Commvault’s solutions for Oracle have multiple protection methods to suit different types of deployments and to suit the preferences of DBAs who manage the life cycles of databases and their copies. The Copy Data Management capabilities are also built into these backup and recovery solutions. The DBA or DevOps tasks are easier when you can do database copy provisioning and database protection with the same product, while reducing the number of copies and storage required. You can create copies of databases, called Instant Clones, that have the following benefits:
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Provision a thin copy of a production database for development or test purposes.
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Manage instant clone provisioning and end-to-end life cycle management. For more information, see Managing Oracle Clones.
Copy Data Management capabilities are implemented using the following backup methods:
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Array snapshot technology, making snapshot copies from primary storage - described in this section
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Snapshot copies from secondary storage, such as a company's own storage or Hybrid File Store - described in this section
Key Features
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Forever incremental backups to facilitate faster backups, even for very large databases
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Reduce the amount of storage used for copies stored in the Commvault disk library
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One-step cloning process
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Create multiple clones from the same snapshot
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Automatic clone creation and cleanup according to user-configured expiration time
Copy Data Management Capabilities
The following table lists the copy data management capabilities that you can use for various database environments.
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Hardware and software environment |
Backup methods |
Backup copy interfaces |
Clone methods |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Production database is on a snapshot-capable volume. |
Snapshot made by array, using the array's hardware capabilities. In-place capture |
|
|
|
Production database is not on a snapshot-capable volume, and a snapshot-capable volume is not available as a target for an RMAN image copy. |
RMAN image copy to Hybrid File Store, then make a virtual snapshot. Out-of-place capture |
|
|
|
Production database is not on a snapshot-capable volume, but a snapshot-capable volume is available as a target for an RMAN image copy. |
RMAN image copy to snapshot-capable volume, then take a snapshot of the volume. Out-of-place capture |
|
|
Backup Methods
Snapshot Using Storage Array's Capability
If your production database is on a snapshot-capable volume and the array has the hardware capability to create clones, you can use this option.
RMAN Image Copy to Hybrid File Store
You can use RMAN to back up incremental database changes to an image copy stored on a Hybrid File Store volume. The system then takes a snapshot of the Hybrid File Store volume. For more information about using Hybrid File Store, see Instant Clones from the Commvault Hybrid File Store.
RMAN Image Copy to Snapshot-Capable Storage Array
This option uses the Oracle image copy feature to create a snapshot of an Oracle database without having to create the snapshot on the primary storage. You can use this feature in the following cases:
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When the primary database storage resides on volumes that cannot be snapped but you have a snapshot-capable volume for the target of the RMAN image copy operation.
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When you want to use less expensive storage for the copy.
The methods used to make an Oracle image copy to a snapshot-capable storage array are similar to those used for making an image copy to the Hybrid File Store. The difference is that the target of the image copy is a snapshot-capable storage array rather than the Hybrid File Store.
Backup Copy Interfaces
The backup copy operation copies data from a snapshot to the Commvault disk library, where it can be stored for long term retention. Three backup copy interfaces are available and you can select the interface that meets the business requirements for the data's protection.
Volume Copy Using Block-Level Backup
Volume copy using block-level backup is used for making forever incremental backups. The backup copies can then be used as the source for creating the database clones.
These backups work as follows:
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If you do not have a full backup, the software performs a full backup for the first incremental backup. The first full backup is the master copy of the database.
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All subsequent incremental backups contain only the changes from the last backup, regardless of the type.
The volume copy using block-level backup integrates snapshot technology with efficient block storage mechanisms for faster backups. The backups are faster and use less storage because only the volume blocks that contain changed data are backed up, rather than the entire database.
If you need to create a new full or master backup, for example to meet compliance standards, you can create a full backup by running a synthetic full backup.
This option is only supported on the following operating systems:
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All supported Linux versions
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All supported AIX versions
File System
For more information about File System backup copy operations, see Oracle IntelliSnap - Backup Copy. Backup copies made using this method cannot be used for instant clone operations.
RMAN
For more information about RMAN backup copy operations, see Oracle IntelliSnap - Backup Copy. Backup copies made using this method cannot be used for instant clone operations.
Backups or Backup Copies That Can Be Used for Instant Clones
An Instant Clone can be created from any of the following backups or backup copies.
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An IntelliSnap snapshot of production storage or of image copy storage, including a Hybrid File Store snapshot.
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A long-term retention backup copy made using a volume copy of an IntelliSnap backup.
When you create a clone, you can specify a reservation period. When the reservation period expires the software automatically shuts down the clone database and frees up all resources.
Instant Clone creation is supported for Oracle 11g and more recent versions.