SQL-BackTrack the Smart DBAs Power Tool for Backup and Recovery

by Diane Beeler, Consulting Product Marketing Manager, BMC Software and Mati Pitkanen, SQL-BackTrack for Oracle Product Manager, BMC Software
Making sure that databases are constantly available is one of the DBAs main responsibilitiesand one of his biggest challenges. Downtime is expensive and is just not tolerated in todays fast-paced, demanding, if-youre-not-available-Im-goingelsewhere environment. Things happen, thoughhuman error, electrical outages, and moreand the DBA has to have tools to help him get the database back to where it was previously and fast. The Oracle DBA has built-in utilities at his disposal, but these can be complicated to install, configure, learn, and use. If youre not an experienced DBA or you are, but youre not skilled at manual backup and recovery or Oracle utilitiesyou will have a big learning curve. This takes time time you probably dont have. Even if you are an expert Oracle DBA, you may be asked to manage databases that span the enterprise. Chances are that your company has several database platforms and NT and Unix systems. If youre working with an Oracle-only utility, you dont have a tool that can cover a heterogeneous environment. Your time is valuable and there just arent enough DBAs in the company. so what do you do? If you want to look like the smart DBA that you are, select a tool that takes the complexity out of doing backups and recoveries, advises you on issues you may not be familiar with, and executes quicklySQL-BackTrack, the DBAs power tool for backups and recoveries. There are versions of SQL-BackTrack for Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, DB2 Universal Database, Sybase, and Informix database platforms and for Unix and NT operating systems. You become familiar with one tool and then you become efficient and effective across the enterprise. Lets take a look at how this tool can help make you a powerful and smart DBA and assure that your systems are available and reliable.

To Be a Smart DBA, What Does Your Backup and Recovery Power Tool Need to Do for You?
For you to be able to assure that your systems are available and reliable, you need tools that have the functionality and qualities you need to help you be successful. SQLBackTrack is an intelligent, high-performance tool that simplifies and automates many database administration tasks associated with backup and recovery. SQL-BackTrack provides a long list of features that make backup and recovery fast, automated, manageable, flexible, and reasonably assured of success. SQL-BackTrack is all about: Assurance of recoverability Simplicity Performance Flexibility Intelligence Automation

Integration Heterogeneity Lets look at the features, functions, and usability of SQL-BackTrack for Oracle and see how they can help you be that smart DBA.

Advanced Archive Log Management

Many companies require point-in-time recovery and therefore must run their databases in ARCHIVELOG mode. This means archive log destinations must be managed. If the file system where the Archive Logs are being written to fills up, the database will crash. It is extremely important to prevent this from happening. To prevent outages, DBAs are required to continuously monitor disk space available and initiate backup operations as disk space limits are approached or to write scripts to do this. SQL-BackTrack relieves DBAs of this responsibility. DBAs have the option to define thresholds beyond which SQL-BackTrack automatically backs up archive logs, then removes or renames them as desired. SQL-BackTrack also provides sophisticated archive log recovery. For sites with large transaction volumes, it may not be possible to restore all archive logs to disk prior to recovery if the total volume of archive logs exceeds the space available. SQLBackTrack restores files in batches and applies them in a rolling fashion, ensuring that recovery remains possible no matter how many archive logs need to be restored. SQL-BackTrack manages archive logs intelligently during both backup and recovery.

