmchecksnap will 
be deprecated in the next release
SFDB vxsfadm WARNING V-81-0000 As an altername
use /opt/VRTS/bin/vxsfadm
Snapplan snapplan3 for slave
SNAPSHOT_VERSION=5.0
PRIMARY_HOST=mensa
SECONDARY_HOST=mensa
PRIMARY_DG=datadg1:datadg2:archdg1
ORACLE_SID=slave
ARCHIVELOG_DEST=/arch/sfae10g
SNAPSHOT_ARCHIVE_LOG=yes
SNAPSHOT_MODE=online
SNAPSHOT_PLEX_TAG=dbed_flashsnap
SNAPSHOT_DG_PREFIX=SNAP_
SNAPSHOT_VOL_PREFIX=SNAP_
SNAPSHOT_MIRROR=1
archdg1:arch1vol1=
datadg1:data1vol2=
datadg1:data1vol1=
datadg2:data1vol1=
datadg2:data1vol2=

Open the snapplan file in a text editor and modify it as needed.

More Information

Preparing hosts and storage for Database FlashSnap