An Oracle White Paper

March 2009

Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) for SAP

(Oracle Database EE 10g Release 2)
 Oracle White Paper—Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) for SAP (Oracle Database EE 10g Release 2)

Introduction ......................................................................................... 1
Oracle Recovery Manager – introduction........................................ 2
Oracle Recovery Manager – overview ............................................ 3
RMAN channels...................................................................................... 3

Backup set and backup pieces............................................................... 3

Oracle Recovery Manager with SAP............................................... 4

Oracle Recovery Manager – 10g R2............................................... 4
Detection of physical and logical database corruption ........................... 4

Incremental backups .............................................................................. 5

Fast incremental backup using block change tracking.................... 5

Advantages of fast incremental backup ................................................. 6

Requirements for using fast incremental backup ................................... 6

Activation of block change tracking ........................................................ 6

Name and location of the block change tracking file.............................. 6

Deactivation of block change tracking.................................................... 7

Checking the status of block change tracking........................................ 7

BCTF management......................................................................... 7
Reduction in the backup size ................................................................. 8

Verification of archive files:..................................................................... 8

Reduction in redo log information........................................................... 9

Compression of archive logs and backups............................................. 9

RMAN backup and recovery with BR*Tools...................................... 10

Checking user authorization for SAP tools........................................... 10
 Oracle White Paper—Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) for SAP (Oracle Database EE 10g Release 2)

Preparation ........................................................................................... 10

Full backup ........................................................................................... 11

Incremental backup .............................................................................. 12

Undertaking a level = 0 backup..................................................... 12

Undertaking a level = 1 backup..................................................... 13
Offline redo log files (archive files) ....................................................... 13

Verifying the backups ........................................................................... 14

Restoration and recovery ..................................................................... 15

Restoring archive files................................................................... 17

Recovering data files..................................................................... 17
Appendix A.................................................................................... 18
Appendix B.................................................................................... 19
 Oracle White Paper—Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) for SAP (Oracle Database EE 10g Release 2)

Introduction

The purpose of this white paper is to explain the functionality provided by the Oracle
Recovery Manager (RMAN) and how it is integrated in the SAP database management
tools supplied, such as BR*Tools, brbackup, brarchive, and brrestore.

The aim of this paper is to convey the advantages that Oracle offers through the RMAN
and how easily the RMAN can be implemented in conjunction with the SAP BR*Tools.

For the details of commands and options for SAP’s BR*Tools, please refer to the official
SAP documentation.

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 Oracle White Paper—Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) for SAP (Oracle Database EE 10g Release 2)

Oracle Recovery Manager – Introduction

A complete high availability and disaster recovery strategy requires working and tested
data backup, restoration, and recovery procedures. Without such procedures, a system
will run with potentially excessive downtimes and a high risk of data being lost.

Recovery Manager (RMAN) is an Oracle Database client, which performs backup and
recovery tasks and automates administration of backup strategies. It greatly simplifies the
backing up, restoration, and recovery of database files. RMAN handles all underlying
database procedures before and after backup or restoration in order to reduce the
possible risk of data being lost. It provides a common interface for backup tasks across
different host operating systems and offers features not available through user-managed
methods, such as parallelization of backup/recovery data streams, a backup files
retention policy, and a detailed history of all backups.

SAP BR*Tools offer all the necessary options for easily integrating RMAN under SAP and
only require a few changes to parameters in the init<SID>.sap parameter file.

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 Oracle White Paper—Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) for SAP (Oracle Database EE 10g Release 2)

Oracle Recovery Manager – overview

RMAN channels
A connection is established between the RMAN .exe file and a target database by starting a
new server session on the entity. These newly created sessions will communicate with RMAN
processes and perform the actual backup, restoration, and recovery operations.
Each server session used by the RMAN is known as an RMAN channel. A channel can be either
a disk channel, used for backup tasks that perform disk I/O, or an SBT channel, which is used to
interact with media managers.
When a channel is defined as a tape, the RMAN uses an API called Media Management Library
(MML) to write to the tape subsystem. The RMAN can also be used in conjunction with external
backup management software. To back up the data to tape, the Oracle SBT interface needs to be
implemented as a dynamic function library provided by the external backup tool vendor.
Reference:
SAP Note 142635 – Installation of a backup library for Oracle

Data files

Control files Database

entity

Shadow process
per channel

Shadow
Shadow
Media manager MML CH2 Disk backup
CH1

RMAN

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 Oracle White Paper—Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) for SAP (Oracle Database EE 10g Release 2)