Guided Recovery
When a database recovery is required, DBAs are faced with several difficult tasks:

Analyze Determine what went wrong and what objects need to be recovered Source Locate all appropriate backup files required to perform the recovery Prepare Decide where and how to perform the restore-from-backup Restore Copy all appropriate database files from the backup location to disk Recover Perform the actual database recovery (step-by-step procedure) Post-op Reset the log if needed, start the database, and perform a new backup

The tasks differ greatly from one recovery to the next. For example, in the case of an incomplete recovery, the DBA must manually determine the time, SCN, or log sequence number to recover to. After the recovery, the DBA must remember to open the database with the RESETLOGS option and then do an immediate database backup. Choosing the right approach in the middle of a stressful recovery can be very difficult. Even an experienced DBA may have difficulty performing these complex, manual tasks under time pressure. SQL-BackTrack's exclusive Guided Recovery feature greatly simplifies these tasks: Detects missing data files, control files, online redo logs, parameter files, or data files Presents options appropriate for the situation and the DBA selects from the available recovery types

Issues all Oracle Server Manager commands required to implement the recovery Restores the database files, prompting to load media when necessary Restores and applies archive logs Brings the database online

SQL-BackTrack's Guided Recovery makes complex recoveries fast, simple, and as error-free as possible.

Logical Extraction Capability

Except in cases of outright system failure, full database recoveries are rare. The most common reason for a recovery is human error such as accidental deletion of data or accidental dropping of schema objects. SQL-BackTrack supports recovery at the object level. Individual tables can be recovered from a physical backup, with some or all of their data. SQL-BackTrack fully automates the procedure and makes it possible to recover virtually any table to any point in time. Even non-data objects such as stored procedures can be recovered. SQL-BackTrack extracts these logical objects from physical backupswhat we call "logical extraction". DBAs use this feature during actual recoveries, but also as a convenient way to copy or move objects between instances, make utility copies of data, etc. This is an "all day, every day" feature. SQL-BackTrack's logical extraction capability is a convenient and often-used DBA productivity tool.

Simplified Backup Management

SQL-BackTrack allows DBAs to choose from among several backup types: Database, tablespace, data file, archive log, or control file Physical or logical, full or incremental Open or closed, consistent or inconsistent DBAs can also specify backup expiration policies that retire backups after a set number of days or copies. All of these features are available via a simple menu-driven interface or optional command line interface. SQL-BackTrack provides great breadth of capability without sacrificing ease of use and DBA productivity.

Simple, Robust Architecture

SQL-BackTrack records backup history and database structure information in a recovery catalog, a set of flat files local to the database server. SQL-BackTrack manages this catalog and no DBA intervention is required. For example, if a database is expanded to use an additional data file, the SQL-BackTrack catalog will be automatically updated with the new data file information at the beginning of the next backup operation. Since catalog files are local to each database server machine, they can be included in the same file system backup as the actual database, guaranteeing synchronization of the catalog and database backup files.

SQL-BackTrack's catalog architecture is simple and robust.

Efficient Backups
At a file level, databases are optimized for access, not storage efficiency, and so they can be very resource-intensive to backup and recover. SQL-BackTrack uses advanced compression techniques to reduce the time, network resources, and storage resources needed for backup and recovery operations. SQL-BackTrack minimizes backup size by excluding never-used blocks from backups. SQL-BackTrack also compresses data content before directing data to the storage management layer. SQL-BackTrack achieves a 3:1or bettercompression ratio, resulting in smaller backup files, reduced media requirements, and faster backups, especially when backups are written across a network to remote storage devices. SQL-BackTrack makes the most efficient use of your limited time and resources.

Assured Version Compatibility

SQL-BackTrack is simple to deploy and manage. Because it is installed as a single set of native executables on each database server, there are no distributed components that can get "out of synch" with each other. When an urgent recovery becomes necessary, the DBA is assured that SQL-BackTrack is ready to roll. SQL-BackTrack gives you install-it-and-forget-about-it peace of mind with no version-control worries.

