BR BACKUP

BRBACKUP:

The BRBACKUP tool allows an online or offline backup of the control file, of data files in individual or all Table spaces and, if necessary, of the online redo log files, as shown in the graphic “SAP – Oracle Database Backup Using cpio. BRBACKUP also saves the profiles and logs relevant for the Backup.

In addition to the actual backup, BRBACKUP also:

·         Changes the state of the database automatically, depending on the type of backup wanted (that is, online

·         or offline)

·         Checks the status of files

·         Optimizes the data distribution on the backup media. The algorithm for distribution is specially adapted to

·         The requirements of a database backup, that is, to backing up a small number of large files. The

·         distribution of data depends on whether you carry out a serial or parallel backup

·         Performs software compression, if the option is selected

·         Saves to hardware compressing tape stations, taking previously determined compression rates into

·         account

The BRCONNECT program makes sure that the database status required for the online or offline backup remains unchanged during the backup. The saving rates largely depend on the number of tape stations in use and the CPU load (particularly when software compression is used).You can also back up any files or directories you want. However, the backup of a directory is restricted to thefiles it contains. This enables backups of all SAP objects that do not belong to the database (for example,Programs, SAP start profiles, selected logs, and so on).

You can also perform database backups on several disks or remotely connected tape stations. BRBACKUPalso supports Oracle databases on raw devices and, Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC), and OracleAutomatic Storage Management (ASM), including Oracle database appliances like Oracle Exadata Database Machine configurations.

Process:

1.     You identify what needs to be backed up.

Normally, you back up the complete database and the redo log files.

2.     You identify the database backup type that you require.

Normally, you perform an online and complete backup.

3.     You work out a backup cycle. We recommend a minimum cycle of 14 days, although 28 days is preferable. For example, with a 28-day cycle, you reuse the backup media after 28 days.

4.     You schedule regular backups.

5.     You verify the:

·        Backup tape readability, that is, a check on the contents of the media after the backup. Database block consistency, that is, a check on the database itself

·        If possible, run both types of verify daily, otherwise preferably weekly. At the least, be sure to run a verify once in each backup cycle.

·        You can back up the database and then verify both the backup media and the database using a single BRBACKUP command, brbackup -w use_dbv|use_rmv. The -w use_dbv option is also available in the action patterns of the DBA Planning Calendar. Be aware that a verify considerably extends backup run times.

·        To only verify database block consistency (that is, without a database backup), use the command brbackup -w only_dbv|-w use_dbv.

·        To verify table and index structures, use the command brconnect -f stats -v.

·        To verify the backed up redo log files, use the command brarchive -w| use_rmv.

BRARCHIVE:

You can use the BRARCHIVE tool to back up the offline redo log files, that is, the online redo log files saved to the archiving directory by Oracle. For more information, see the graphic “SAP – Oracle Database Backup. BRARCHIVE also saves all the logs and profiles of the backup process.

Reasons for backing up offline redo log files include the following:

·        In the event of a failure, a consistent database status can only be recovered, if all relevant redo log files are available.

·        The database system of a production SAP System has to be operated in the ARCHIVELOG mode to

·        Prevent overwriting of unsaved online redo log files. To protect the archive directory against overflowing, it

·        Has to be emptied regularly.

·        An online backup of data files is useless if the related redo log files are missing. Therefore, you must back

·        up the offline redo log files generated during the online database backup immediately after running BRBACKUP.

For security reasons, BRARCHIVE offers duplicate backup of offline redo log files (redundant serial or parallel backup is possible). On the basis of the logs, BRARCHIVE can make sure that redo log files are not deleted before they have been backed up and that the same files are saved once or twice.

BRARCHIVE allows the database administrator to continually back up offline redo log files. This means that the archiving directory, where Oracle places the offline redo log files, can be kept free by continually saving and then deleting saved redo log files. You can save offline redo log files on local or remote tape or on local or remote disk. Backup on disk is used particularly in the standby database environment.

DB MONITORING:

The database monitor checks important performance indicators in the database system, such as the database size, quality of the database buffer, and the database indexes.

The database monitor works with any database system supported by SAP. The monitor uses statistics that are provided by the database system with which you are working. You can access most of these statistics for the database system using the performance monitoring of the Computing Center Management Systems (CCMS).

You can use the Database Monitor to:

● Check the database during the operation of a production SAP system

● Analyze various problems

● Fetch information required for the database system settings

Although the database monitors accesses and evaluates database-specific statistics tables, it usually has the same appearance, regardless of which database system you are using. You can call the database monitor from any application server of the SAP system. The same data is displayed by the database monitor is the same on all application servers.

We can also monitor the database with alert monitor by below procedure:

Using the alert monitor, you can monitor the following database alerts:

● Space management – reorganization and space monitoring

● DB system check – consistency and profile

● Backup/restore

The alerts described in this section are all triggered automatically from DB System Checks in CCMS (Informix).