Backup set and backup pieces

RMAN backups can be stored in one of two formats: As image copies or as backup sets.
An image copy is a bit-for-bit duplicate of a data file. It is identical to a file created using the OS
copy command. This is created by an RMAN “BACKUP AS COPY” command.
The RMAN can also store backup information in a logical volume called a “backup set.”
A backup set is a file created in an RMAN-specific format, which can be restored only by the
RMAN. It contains the data from one or more data files, archive logs, control files or sp files
depending on the type of backup operation.
Only the RMAN can restore from backup sets. When multiple files are backed up to the same
backup set, they are read at the same time and their data is multiplexed together. Backup sets are
the only type of backup that the RMAN supports on media manager devices such as tapes.

Oracle Recovery Manager with SAP

The Oracle RMAN is integrated with the database management tools provided by SAP, such as
brbackup, brarchive, brrestore, and brrecover. Depending on the BR*Tools version and its patch
level, the new RMAN functionality is integrated to provide enhanced security, flexibility, and
safety.
The RMAN can be used with or without a recovery catalog. A recovery catalog is a set of
repository information that is usually created in an external database to keep track of backup
information. In SAP environments using BR*Tools with the RMAN, an external RMAN catalog
is not supported. The RMAN backup information is always stored in the control file of the target
database.

Oracle Recovery Manager – 10g R2

Since Oracle Recovery Manager is designed specifically for Oracle Database, it is integrated
within the RDBMS. Therefore the RMAN offers the following advantages over other
restoration/recovery management tools.

Detection of physical and logical database corruption

Compared with other backup tools, one of the advantages users experience when using the
RMAN is that data files are checked for corruption during backup. Logical and physical errors in
database blocks are recognized automatically during backup.

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 Oracle White Paper—Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) for SAP (Oracle Database EE 10g Release 2)

The new “rman_maxcorrupt” parameter was introduced in BR*Tools 7.00. By setting this
parameter to the init<DBSID>.sap parameter file, the RMAN will be executed using the
“SET MAXCORRUPT” command. This parameter allows the RMAN to define the maximum
number of corrupt database blocks for each data file that should be accepted during the backup.
This is useful when no objects are created on the corrupted blocks. Corrupted unused blocks will
be formatted when the block is used. In this case, the corrupted block can be skipped using the
“SET MAXCORRUPT” parameter and the backup still can be undertaken by the RMAN.
Reference:
SAP Note 968507 – Considerable enhancements to backups using BR*Tools 7.00

Incremental backups
The RMAN backups of data files can be either full backups or incremental backups.
A full backup is a backup that includes every used block in the file. If a full data file backup is
created as an image copy, the entire file contents are reproduced exactly. An incremental backup
of a data file captures images of blocks that have been changed since a specific point in time,
usually when a previous full backup or incremental backup was undertaken.
The starting point for an incremental backup strategy is called a level 0 incremental backup,
which is identical to a full backup. After the level 0 backup is undertaken, incremental backups
can be carried out at regular intervals and these are called level 1 incremental backups.
These can be cumulative (including all blocks that have been changed since the most recent level
0 backup) or differential (including only blocks that have been changed since the most recent
incremental backup, whether it is level 0 or level 1). Oracle will allow different levels of
incremental backups to run, however SAP only supports “level 1” incremental backups (all
blocks that have been changed since the last full backup)
Incremental backups are always stored as backup sets. Since only the changes are backed up, the
resulting backup sets are generally smaller than full data file backups, unless every block in the
data file is changed. This will greatly help to reduce the size of incremental backups (especially
when the database is very large).

Fast incremental backup using block change tracking

Incremental backup has been supported since Oracle 8. However, as with every incremental
solution, the key is how to find “what has been changed”. In previous versions, all data files had
to be checked to determine if a block had been modified or not.

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 Oracle White Paper—Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) for SAP (Oracle Database EE 10g Release 2)

With Oracle 10g, block change tracking is now available. The RMAN's block change tracking
feature for incremental backups uses the recorded changed blocks in the Block Change Tracking
File (BCTF). This file is very small (only a bitmap representation of block addresses) and its size
is proportional to the size of the database and the number of enabled redo threads.
Usually a 1TB database will create BCTFs, each 30MB in size.
If change tracking is enabled, the RMAN uses the BCTF to identify changed blocks for an
incremental backup, thus avoiding the need to scan every block in the data file for changes.
During media recovery, the RMAN uses the block images from incremental backups and then
updates the contents of changed blocks at the SCN where the block was created in a single step.
Without incremental backups, all changes must be applied from the archived redo logs.