Enterprise Snapshot Capability

SQL-BackTrack's unique Enterprise Snapshot capability allows DBAs to take a logical snapshot of a database at a point in time and then take a backup from that copy rather than from the live database. This can save a lot of time. There are two forms of backupshot and coldboth of which disrupt normal operations. Hot backups require a database to be in backup mode, resulting in performance degradation of applications accessing the database. Cold backups require the database to be offline and unavailable to applications for hours on end. Either way, the backup is disruptive to business operations because the database is unavailable to customers or it is available with a marked degradation in performance for a prolonged period of time. There are two ways that SQL-BackTrack for Oracle uses snapshot technology. Hardware snapshot If intelligent storage devices (ISDs) such as Hitachi 7700E or HP XP256 are configured within the environment, then Enterprise Snapshot will exploit the mirroring capabilities of the storage device to create a point-in-time image of the database from which to perform backups. Software snapshot If there are no ISDs configured within the environment, then SQL-BackTrack with Enterprise Snapshot will use proprietary BMC Software snapshot technology to create a point-in-time image of the database from which to perform backups.

Enterprise Snapshot delivers nondisruptive database backups, reducing the impact of backups to almost nothing.

The advantages to using SQL-BackTrack for Oracle Enterprise Snapshot Edition to perform backups include the following:

Provides near 24x7 database availability Shrinks the backup window to almost zero Stretches the batch window or adds hours to the online day Exploits advanced technology already in place. SQL-BackTrack for Oracle Enterprise Snapshot Edition can use both software and hardware snapshot technology to ensure valid backups while maintaining database availability Improves recovery time by eliminating the need to apply transaction logs to recover to the snapshot point-in-time copy of the databases

Enterprise Snapshot allows cold backups to be made in minutes instead of hours. In the case of a hot backup, Enterprise Snapshot greatly reduces the time each tablespace must spend in backup mode to minutes, or even seconds, greatly improving performance during the backup. SQL-BackTrack saves time and space and maintains database performance during large-scale backups.

Process Restartability
Backup and recovery operations can fail for any number of reasonsmissing media, insufficient disk space, hardware outages, etc. SQL-BackTrack insulates DBAs from the full impact of these failures, by allowing processes to restart from the point of failure, rather than requiring a rerun from the first step. During a time-critical recovery operation, this capability can greatly reduce the total time to recovery (TTR).

SQL-BackTrack provides fine-grained control of the restart process, not just a date/time cutoff.

Real-time Monitoring Capability

SQL-BackTrack allows DBAs to monitor the completion status of its processes. This feedback can be very useful for production scheduling of backups or to track %complete progress during a time-critical recovery. SQL-BackTrack gives DBAs the ability to track the execution status of work-inprogress.

Integration with Storage Management Systems and Backup Cloning

BMC Software understands the importance of complete integration with your current environment. Open Backup Stream Interface Modules (OBSI Modules) enable physical backups and exports directly to tape, magnetic disk, or various third-party storage management systems such as Veritas NetBackup, Legato NetWorker, and Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM), formerly known as IBM ADSM. OBSI Modules are available from BMC Software or from third-party developers who are part of the BMC Software OBSI Partner Program. SQL-BackTrack offers full integration with third-party scheduling products, generating standard operating system scripts for backup and recovery.

SQL-BackTrack architecture

Database backup and recovery is a DBA responsibility, but in most organizations, DBAs have to rely on a separate storage team to administer the storage management subsystem. What happens if a database recovery is urgently needed, but the storage system is offline or has had its own disaster? SQL-BackTracks Backup Cloning helps DBAs avoid this problem. During recovery, SQL-BackTrack can dynamically fail over to a secondary copy if a primary device fails or is offline. It is easy to configureyou can make as many copies from one read as you want. One copy, for example, can go to Tivoli Storage Manager and one to disk.

SQL-BackTrack integrates with storage managers and optimizes availability with cloning.

