PowerProtect Database Application Agent 19.13 Installation and Administration Guide

Configuring the Storage Direct backups and restores of Oracle database on Oracle ASM

Before you can perform the Storage Direct backups and restores of an Oracle database on Oracle ASM with the database application agent, you must meet the configuration prerequisites. You must also complete the required configuration procedures.

Ensure that you meet the following configuration prerequisites for Oracle ASM operations:

• The ASM instance and the database instance run on the same host, which can be an Oracle RAC host.
• Only one database exists on a single ASM disk group.

• The database, online redo logs, and archived redo logs reside on separate ASM disk groups that are created by using external redundancy.

  All of the database and all of the redo logs reside on their corresponding ASM disk groups.

• The ASM disks are VMAX LUNs or XtremIO LUNs that are created by using ASMLib or ASMFD or a block device, also referred to as a raw disk partition in the Oracle documentation. In a virtualized environment, the LUNs are mapped to the guest OS as physical RDMs.

  The DDBEA section of the E-Lab Navigator provides details about the supported VMAX and XtremIO array and microcode versions.

• The DD system and the VMAX or RecoverPoint with XtremIO system are set up and configured as described in the PowerProtect Storage Direct Primary and Protection Storage Configuration Guide.

• For Storage Direct with RecoverPoint for XtremIO operations, the following disks are located in separate RecoverPoint consistency groups:

  • The disks in the ASM disk group for the database.
  • The disks in the ASM disk group for the archived redo logs.

• For Storage Direct for VMAX operations only, the supported VMAX Solutions Enabler version is installed and configured on each host where the backup and restore will be performed. The Solutions Enabler is also installed and configured on the proxy host, if used. The DDBEA section of the E-Lab Navigator describes the supported versions.

  NOTE:The Solutions Enabler is not required on the recovery host only when you perform a restore directly from DD without using VMAX.

  The Solutions Enabler database must be up-to-date on any host where a backup or restore might run. To update the Solutions Enabler database, run the symcfg discover command. The Solutions Enabler documentation provides details.

  The required gatekeepers must also be configured as described in the PowerProtect Storage Direct Primary and Protection Storage Configuration Guide. The Solutions Enabler uses the small gatekeeper devices for communication with the VMAX storage array.

Perform the following steps to complete the configuration procedures for Oracle ASM operations.

1. On AIX only, run the ddbmadmin -L command as the root user to change the lockbox group ownership and enable the Oracle Grid OS user to perform lockbox operations. Specify the lockbox directory pathname and the group ID of the Oracle Grid OS user, either on the ddbmadmin command line or at the command prompts.

   For example, you can run the id grid and id oracle commands to verify the group ID, and then run the ddbmadmin -L command:

   # id grid
   uid=1100(grid) gid=1000(oinstall) groups=1100(asmadmin),1200(dba),1201(oper),1300(asmdba),
   1301(asmoper)
   # id oracle
   uid=1101(oracle) gid=1000(oinstall) groups=1200(dba),1201(oper),1300(asmdba)
   # /opt/dpsapps/dbappagent/bin/ddbmadmin -L
   Provide full pathname for the lockbox, or press Enter to accept the default directory (/opt/dpsapps/common/lockbox):
   Using the default pathname '/opt/dpsapps/common/lockbox' for lockbox.
   Provide a group ID for lockbox ownership, or type 0 to accept the 'root user' group as the lockbox owner: 1000
   Lockbox has been successfully created in the directory '/opt/dpsapps/common/lockbox' with group ownership 1000.

2. Add the required parameter settings from Table 1 in the configuration file, which is customized from the configuration file template oracle_asm_ddbda.cfg as described in Setting up the configuration file.

   Verify the following parameter settings for Oracle ASM operations:

   • GRID_HOME, GRID_SID, GRID_OS_USER, ORACLE_HOME, ORACLE_SID, and ORACLE_OS_USER are set as described in the following table.

   • CLIENT is set to the Oracle RAC virtual hostname. The default value of CLIENT is the hostname of the local physical host on which the backup or restore runs.
   • ORACLE_USER is set if database authentication is used.
   • RMAN_CATALOG_SERVICE and RMAN_CATALOG_USER are set if the RMAN catalog database is used.

   • VMAX_FASTX_RESTORE_SG is optionally set for a backup or RMAN restore on VMAX. The parameter specifies the name of the VMAX storage group of a selected FAST.X or VMAX native device to be used during the mount operation. By default, the NsrSnapSG storage group is used.