Advantages of fast incremental backup

Below you will find a list of the advantages of fast incremental backup.
• Reduces the amount of time needed for incremental backups
• Saves network bandwidth when backing up via a network
• Recovers unlogged changes to the database
• Reduces the size of backup file storage of incremental backups

Requirements for using fast incremental backup

Block change tracking is deactivated by default. It is supported in the SAP environment.
The following requirements must be satisfied in order to use this feature:
SAP BR*Tools SAP Release 7.00 patch level 15 or higher
Oracle Database Release 10.2.0.2 or higher

Activation of block change tracking

Block change tracking activation and BTCF creation is done by the following command.
sqlplus /as sysdba
SQL> ALTER DATABASE ENABLE BLOCK CHANGE TRACKING USING FILE
'?/dbs/bctf<DB_NAME>.ora' REUSE;

The BTCF will be created at the OS level to write the log changes for the changed blocks.

Name and location of the block change tracking file

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 Oracle White Paper—Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) for SAP (Oracle Database EE 10g Release 2)

The BTCF needs to be created with the specific name and directory of the SAP environment.
SAP naming conventions:
For Unix systems:
$ORACLE_HOME/dbs/ bctf<DB_NAME>.ora

For Windows systems:

%ORACLE_HOME%\DATABASE\ bctf<DB_NAME>.ora

where <DB_NAME> = the name of the database (value of the parameter 'db_name')

Deactivation of block change tracking

Block change tracking will be deactivated by the following command:
SQL> ALTER DATABASE DISABLE BLOCK CHANGE TRACKING;

This command will deactivate block change tracking and deletes the BCTF from the file system.

Checking the status of block change tracking

The status of block change tracking can be checked by querying
V$BLOCK_CHANGE_TRACKING. If the status shows “ENABLED”, it means that the
block change tracking is currently active. This view will also show the BCTF name and its size.

BCTF management
The RMAN or SAP’s BR*Tools do not save, create, or manage the BCTF. The BCTF is a binary
file created at the OS level. If the BCTF is missing, even though block change tracking is
activated, the system automatically creates the BCTF again the next time the entity is restarted.
But it will be created at a default location.
If the database is re-established by restoration and recovery, the BCTF will need to be re-created.
Reference:
SAP Note 964619 – Oracle Database 10g: Block change tracking
Oracle Metalink Note 306112.1 – RMAN 10g : How To Size the Block Change Tracking File

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 Oracle White Paper—Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) for SAP (Oracle Database EE 10g Release 2)

Reduction in the backup size

Any unformatted database blocks that have never been changed will not be included in the
backup created by the RMAN (similar to Unix sparse files). This reduces the size of backup files
compared to a pure data file copy.
When backing up data files to backup sets, the RMAN does not back up the contents of data
blocks that have never been used. (In previous releases, this behavior was referred to as NULL
compression.) The RMAN also skips other data file blocks that do not currently contain data.
This form of compression is known as unused block compression if all of the following
conditions apply:
• The COMPATIBLE initialization parameter is set to 10.2.
• There are currently no guaranteed restore points defined for the database.
• The data file is managed locally.
• The data file is being backed up to a backup set as part of a full backup or a level 0 incremental
backup.
• The backup set is being created on disk or directly to tape with an Oracle secure backup.

Verification of archive files:

The RMAN VALIDATE command can be used to check the validity of archive logs and data
files.
This helps to provide consistent (error-free) backups.
In previous RMAN versions, internal consistency checks were possible on data files only. The
RMAN used a similar functionality to DBVERIFY to check for data file consistency. But it was
not possible to verify the consistency of archive log files. However, with the introduction of the
RMAN “VALIDATE” command, this is now possible.
In order to use this RMAN “VALIDATE” command to verify archive logs in SAP
environments, the following requirements apply.
BR*Tools 7.00 Patch 22 or higher
Oracle 9i or higher
As of support package 12 of basic component 7.00, the verification of archive log files using the
RMAN is supported by transaction DB13. This allows the verification task to be scheduled
periodically.

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In order to check for archive consistency, the following flag should be set for the brarchive
command.
brarchive –w verify_use_rmv|first_rmv|only_rmv

Reference:
SAP Note 1016173 – Verifying database and archive log files using RMAN

Reduction in redo log information

The BEGIN/END BACKUP command is not needed when running an online backup using the
RMAN. The RMAN reads data blocks from the data files like all other Oracle shadow processes,
which eliminates the need for data block copies to be placed into a redo log buffer, thus less redo
information is generated during backup.

