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RE: rman oddities

From: Ron Yount <ronwy_at_swbell.net>
Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2001 18:24:16 -0800
Message-ID: <F001.003D40D1.20011203174521@fatcity.com>

Hi,

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I have
seen some responses and discussions about 'orphaned' backups regarding RMAN after a recovery has been done.  I would like to attempt to clarify why "old" backups being registered in the catalog are important, and very useful in a given situation for purposes of clarity.
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Let say
that:
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1)
January 1st, you start using RMAN to backup your database. 2) On
February 1st, your favorite application team asks you to restore the database to 12:00 on January 28th due to some logical corruption of data that was caused by the application code (or careless user :-) . 3) You
succeed in restoring to noon on 1/28.  (Happy with the ease of using performing this with RMAN, but of course you inform the application owners that they owe you one.
4) They
thank you, offer their first-born (if you feel so inclined) and return to their daily routine..... only to discover that the corruption did not start after 12:00 am on the 28th, it actually occurred during a batch load at 3:00 am on the 28th.
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a) In
RMAN terms, your backups up until Feb 1st comprise a set known as "incarnation" # 1.
b) When
you performed the restore, and obligatory "reset database" in rman after opening with "reset logs" you started a brand new incarnation... # 2.
c) Now
you have a dilemma because the database (and RMAN believe that the current database was "born" at 12:00 noon on 1/28 and therefore will not know what to do with the inevitable request to restore it to 2:20 am on 1/28.... unless! you understand incarnations.
d)
Since you understand incarnations, you have the option of telling rman to switch back to incarnation # 1.  This allows you tell rman to restore to a new point in time anywhere between the 1st of January and the 1st of February.

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So...
all backups have a valid place in the never-ending reality that users expect a request to "just put it back to something else... that it once was..." to be simple and logical...
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As an
RMAN user, you will not let them down, nor find yourself talking to the overhead lights in a tongue that nobody can understand. :-)
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size=2>HTH,
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size=2>-Ron-
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  size=2>-----Original Message-----From: root_at_fatcity.com   [mailto:root_at_fatcity.com]On Behalf Of Koivu, LisaSent:   Monday, December 03, 2001 1:27 PMTo: Multiple recipients of list   ORACLE-LSubject: rman oddities
  Hi Ruth, thanks so much for
  responding. 
  Yes, I wrote the scripts to do an arclog   backup delete.  I'm concerned about the arclogs hanging around after a   restore and taking up disk space, along with unnecessarily inflating the size   of my backup files.  (I'm testing backup to disk right now)   It's more of a nice to know, not
  necessary.  I'm seeing some weird stuff that I didn't expect and the   monkey in me wants to know why...  No, not the baby :)  Here's some   other odd behavior I've seen:
  1.  Instance failure during a backup
  leaves the rman files intact but the backup itself is not reflected in the   catalog.  The database recovers nicely from this since no tablespaces are   in hotbackup mode (yesssssssss)  The end result is "orphan" rman files   that the catalog knows nothing about.   2.  Initially these files are created   the size of all datafiles combined.  As the backup progresses, the size   of the files shrink down considerably.   For example, I allocate 3   channels to disk and setsize to 2GB, but the files start out at 1.5GB and   shrink down to ~500 MB.   I wonder if that behavior happens on   tape?  Anyone?  I'll be able to test this later this week.    

  3.  Can restore and recovery
  really be this easy?  Sheesh
  Thanks again for your response.  And
  list, please correct me if I am wrong on any of this.   yours in Monkeying Around,
  Lisa   

    -----Original Message----- <FONT
    face=Arial size=1>From:   Ruth
    Gramolini [SMTP:rgramolini_at_tax.state.vt.us] <FONT face=Arial     size=1>Sent:   Monday, December
    03, 2001 1:17 PM <FONT face=Arial

    size=1>To:     <FONT face=Arial 
    size=1>Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L <FONT face=Arial 
    size=1>Subject:        <FONT 
    face=Arial size=1>Re: rman restore & arclogs 
    Lisa,
    We backup all archivlogs with the backup set and     delete them. Delete is an rman option     when you backup archivelogs.  We don't have room to keep them.     It is a bit of a pain to restore them but you     learn to live with it.
    Have a look at rman's tables and views. You     should be able to query them and get what     you want.
    Yours in rman, <FONT face=Arial
    size=2>Ruth ----- Original Message Received on Mon Dec 03 2001 - 20:24:16 CST

Original text of this message

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