     In VMAX environments, when RESTORE_FROM_DD_ONLY is set to FALSE (default setting), the database application agent tries to first mount the VMAX backup from the local snapshot, if available. For this mount operation, the agent uses the VMAX native device from the VMAX_FASTX_RESTORE_SG storage group. If the local snapshot is not available, or if RESTORE_FROM_DD_ONLY is set to TRUE, the agent tries to mount the backups from DD:

     • If RESTORE_DEVICE_GROUP and RESTORE_DEVICE_POOL are set, the database application agent tries to mount the backup directly from DD devices by using the vdisk restore devices from the defined location.
     • Otherwise, the database application agent uses the FAST.X devices as specified by the VMAX_FASTX_RESTORE_SG parameter.

   • In XtremIO environments, RESTORE_DEVICE_GROUP and RESTORE_DEVICE_POOL settings are mandatory because the database application agent always uses these parameter settings to mount the backup directly from DD.

   The following example configuration file shows the parameter settings for Oracle ASM operations:

   GRID_OS_USER=grid
   GRID_HOME=/home/grid
   ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/12.2.0/dbhome_1
   ORACLE_SID=ORCL1
   GRID_SID=+ASM1
   ORACLE_OS_USER=oracle
   
   RMAN_CATALOG_SERVICE=CATALOGDB
   RMAN_CATALOG_USER=c##rcatuser
   
   DEBUG_LEVEL=2
   DPRINTF=TRUE
   VMAX_FASTX_RESTORE_SG = NsrSnapSG
   CLIENT=blrv049a048.lss.emc.com
   RESTORE_FROM_DD_ONLY=TRUE
   
   [PRIMARY_SYSTEM]
   DEVICE_HOST=blrv071a091.lss.emc.com
   DDBOOST_USER=test
   DDVDISK_USER=ddvdisk
   DEVICE_PATH=/ppvmaxnew

3. Register the credentials in the lockbox for the users that are specified in the configuration file. To register the credentials, run the ddbmadmin -P -z <configuration_file> command as described in Configuring the lockbox.

   NOTE:You must run this ddbmadmin command as either the root user on Linux or the Oracle Grid OS user on AIX.
4. On AIX only, complete the following configuration steps to enable the Oracle Grid OS user to perform the Oracle ASM backup and restore operations:

   1. To create the mounts directory and enable the Oracle Grid OS user to run the ddboraasm program, run either of the following commands as the root user:

      # /opt/dpsapps/dbappagent/bin/ddboraasm -g -z <configuration_file_pathname>
      # /opt/dpsapps/dbappagent/bin/ddboraasm --grid-config -z <configuration_file_pathname>

   2. Edit the Solutions Enabler configuration file /usr/emc/API/symapi/config/daemon_users and add the following entries in the file:

      grid stororad freeze
      grid storapid
      grid storgnsd

   3. To change the ownership of the restore devices to the Oracle Grid OS user and asmadmin group, run the following commands as the root user:

      # symdev -sid <VMAX_ID> -sg <restore_storage_group> list pd
      # symdev -sid 476 -sg NsrSnapSG list pd

      For example, the commands display the following type of output:

      Symmetrix ID: 000297000476
      
      Device Name Dir Device
      --------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Cap
      Sym Physical SA :P Config Attribute Sts (MB)
      --------------------------------------------------------------------------
      00E63 /dev/rhdisk18 03D:008 TDEV N/Grp'd RW 15360
      00E64 /dev/rhdisk19 03D:008 TDEV N/Grp'd RW 15360
      00E65 /dev/rhdisk20 03D:008 TDEV N/Grp'd RW 15360

      To change the ownership and permissions for each physical device file listed in the command output, run the chown and chmod commands as the root user for each device file. For example:

      # chown grid:asmadmin /dev/rhdisk18
      # chmod 660 /dev/rhdisk18

   4. To create the /nsr/tmp directory and change the ownership to the Oracle Grid OS user, run the following commands as the root user:

      # mkdir -p /nsr/tmp
      # chown grid:oinstall /nsr/tmp

The following table describes the parameters that are specific to Oracle ASM operations. For each parameter, the table lists the section heading of the configuration file section that contains the parameter.

rman catalog <RMAN_catalog_username>/<password>@<RMAN_catalog_service_name>

rman catalog <RMAN_catalog_username>/<password>@<RMAN_catalog_service_name>