Compression of archive logs and backups

The RMAN can now write backup sets in a format that uses binary compression to reduce the
backup set size. Using compressed backup sets saves storage space as well as network bandwidth
when backing up across a network.
Compression can be set and used from BR*Tools 7.00 by adding the following parameters in the
init<DBSID>.sap file.
rman_compress = no|yes

The value “YES” activates the binary compression of backup sets in the RMAN.
If a backup is to be saved to disk and not tape, the “backup_dev_type = disk” parameter needs
to be set. Otherwise the RMAN will be executed by using the “BACKUP AS COPY” command
and this will result in one-to-one copies of the database files being created but not compressed.
In order to enable RMAN disk backup compression, the following combination is needed.
backup_dev_type = disk

disk_copy_command = rman_set

Reference:
SAP Note968507 – Considerable enhancements to backups using BR*Tools 7.00
SAP Note1101530 – Support for RMAN save sets for backups on hard disk

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RMAN backup and recovery with BR*Tools

This section demonstrates how to use the RMAN in conjunction with the BR*Tools.
For details of the BR*Tools options and setup, please refer to the BR*Tools documentation
provided by SAP.

Checking user authorization for SAP tools

To avoid authorization problems, components from the BR*Tools need to be executed by the
following OS users.
• OS user on the database server who belongs to the following local groups.
• In Windows environments, make sure that the SAPService<SID> user is located in the
ORA_<DBSID>_DBA and ORA_<DBSID>_OPER (or ORA_DBA, and ORA_OPER)
group.
In Unix environments, the <sid>adm user should be in the dba group
Reference:
SAP Note 148535 – Database backup fails with RMAN-04005/ORA-01031
• Execute the following command to see if brbackup starts:
brbackup –u system/manager

Preparation
Execute the steps below for the preparation. The RMAN will start the preparation run to
determine the optimum distribution of files across the save sets.
The default number of save sets is 1, but this can be changed by the following entry in the
init<SID>.sap file:
saveset_members = 1|2|3|4|tsp|all

To determine the optimum distribution of files for each save set:

• Make sure that all the necessary parameters in the init<SID>.sap file are set correctly.
• Start BR*Tools.
• Choose “8 – Additional functions”.
• Choose “Preparation of RMAN backups”.
This will execute “brbackup -d rman_prep”.

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Full backup
For brbackup to use the RMAN, the following parameter needs to be set in the
init<DBSID>.dba file:
backup_dev_type = rman_disk| rman_stage| rman_util

rman_disk:

Backs up with an external backup library and the RMAN, but without an external backup tool.
Copies profiles and log files to local disk.
rman_stage:

Backs up with an external backup library and the RMAN, but without an external backup tool.
Copies profiles and log files to remote disk.
rman_util:

Performs an RMAN backup in combination with a backup library and the backup tool of
another manufacturer. An external backup tool is also used to back up profiles, log files, and the
control file.
Full backup means making backups of all database files. This backup contains all database files as
well as the online/offline redo log files, but this backup cannot serve as the basis for the
incremental backups.
In order to undertake a full backup (all) with the RMAN, the following parameter needs to be set
in the init<SID>.sap file.
backup_mode = all

or
specify the following flag for the brbackup command line:
brbackup -m all

Execution of full backup (all) from BR*Tools

• Start BR*Tools.
• Choose “4 – Backup and database copy.”
• Choose “1 – Database backup” and set option no. 9 to “all.”
Brbackup main options for backup and database copy
9 ~ Files for backup (mode) .......... [all]

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Incremental backup
As stated earlier, brbackup supports incremental backup with the RMAN. This means that
changes made to the database can now be backed up separately. This will significantly reduce the
time taken for the backup and the file size.
In order to make incremental backups, a full database backup is needed as the starting point.
This is also called a level 0 backup. With the level 0 backup present, incremental backups can be
undertaken.
A level = 0 backup is different to the normal full backup (backup_mode = all) mentioned earlier,
it needs to be backed up with the (backup_mode = full) option where the level = 0 flag is set.

