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Restore of Individual Backup Files with BR*ToolsLocate this document in the navigation structure

Use

You can use BR*Tools for Oracle to restore individual backup files. BRRECOVER calls BRRESTORE to perform the restore.

Caution

Only perform this procedure if you are an expert in Oracle database administration. Even as an expert, we recommend that you first try other types of recovery supported by BR*Tools.

If you are not an expert, you might severely damage the database if you use this procedure. You might lose data and cause downtime to fix the problem.

Note

This section discusses how to perform a restore of individual backup files.

For more information on how to approach restore of individual backup files, see Restore of Individual Backup Files.

Prerequisites
  • Make sure you have set the necessary BRRECOVER parameters in the initialization profile init<DBSID>.sap, because BRTOOLS uses these when it calls BRRECOVER.

  • Since this function is designed for experts, the usual safeguards are not present:

    • There is no database status check.

    • You have less guidance than otherwise:

      • BRRECOVER does not always use the BR*Tools logs to guide you.

      • BRRECOVER does not guide you step by step through restore and recovery.

    • You can choose individual actions independently.

    • The database is closed for the shortest time possible.

  • You must meet the following prerequisites before starting the restore:

    Procedure

    Limitations

    BRBACKUP logs

    Restore files from BRBACKUP backup

    You can only restore files saved by BRBACKUP, not by BRARCHIVE.

    BRBACKUP summary and detail logs required

    Restore individual files from tape

    You cannot restore files from an RMAN backup.

    No logs required

    Restore individual files from disk

    You cannot restore directories from a disk backup.

    No logs required

    Restore individual files from backup utility

    You cannot restore files from an rman_util backup.

    No logs required

    Restore and apply incremental backup

    You can only apply incremental backup, not offline redo log files.

    BRBACKUP summary and detail logs required

    For all procedures, the backup medium with the required backup files must obviously be present.

Process
  1. You start BRGUI or BRTOOLS.

  2. You choose Start of the navigation path Restore and recovery Next navigation step Restore of individual backup files End of the navigation path.

  3. You choose the required procedure from the list shown in the above table.

    BRRECOVER starts the restore.

    Processing now depends on which procedure you chose.

  4. If you chose Restore files from BRBACKUP backup or Apply incremental backup:

    1. You select a single database backup.

      If you are sure it contains the data that you require, you can select a backup that terminated with errors.

      If you are performing Restore files from BRBACKUP backup, BRRECOVER displays a list of data files in the selected backup.

    2. You select the files that you want to restore.

      This does not apply to Restore and apply incremental backup, because changes to all data files are stored in one incremental save set.

    3. You restore individual files or restore and apply incremental backup.

  5. If you chose one of the remaining procedures:

    Note

    You need to know exactly which file to restore and where it is. With these procedures, you are effectively performing a copy at operating-system level.

    You cannot use these procedures to restore an RMAN backup, except an RMAN backup to disk, which is effectively a one-to-one copy of database files.

    1. You specify the location of the file:

      • The position on tape for Restore individual files from tape

      • The name of the backup file on disk for Restore individual files from disk

      • The file name and back_id for Restore individual files from backup utility

      For all these procedure, you can also specify the destination for the restore.

      If a disk or backup utility is involved in the restore, you must specify the full path to the file that you want to restore.

    2. You perform the restore, which uses the following main BRRESTORE parameters:

      • -n|-number for Restore individual files from tape

      • -n2|-number2 for Restore individual files from disk

      • -b2|-back2 for Restore individual files from backup utility

  6. You check the results in the BRRECOVER and BRRESTORE logs:

    For more information about how to view the logs, see Showing Profiles and Logs with BR*Tools.