PowerProtect Data Manager 19.9 Oracle RMAN Agent User Guide

Integration with PowerProtect Data Manager software

This procedure enables the integration of Oracle RMAN agent with PowerProtect Data Manager, which enables PowerProtect Data Manager to monitor, manage, and analyze the Oracle RMAN agent backups on AIX or Linux.

Review the following features of the integration with PowerProtect Data Manager:

• PowerProtect Data Manager can create and manage replication copies based on the protection policies.
• PowerProtect Data Manager performs these operations whether the backup is created by the DBA or the PowerProtect Data Manager centralized backup scheduler.
• Because PowerProtect Data Manager controls the replication, when the Oracle RMAN agent is deployed with PowerProtect Data Manager, the following self-service replication operations are disabled:
  • Creation of multiple backup copies with the RMAN BACKUP COPIES command.

  • MTree replication to create backup copies on a secondary DD system.

    You can restore from replicated copies of backups that were performed with a previous version of Oracle RMAN agent.

• When you perform a self-service backup managed by PowerProtect Data Manager, the PowerProtect Data Manager protection policy settings for the given database override the target protection storage settings that are specified in the RMAN backup script, including the DD server hostname and storage unit name.
• For clients that are configured with a self-service protection policy, you must perform each type of data backup (full, incremental, cumulative) in a separate RMAN session. You can perform the archived log, spfile, and controlfile backups either with the data backups or in separate RMAN sessions.
• When you perform the different types of data backups in the same RMAN session, the backups are reported incorrectly.
• If any asset on the host is being managed by PowerProtect Data Manager, only the delete operations performed through PowerProtect Data Manager are supported. Self-service delete operations through rman delete or ddutil delete are not supported.

• If you plan to manage all assets on a host by using the stand-alone RMAN agent and not PowerProtect Data Manager, ensure that the hidden files .app.settings and .ddbmcon.gatherinfo are removed from the $RMAN_AGENT_HOME/settings directory.

  NOTE On a host where at least one asset is being managed by PowerProtect Data Manager, do not remove the hidden files .app.settings and .ddbmcon.gatherinfo. In this case, the file removal will result in unexpected behavior.
• With release 19.9, a new Oracle database discovery method is supported, which uses the pmon process without a dependence on /etc/oratab entries. The /etc/oratab file entries have the highest precedence for the discovery of Oracle database resources on the system, which enables the PowerProtect Data Manager operations.

1. Install and register the required PowerProtect Data Manager agent service on the Oracle RMAN agent host as described in Install the PowerProtect Data Manager agent.

2. Enable the ddbmcon program to connect to the local Oracle databases during PowerProtect Data Manager operations. How the Oracle RMAN agent communicates with PowerProtect Data Manager provides details.

3. Verify the connectivity from the ddbmcon program to the Oracle database by using the ddutil program with the required options. Verify the connectivity from ddbmcon provides details.

4. As recommended by Oracle, ensure that all the archived redo logs in an Oracle RAC environment reside on shared storage or a shared cluster file system that is accessible from all the RAC nodes. Select one node to be the backup node and set the RAC_BACKUP_NODE_IP parameter accordingly, as described in Configuration file requirements for connection to local databases.

   NOTE The parameter is only applicable for a centralized protection policy, not for a self-service protection policy.