Undertaking a level = 0 backup

In order to undertake a full backup (level = 0) with the RMAN, the following parameter will
need to be set in the init<SID>.sap file:
backup_mode = full

or
specify the following flag for the brbackup command line.
brbackup -m full

Execution of level =0 backup from BR*Tools

• Start BR*Tools.
• Choose “4 – Backup and database copy”.
• Choose “1 – Database backup” and set option no. 9 to “full”.
Brbackup main options for backup and database copy
9 ~ Files for backup (mode) .......... [full]
The backup strategies and schedule can be adjusted to the system cycle. For example, a level 0
backup will perform a full backup of the database. This means that it will be more likely to take
longer for the backup to be completed. This action may therefore be scheduled at a time when
the system is not so busy.
With the level = 0 backup present, incremental backups can be taken. This is also called the level
= 1 backup.

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Undertaking a level = 1 backup

In order to undertake an incremental backup with the RMAN, the following parameter will need
to be set in the init<SID>.sap file:
backup_mode = incr

or
specify the following flag for the brbackup command line.
brbackup -m incr

Execution of a level =1 backup from BR*Tools

• Start BR*Tools.
• Choose “4 – Backup and database copy”.
• Choose “1 – Database backup” and set option no. 9 to “incr”.
• Brbackup main options for backup and database copy
• 9 ~ Files for backup (mode) .......... [incr]
Reference:
SAP Note 170013 – Differences between brbackup with "ALL" and "FULL"

Offline redo log files (archive files)

Offline redo log files can be backed up with “brbackup -a”. When the “-a” option is set for the
brbackup command line, brarchive will be called up automatically after the brbackup. The main
advantage of calling up brarchive from brbackup is that the start of the task can be scheduled in
one program.
Offline redo log files can also be backed up separately with brarchive.
For security reasons, we would recommend using the option of archiving the offline redo log
files to two backup devices in parallel or creating a set of the copy. Loss of offline redo log files
will mean that recovery will have to be canceled up to that point.
These parameters can either be set at the command line or as the archive_function parameter in
the init<SID>.sap parameter file.

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-ss|-double_save:

Archives the offline redo logs to two backup devices (tape devices) in parallel.
-ssd|-double_save_delete:

Archives the offline redo logs to two backup devices (tape devices) in parallel and then deletes
the files.
Using the following command also creates a second copy in a serial manner (either by restarting
brarchive with brarchive -sc or brarchive -scd.)
-sc|-second_copy:

Creates a second copy of the offline redo log files that have already been archived.
-scd|-second_copy_delete:

Creates a second copy of the offline redo log files that have already been archived and then
deletes these files.

Verifying the backups

Given the amount of time spent backing up the database, you may be surprised to learn that
sometimes the backup itself is not free of errors (network, tape device, backup software bugs,
etc.). In order to make sure that the backup is a valid backup and can be used for restoration
purposes, backups should be verified from time to time.
The RMAN can run verification checks on backups using the “BACKUP VALIDATE”
command.
Verifications of save sets with the VALIDATE command are run in the following steps.
• The RMAN reads the save sets from the backup media to check they can be read.
• The RMAN checks the internal consistency of the data in the save sets using check sums.
No binary comparison is made with the originals.
With SAP tools, the following commands can be executed either from brbackup or brrestore to
check the validity of the files.
brbackup -w only_rmv

This option will only run a database verification with the RMAN and will not run any backup.
brrestore -w use_rmv

This option will run a temporary restoration to check the validity of files which have already been
backed up.

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Running verification from brarchive to verify the validity of offline redo logs from the RMAN.
brarchive -w

use_rmv

Restores and then verifies the successfully backed-up files using the RMAN.
first_rmv

Verifies the original offline redo log files using the RMAN before the backup starts.
only_rmv

Verifies the original offline redo log files using the RMAN without starting a backup.

Running verification of backup from BR*Tools

• Start BR*Tools.
• Choose “4 – Backup an database copy”.
• Choose “6 – Verification of database backup” or “7 – Verification of archive logs backup”.
When verification takes place, it will take approximately twice the time needed for the backup.
But for security reasons, we recommend scheduling the verification once in a cycle or once a
week.

Restoration and recovery

Note: If the restoration/recovery operation is needed as a result of hardware failure, it is essential
that the hardware issues are resolved before any restoration operation is started! Also go through
the alert.log to understand the failure and find out what has been corrupted and when. A clear
understanding of the situation will always help you to make the right decisions and perform a
successful restoration and recovery.
As with the backup, restoration and recovery operations are fully integrated in the BR*Tools.
brrestore
Restores the data files that have been damaged or deleted.
brrecover
Supports the database recovery after the backup is restored.

