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Automatic Instance Discovery for Oracle and Oracle RAC Databases

You can disable or enable automatic instance discovery. By default, automatic instance discovery is enabled and ensures that newly added Oracle databases are regularly accounted for in backup operations.

By default, automatic instance discovery creates CommCell instances for Oracle databases under the following conditions:

  • Discovery is initiated every 24 hours. Change this interval by Setting the Automatic Discovery Frequency.

  • When the Communications Service (GxCVD) is restarted (for example after a computer reboot).

  • Instances that are defined in the Oracle oratab file, which is created by Oracle at installation and acts as a database registry file. On Solaris systems, this file is normally located in the /var/opt/oracle directory and on Linux/UNIX systems, it is located in the /etc directory.

  • For single instance Oracle (non-clustered), instances that are in the NOMOUNT, MOUNT or OPEN state. For Oracle RAC instances, instances that are in the MOUNT or OPEN state. The software does not discover database instances that are shut down.

To prevent the discovery of databases, on the CommServe computer, create the nDisableAutoDiscoverInstancePostInstall additional setting and set the value to 1 before you install the Oracle Agent on your clients. When you set the additional setting to 1, the auto discovery feature is unavailable on any client where you install the Oracle Agent software.

Default Subclient Creation and Storage Policy Assignment

By default, when you discover or create an Oracle instance, the Commvault software automatically creates a default data subclient and a default archive log subclient.

Best practice: Do not modify the default archive log subclient properties.

If you don't want the software to create the default archive log subclient, you can disable this feature by setting an additional setting. For more information, see Disabling Automatic Archive Log Subclient Creation.

You can configure the data and log storage policies for the agent when you manually discover or automatically discover instances. The Commvault software assigns these storage policies to all the instances and default subclients that you discover.

The Commvault software assigns the storage policy to the discovered instance and default subclients by analyzing the following configuration information:

  • The storage policies configured for the discovered instances in the Oracle agent properties. The data storage policy is assigned to the discovered instance for command line data backup and to the Default subclient for data backups. The log storage policy is assigned to the discovered instance and to the Default archive log subclient for log backups.

  • The storage policies that are configured for a previously discovered Oracle instance.

  • The storage policy for the Default subclient of the DefaultBackupSet on the File System Agent agent.

  • If the client computer is associated with a Plan from the Command Center, the Plan is assigned as the storage policy for data and log backups on the discovered instance and the default subclients.

  • If there is no assigned storage policy in any of the above configuration information, you must add the storage policy to the Default subclient manually.

Procedure

  1. From the CommCell Browser, go to Client Computers > client.

  2. Right-click Oracle, and then click Properties.

    The Oracle Properties dialog box appears.

  3. On the General tab, set options for the instance:

  4. Determine the automatic instance discovery options. These options apply to both single instance Oracle databases and Oracle RAC databases.

    • To disable automatic instance discovery, clear the Enable Automatic Instance Discovery check box.

    • To enable automatic instance discovery, check the Enable Automatic Instance Discovery check box.

  5. Optional: For your data storage and/or log storage, select a policy to specify the default data and log storage policies for all discovered instances.

  6. Set the default data storage policy for the instance default subclient if it has not been set. For information, see Setting the Data Storage Policy on the Default Subclient after Discovering Oracle Instances.

  7. Set the default command line backup and log backup storage policies if they have not been set. For information, see Setting the Log Backup and Command Line Backup Storage Policies after Discovering Oracle Instances.

  8. Click OK.

Considerations for Oracle RAC Configurations

Oracle RAC configurations have additional considerations related to automatic discovery:

  • When a new Oracle RAC client is created as a result of automatic discovery, its name is taken from the Oracle cluster name. You can change the client name later by right-clicking the client and selecting Properties.

  • If you add a new client to an Oracle RAC cluster and want automatic discovery to work for the new client, you must install the Commvault software on the new client and the software must be running on the new client.

  • If you want to disable automatic discovery of Oracle RAC instances, set the following additional setting.

  • To the CommServe computer, add the DISABLE_ORACLE_RAC_AUTODISCOVER additional setting as shown in the following table.

    For instructions about adding an additional setting from the CommCell Console, see Adding an Additional Setting from the CommCell Console.

    markdown: block Property markdown: block Value
    markdown: block Name markdown: block DISABLE_ORACLE_RAC_AUTODISCOVER
    markdown: block Category markdown: block CommServDB.GxGlobalParam
    markdown: block Type markdown: block Integer
    markdown: block Value markdown: block 1

  • Automatic discovery creates the instance with an Oracle connect string of '/'. Update the TNS connect string with the username, password, and service name for the RAC instances. If you don't update the TNS connect string, backup operations and restore operations run only on the first available node. To change the Oracle connect string for all the clients that are associated with an instance, see Oracle Connect String for Oracle RAC Instances.

  • In an Oracle RAC One Node configuration, automatic discovery discovers both the active node and passive nodes and adds them to the configuration.

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