Backup to a Remote Disk (SAP Library - SAP Database Guide: Oracle (BC-DB-ORA-DBA))

Backup to a Remote Disk

Use

You can perform an Oracle backup to a remote disk directly with BRBACKUP or BRARCHIVE, or as part of an incremental backup using the Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN).

Recommendation

We only recommend remote backup when your network is very fast and stable. Therefore, we do not recommend this procedure for production systems in most cases. However, you can use it to back up test systems.

Prerequisites

The target directories for the backup defined in the parameter stage_root_dir and archive_stage_dir must exist on the remote host.

The name of the remote host and the relevant user must be specified in the initialization profile with the parameters remote_host and remote_user.

If you use FTP as the transmission program, a password is needed for the remote host. Do one of the following for this:

Specify the password in the remote_user parameter.

remote_user = "<user_name> <password>"

Use the password of the BRBACKUP database user, which happens if you do not explicitly specify a password. Make sure that the password of the operating system user is the same.

No password is needed if you use the RCP command for the remote disk backup. A prerequisite for a successful RCP call is, for example, the following entry in the .rhosts file, which is in the HOME directory of the remote user on the remote host:

<host_name> <user_name>

For more information, see your operating system documentation.

Features

Remote Disk Backup with BRBACKUP

A remote disk backup removes the need for a Network File System (NFS) disk mount, if the backup is across the network. The NFS protocol is relatively insecure, which means that the backup must be verified. In contrast, RCP and FTP are relatively secure ways of transferring data over the network, which means that you do not have to verify the backup.

You need to meet the prerequisites above and make the following entries in the initialization profile init<DBSID>.sap:

backup_dev_type = stage|stage_copy|stage_standby
stage_copy_cmd = rcp|ftp

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A remote backup to disk is particularly useful with the standby database and hierarchical storage management systems.

Incremental Remote Backup with RMAN

You can use RMAN to perform an incremental disk backup of a remote host.

You need to meet the prerequisites above and make the following entries in the initialization profile init<DBSID>.sap:

backup_dev_type = stage
backup_mode = incr

FTP is always used automatically as the transmission program for incremental backup to remote disk.

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See also:

RMAN Backup with the SAP Backup Library

Profile Parameters and BRBACKUP Command Options