ADSM-L

Backing up 3-10TB Oracle database

2003-12-03 08:22:47
Subject: Backing up 3-10TB Oracle database
From: "Fred.Bateman AT usdoj DOT gov" <Fred.Bateman AT USDOJ DOT GOV>
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2003 08:22:26 -0500
To: People with TSM and Oracle DBA experience

AIX: 5.2
TSM (server and storage agent): 5.1.7.2
TDP: 5.2.0.0
B/A Client and API: 5.1.6.7

Problem: We will soon have a 3TB DB growing to 6-10TBs
in the future. I am trying to determine a
backup method for this data. Most (80-90%) of the
data never changes. Backups are done Lanfree.

I have read the RMAN manuals (and understood some of
them <g>).

Would you please critique the following:
(Note: the values 9999 and 10 are just examples)

1)      One-time setup

        configure backup optimization on

        Reason: I believe this will cause Oracle to only
        backup datafiles which have not been backed up
        "before". I am hoping this also means Oracle
        will not even read the datafile during backup
        if it realizes it does not need to back up the datafile.
        This would greatly reduce the backup time if most
        of the datafiles are not updated on a
        regular basis.

2)      Do daily backup

        configure retention policy to recovery window of 9999 days
        backup database

        Reason: Oracle backs up updated datafiles AND datafiles
        last backed up BEFORE THE RECOVERY WINDOW. It does
        this because other backup products can not manage tapes
        like TSM can. With TSM, there is no need to backup
        these datafiles again. By setting the recovery window
        to a large value I am hoping most of the data
        will not need to be dumped or even read on a daily basis.

3)      Daily cleanup

        configure retention policy to recovery window of 10 days
        delete obsolete

        Reason: Oracle will delete data not needed to do a
        point-in-time for the last 10 days. Basically, this
        would be old versions of datafiles updated in the
        last 10 days, archive logs and other "things"
        I know nothing about <g>.

I have NO experience doing DBA functions for Oracle. So, this is
probably all just wishful thinking. I can find no references
to anyone doing this - so it probably will not work - but I
thought I would ask why it does not work.

I do not have DBA experience or privileges so I am not able
to test this on my own. So, any help would be greatly appreciate.

If someone is already doing this and has a method and is
willing/able to share...

Thanks,
Fred