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Best Practices for Oracle 11g Backup and Recovery using RMAN and Dell EqualLogic Snapshots

Firmware : 6.0.1 / Driver : 1.60.50.v41.2

The URL for downloading the Broadcom drivers from VMware is:

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/details/esx41_broadcom_netextremeii_dt/ZHcqYnRlaHRiZHdlZQ

8.8 RMAN configuration parameters

By default, the BACKUP OPTIMIZATION parameter for RMAN is OFF. We enabled backup optimization

by executing the following command from the RMAN prompt.

RMAN> configure backup optimization on;

If backup optimization is enabled, then the RMAN backup command skips backing up any identical

files that have been already backed up. This helps to reduce the backup time window.

The other key parameter, RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 1, is a default RMAN parameter and

specifies how many backups of the data file should be kept. You should set this parameter to the

proper number of backups that need to be retained.

Also, it is very important to ensure that the controlfile autobackup feature is turned ON. This ensures

that RMAN automatically performs control file backups and stores them in flash recovery area. Enable

this parameter by executing the following command from the RMAN prompt:

RMAN> configure controlfile autobackup on;

With this parameter enabled RMAN can recover the database even if the current control file, recovery

catalog and server parameter files are not accessible. Example 1 below shows the RMAN configuration

parameters used in our setup. Modified parameters are highlighted in bold faced text.

Example 1 - RMAN configuration parameters

RMAN> show all;

using target database control file instead of recovery catalog

RMAN configuration parameters for database with db_unique_name SIEORADB are:

CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 1; # default

CONFIGURE BACKUP OPTIMIZATION ON;

CONFIGURE DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE TO DISK; # default

CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP ON;

CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO '%F'; # default

CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE DISK PARALLELISM 1 BACKUP TYPE TO BACKUPSET; # default

CONFIGURE DATAFILE BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default

CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default

CONFIGURE MAXSETSIZE TO UNLIMITED; # default

CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION FOR DATABASE OFF; # default

CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION ALGORITHM 'AES128'; # default

CONFIGURE COMPRESSION ALGORITHM 'BASIC' AS OF RELEASE 'DEFAULT' OPTIMIZE FOR

LOAD TRUE ; # default

CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG DELETION POLICY TO NONE; # default

CONFIGURE SNAPSHOT CONTROLFILE NAME TO

'/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_1/dbs/snapcf_sieoradb1.f'; # default