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Brrestore will restore the files produced by brbackup and brarchive. This is done through the use
of logs created by brbackup and the summary log of brarchive during a backup. Options are
available allowing you to choose either an entire database backup or parts such as just the data
files. Any non-database files such as parameter configuration files and directories that have been
saved can also be restored at the same time.
Brrestore only restores the files to the directory and will not perform database recovery so you
will need to combine it with either brrecover or manual recovery from SQL*Plus.
Restoration of the files can vary depending on the options specified for the command, -m option
for brrestore specifies the method to be used and is important.

A few examples

To restore a complete backup, use the -m full option. When the “-m full” option is specified, all
data files including the control files and online redo log files will be restored.
brrestore -b bdzuurde.aft -m full

In the above case, all files including control files and online redo log files from the
"bdzuurde.aft" backup will be restored.
When specifying the “-m all” option, only the data files will be restored.
For example, the following command will restore all data files but not control files and online
redo log files from the last backup.
brrestore -b last -m all

Files to be restored can also be specified by setting the File_id.

For example:
brrestore -b last -m 1-10

The above command will restore the data files from file_id=1 to file_id=10.

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Restoring archive files

Offline redo log files produced by brarchive can be restored through use of brrestore. This can
be done using the “-a” option and specifying the log sequence number.

For example:
brrestore -a 10-100

The above command will restore the offline redo log files with sequence numbers 10 to 100 to
the archiving directory.

Recovering data files

There are two ways of recovering the database after restoration. Either by the brrecover function
provided by SAP or manually using SQL*Plus.
In this paper we will focus on the option using BR*Tools.
When using brrecover, restoration of the data files and recovery can be undertaken in one step.
Brrecover will perform restoration of the data files internally.

For example:
Running complete database recovery from the "bdzuurde.aft" backup
brrecover -b bdzuurde.aft -t complete

From BR*Tools (BR*Tools 7.10 Patch 19)

• Start BR*Tools.
• Choose "5 – Restore and recovery".
• Choose "1 – Complete database recovery".
• Set the required options such as "Select database backup" to specify the backup.
For the options provided by the BR*Tools, please refer to the manual.

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Appendix A
Sample setups of the init<SID>.sap file from a customer:

Example 1:
backup_type = online
backup_dev_type = rman_util
backup_root_dir = /oracle/BMD/sapbackup
rman_parms
="SBT_LIBRARY=/oracle/BMD/920_64/lib/libobk.sl,ENV=(XINT_PROFILE=/oracle/
BMD/920_64/dbs/initBMD.utl,PROLE_PORT=57323)"

The above example shows that the backup is undertaken by the RMAN with the Tivoli storage
manager media management tool. The external media management library and its profile file are
specified.

Example 2:
backup_mode = full

backup_type = online_cons

backup_dev_type = rman_util

compress = no

util_par_file = /oracle/WA3/102_64/dbs/initWA3.utl

rman_channels = 4

rman_filesperset = 4

rman_parms

= "ENV=(NSR_SERVER=host12, NSR_CLIENT=xxxx, NSR_DATA_VOLUME_POOL=yyyy,

NSR_COMPRESSION=TRUE ,NSR_SAVESET_BROWSE=35 DAYS,
NSR_SAVESET_RETENTION=35 DAYS)"

archive_function=save_delete

Above is an example of init<SID>.sap setup for full online backup taken by using NetWorker
server located in a different host. By setting backup_type as online_cons, this means that the
online backup is taken in consistent mode. Consistent mode is an alternative to offline backup,
where the offline redo files created during the backup are also undertaken at the same time on
the same volume.

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Appendix B

Helpful links to SAP documentation

RMAN backup strategies

=======================

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70/helpdata/EN/0e/f10a7443d711d29fef0000e8a5ae06/content.htm

RMAN-relevant profile parameters

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http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70/helpdata/EN/3f/9d800e1aec11d2b42c00609419997a/content.htm

RMAN backup with the SAP backup library

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http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70/helpdata/EN/3f/9d80081aec11d2b42c00609419997a/content.htm

RMAN incremental backups without a backup library

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http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70/helpdata/EN/1a/fcecc21bc511d2b42c00609419997a/content.htm

RMAN restoration of incremental backups

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http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70/helpdata/EN/0e/f10a7a43d711d29fef0000e8a5ae06/content.htm

19
Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) for SAP
(Oracle Database EE 10g Release 2)
March 2009
Author: Eisuke Sekiguchi
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