Backup with an External Backup Library 

Use

You can use external backup software together with RMAN to back up the database. To back up data to tape the Oracle SBT interface is implemented as a dynamic function library. The type of backup media you can use depends on the external backup tool and the corresponding backup library.

Features

The database is backed up in two phases :

  1. BRBACKUP calls the Oracle Recovery Manager and starts the Oracle server process. The Oracle server process reads the data to be backed up from the Oracle database, and transfers it to the external backup library. The external backup library calls a backup client. The backup client passes the data to the backup server. The server backs up the data to the storage medium.
  2. BRBACKUP uses the BACLINT interface to pass the control file, the initialization profile and the log files to the backup client. The backup client passes the data to the backup server. The server backs up the data to the storage medium. This control file contains information on the backup of the files from the first phase.

You can use the following backup variant for external software, with or without RMAN:

backup_dev_type

backup_mode

util_file

without RMAN

rman_util

with RMAN and external SBT backup library

partial

X

X+BACKINT

all

X

X+BACKINT

full (level 0)

X+cat.

X+BACKINT

incr (level 1)

  

X+BACKINT

Key: X: Backup possible; X+cat.: Backup and subsequent cataloging possible; X+BACKINT: Backup with subsequent backup of the profile, log and control files with BCAKINT possible

As before, you can make normal database backups with the BACKINT interface and external backup tools:
 backup_dev_type = util_file

Subsequent cataloging means that a full backup can be used as a reference backup in an incremental backup strategy.

Even when you use an external backup tool, you can make incremental backups (level 1) with RMAN only. Since RMAN can back up only database files and not profiles or logs, the profile, log and control files are backed up in a second phase with BRBACKUP and the BACKINT interface.

For more information, see Profile Parameters and BRBACKUP Command Options.