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Recovery Manager (RMAN) Enhancements in Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1)

This article describes the new features and enhancements made to Recovery Manager (RMAN) in Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1).

oracle 12cconfigurationintermediate
by OracleDba
13 views
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Multisection Image Copies and Incremental Backups

In previous releases it was only possible to perform multisection backups using conventional backup sets. In Oracle 12c, it is also possible to use multisection backups for image copy and incremental backups. In all three cases, multisection backups are triggered by the addition of the clause of the command, which indicates the size of the fragment to be processed by each slave. If the file size is smaller than the value, a multisection backup of that file is not performed.

Code/Command (click line numbers to comment):

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# Backup set.
BACKUP
SECTION SIZE 400M
DATABASE;

# Image copy.
BACKUP AS COPY
SECTION SIZE 400M
DATABASE;

# Incremental and incrementally updated image copy.
BACKUP INCREMENTAL LEVEL 1
SECTION SIZE 400M
DATABASE;
BACKUP INCREMENTAL LEVEL 1 FOR RECOVER OF COPY WITH TAG 'mydb_incr_backup'
SECTION SIZE 400M
DATABASE;
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Network-Enabled RESTORE

Restore and recovery operations can be performed directly over a network without the need to manually transfer files. This is done using the clause, which is used to specify an entry in the "tnsnames.ora" file pointing to the service the data should be sourced from. The documentation discusses two scenarios where this might be useful. Using a file from a physical standby database to restore a missing/damaged file in the primary database. Refreshing a physical standby database from a primary database. This performs an incremental backup of the primary database and uses it to refresh the standby database. There are some additional post-recovery steps to take when doing a network refresh of a standby database, described here .

Code/Command (click line numbers to comment):

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RESTORE DATAFILE '/u01/oradata/primary/hr.dbf'
FROM SERVICE standby_tns
;

RECOVER DATABASE
FROM SERVICE primary_db
;
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RMAN Command-Line Interface Enhancements

The command line interface of RMAN has been simplified with respect to using SQL. Previously, SQL commands had to start with the keyword and needed to be enclosed by quotes. In Oracle 12c this is no longer necessary for most commands. You also have the option of using the keyword, without quoting the subsequent command. You can also do queries in a similar way to SQL*Plus. The SQL commands available from RMAN directly are described here .

Code/Command (click line numbers to comment):

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# Pre-12c
SQL "ALTER SYSTEM SWITCH LOGFILE";

# 12c : Using SQL keyword.
SQL ALTER SYSTEM SWITCH LOGFILE;

# 12c : No SQL keyword.
ALTER SYSTEM SWITCH LOGFILE;

RMAN> SELECT name FROM v$database;

NAME
---------
CDB1

RMAN>
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Storage Snapshot Optimization

Oracle 12c supports backups taken using 3rd party storage shapshots, without the need to put the database in backup mode. There are some requirements the storage must adhere to for this functionality to be supported, listed here. Recovering using a snapshot performed in this manner requires the use of the clause.

Code/Command (click line numbers to comment):

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RECOVER DATABASE UNTIL TIME '04/25/2016 12:00:00'
SNAPSHOT TIME '04/25/2016 13:00:00'
;
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RMAN Virtual Private Catalog

A virtual private catalog is an RMAN catalog implemented using Virtual Private Database (VPD), so it appears as multiple independent catalogs. This can be useful when a single catalog is shared between multiple teams, each managing different systems. This functionality was introduced in Oracle 11g. In Oracle 12c (12.1.0.2), the use of the virtual private catalog functionality is now restricted to the Enterprise Edition of the database. You can read more about virtual private catalogs here . For more information see: Hope this helps. Regards Tim...

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