Backup cloning eliminates the backup storage medium as a single point of failure

Examples of Companies Using SQL-BackTrack

Here are some real-life examples of companies who are using SQL-BackTrack to maximize the availability and reliability of their databases. Case #1 A Large Oil and Gas Company Dealing with Mergers A large oil and gas company recently acquired several large companies and is merging the information systems of each of these companies. They have legacy systems to maintain and must consolidate systems that are on multiple database platforms, multiple releases of software, multiple releases of tools, and multiple hardware platforms. Keeping track of all of this is a big challenge and so is backup and recovery. The average DBA has experience with 2-3 platforms. What criteria did they use in choosing tools to manage all of this? They looked for tools that could be used by the most people and tools that go across platforms. They chose PATROL and SQL-BackTrack, which are both available for Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase, and Informix. PATROL enhances the contribution and value of the database administration group by automating critical but routine administrative functions and spotlighting the information necessary to make faster, better decisions. SQL-BackTrack simplifies and automates many database administration tasks associated with backup and recovery. It speeds up the recovery process and frees up time for DBAs, increasing productivity on day-to-day tasks. Case #2 A Large Financial Company with Sybase and Oracle and TSM A large financial company running both Sybase and Oracle in their environment uses Tivoli Storage Manager. SQL-BackTrack has allowed this company to implement an

enterprise backup and recovery strategy due to its support for both Oracle and Sybase. It has provided them flexibility and increased efficiency in having one DBA support both Sybase and Oracle backup and recoveries. It has also allowed them to integrate with Tivoli Storage Manager without the dependence on a TSM Administrator. Case #3 A Large Investment Firm Wiped Out by a Disaster An unexpected disaster wiped out the entire data center of a large investment firm. Using SQL-BackTrack, the company was able to get their environment up and running with ZERO data loss from their databases. In the event of an unplanned outage, SQL-BackTrack minimizes downtime by simplifying the entire recovery process. It restores database files and actually guides the DBA through every step of the recovery process while automatically detecting and restoring all missing files. Case #4 A Large Technology Company Having Difficulty Recovering Databases A large technology company has large amounts of Oracle running in the enterprise. The manager of the DBA group has years of experience with Oracle and has even attended Oracle backup and recovery training. Until using SQL-BackTrack for Oracle, however, he was never able to successfully recover a database missing control and system files. With SQL-BackTrack for Oracle, he performed a full recovery as well as a point-in-time recovery. He now has confidence that he can cover for one of his employees in the event of a disaster. Case #5 A Large Public Utility Splitting Up A large public utility is splitting into two companiesone regulated and the other deregulated. The new deregulated company is starting nearly from the ground up on their database. The problems it faces are inherited legacy systems in production, the need to standardize as much as possible on tools more than platforms, and figuring out what tools to use. They have very large systems to backup and recover and need tools that provide maximum availability, performance, and scalability. They have chosen SQL-Backtrack, which delivers rapid database recovery through right-sizing, or performing the smallest, most efficient recovery possible.

Summary
One of the biggest benefits that SQL-BackTrack can provide you is the way in which database recoveries are performed. SQL-BackTrack analyzes the system, asks some questions, and generates the proper commands to perform the recovery. Everything is fully automatic. There is a monitor to monitor the progress of the recovery. If the recovery is killedbecause, for example, a tape drive has jammed or a cable came loosethe recovery can be resumed where it left off without having to repeat the entire procedure. Native utilities can provide this same basic ability, but require an experienced DBA to perform the recovery. The DBA must examine the system and determine what parts are damaged or missing. Then the proper database commands need to be entered to perform the recovery. Although experienced DBAs may be able to accomplish their backups and recoveries using native utilities, the time, effort, and expertise required is very high. The DBA must

select the step-by-step procedure that best fits a given recovery and know the command syntax required. SQL-BackTrack is a proven backup and recovery solution that works in the real world. Its simple, menu-driven interface is immediately usable by DBAs of all skill levels. Its unique Guided Recovery process helps DBAs choose the recovery strategy that best fits a given situation. SQL-BackTrack makes backups and recoveries fast, automated, manageable, flexible, and highly assured of success. It is the smart DBAs power tool for backing up and recovering databases. To learn more about BMC Softwares distributed and mainframe database products, visit 18727 08/2002 our Web site at www.bmc.com/database.