How to Backup and Restore a RAC Database

This article explains how to backup and recover a 2-node, 11gr2 or 12c RAC cluster on Linux. Backup and recovery operations for RAC databases are similar to single instance databases, however there are some differences.

1. Setup FRA or recovery destination
2. Enable archivelog mode
3. Multiple backup channels configuration for RAC
4. Backup your RAC database
5. Stop your RAC database and remove users01.dbf file
6. Restore and recover your RAC database

How to Monitor RMAN Job Progress

Problem

You have a long-running RMAN job, and you wonder how much longer it will take to complete.

RMAN duplicate fails with ORA-19755 when BCT file is not accessible

Problem:

Your source  database has block change tracking enabled and the RMAN duplicate command is failing with ORA-19755 on the target server.

Recovering Tables from RMAN Backups

Starting with Oracle 12c, RMAN enables you to recover one or more tables or table partitions to a specified point in time without affecting the remaining database objects. You can use previously-created RMAN backups to recover tables and table partitions to a specified point in time.

ORA-01187: cannot read from file nnn because it failed verification tests

Problem:

After RMAN duplicate/clone of an Oracle database you are getting ORA-01187:

boris@testdb> select file_name from dba_temp_files     select file_name  from dba_temp_files * ERROR at line 1:         ORA-01187: cannot read from file 1043 because it failed verification tests ORA-01110: data file 501: '/oradata/testdb/temp01.dbf'

There are no problems with the clone based on the log files and all data files seem to be ok.

RMAN-05541: no archived logs found in target database

Problem:

You are getting  RMAN-05541 error when duplicating database from a consistent (cold) RMAN backup.

ORA-28368: cannot auto-create wallet

Problem:

Trying to create the encryption key and hence the wallet file for the first time fails with the following errors:

RMAN Backup and Transparent Encryption

Oracle Transparent encryption can help with creating and restoring encrypted RMAN backups with no DBA intervention, as long as the required Oracle key management infrastructure is available.

Transparent encryption is best suited for day-to-day backup operations, where backups will be restored at the same database that they were backed up from. Transparent encryption is the default mode for RMAN encryption.

When using transparent encryption, you must first configure the Oracle Encryption Wallet. After the Oracle Encryption Wallet is configured, encrypted backups can be created and restored with no further DBA intervention.

RMAN Backup and Password Encryption

Password encryption is ideal for customers who are not already encrypting data in the database and simply want their database backup encrypted. It is important to use a complex password made up of characters and numbers to prevent a thief from easily breaking the encryption and reading the clear text data.

No need for a wallet manager, but requires to specify a password for the encryption and decryption.

NOTE: If you loose  password , you can not decrypt and restore your backup.

Recovery Catalog

Recovery Catalog is a set of Oracle tables and views used by RMAN to store RMAN repository information about one or more Oracle databases. RMAN uses this metadata to manage the backup, restore, and recovery of Oracle databases.

Use of a recovery catalog is optional although it is highly recommended. It is recommended  to have a separate database for the recovery catalog. Also it's recommended to create the recovery catalog database in a different machine.