Back up an Oracle database

Usage notes

• The network of the on-premises database server must be connected to an Alibaba Cloud Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). The server must also be able to communicate with the service CIDR blocks of Alibaba Cloud (100.64.0.0/10, 100.64.0.0/11, or 100.96.0.0/11) through an Express Connect circuit or a VPN gateway. For more information, see Establish a connection between a VPC and an on-premises data center (single-tunnel mode).

• The supported database versions, operating systems, and backup features are limited. For more information, see Compatibility and limits.

• You cannot back up an Oracle database if the anti-ransomware service is enabled for the database. For more information about the anti-ransomware service, see Anti-ransomware service overview.

• The Oracle backup feature does not support the backup of databases that run in containers.

• Cloud Backup periodically deletes expired backup data. Cloud Backup does not support backing up an Oracle database concurrently with third-party backup software, including script tools. Otherwise, Cloud Backup may mistakenly delete data backed up by other software by calling the RMAN command.

• When you create a backup plan, select a proper backup vault. We recommend that you do not back up data from the same database instance to different backup vaults. Otherwise, incremental or log backups may be converted to full backups, which consumes extra storage space in the backup vault.

• If you use other backup software or scripts to perform a full backup or an incremental backup, the next Cloud Backup incremental backup may be converted to a full backup. This incurs additional backup storage costs. Log backups are not affected.

Procedure

After registering an Oracle instance, you must create a backup plan for it. Cloud Backup runs backup jobs based on the specified schedule. Follow these steps to create a backup plan:

1. Log on to the Cloud Backup console.

2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Backup > Database Backup. Select a region and then click the Oracle tab. Click the ECS Database Instance or Local Database Instance tab. Find the target Oracle instance and click Back Up in the Actions column.

3. In the Create Backup Plan panel, configure the following parameters.

   1. Configure the backup content and click Next.

      1. Enter a name for the Plan Name parameter.

      2. Select the database instance that you want to back up.

   2. Configure the backup plan and click Next.

      Parameter	Description
      Recommended Plan	Specifies a recommended backup policy. Cloud Backup provides the following predefined backup policies. You can select a predefined policy or customize your own. Typical Plan: enables the Full Backup and Incremental Backup features. Critical Application: enables the Full Backup, Incremental Backup, and Log Backup features. Customize: specifies a custom backup type. You can select incremental backup or real-time backup and configure parameters such as the start time and backup interval.
      Full Backup	Performs a full backup of all database files on the operating system. When you restore data from a full backup, you can restore data only to the point in time at which the backup was created. You can run the backup once immediately or at a specified time, or schedule periodic backups by hour, day, week, or month.
      Incremental Backup	Backs up only the database files that have changed since the last backup. When you restore data from an incremental backup, you can restore data only to the point in time at which the backup was created. You can run the backup once immediately or at a specified time, or schedule periodic backups by hour, day, week, or month. Important Incremental backups depend on the most recent full backup for data recovery. Therefore, the corresponding full backup is retained until the incremental backup expires. We recommend that you specify a proper backup cycle and retention period. For more information, see How are expired backups in a database backup vault cleared?.
      Log Backup	Backs up database logs. You can schedule log backups at a fixed interval. You can run the backup once immediately or at a specified time, or schedule periodic backups by hour, day, week, or month. Important Log backups depend on the most recent full backup for data recovery. Therefore, the corresponding full backup is retained until the log backup expires. We recommend that you specify a proper backup cycle and retention period. For more information, see How are expired backups in a database backup vault cleared?.
      Realtime Backup	Backs up database log data in real time. Before you enable real-time backup, you must perform a full backup. After real-time backup is enabled, database log data is continuously backed up. This helps you achieve a recovery point objective (RPO) of seconds. Real-time backup is free of charge during the free trial period. After the free trial period ends, Cloud Backup immediately charges you for the storage that is consumed by real-time backups. For more information, see Pricing. Important For a single Oracle database instance, you can create only one backup plan that includes real-time backup.

   3. Configure backup options and click Next.

      Parameter	Description
      Concurrent Threads	The number of concurrent threads for data backup.
      Retry Time	The interval at which the system retries to connect to the database after the database disconnects during a backup. Unit: minutes.
      Speed Limit	The maximum rate at which data is backed up. Unit: MB/s. A value of 0 means the backup speed is unlimited.
      If Keep Archive Logs	The retention policy for backed-up archive logs. By default, logs are retained for 24 hours. Do Not Keep: Deletes all backed-up archive logs after the backup is complete. Keep All: Retains all archive logs. The logs are not deleted. Keep: Deletes logs a specified number of hours after they are backed up.

   4. Configure the backup vault and click Create.

      Important

      An instance can be backed up only to a single backup vault. You cannot back up an instance to multiple backup vaults.

      Parameter	Description
      Backup Vault	Specifies the backup vault where backups are stored. Create Vault: Enter a name for the new backup vault. This parameter is optional. If you leave this parameter empty, a random name is assigned. Select Vault: Select an existing backup vault from the drop-down list. Important After a backup vault is created, you are charged a rental fee for the database backup vault regardless of whether backup data is generated. For more information, see Billing methods and billable items. The system automatically selects a redundancy type based on regional support. In regions that support zone redundancy, a zone-redundant archive vault is created by default. In other regions, a locally-redundant archive vault is created. You do not need to select the redundancy type.
      Vault Name	The name of the backup vault.
      Backup Retention Period	The length of time to retain backups. Valid units are Day, Week, Month, and Year. You can change the backup retention period on the vault management page. The new retention period applies to all new backup data in the backup vault. Important Incremental backups and log backups depend on the most recent full backup for data recovery. Therefore, the corresponding full backup is retained until the incremental and log backups expire. We recommend that you specify a proper backup cycle and retention period. For more information, see How are expired backups in a database backup vault cleared?.

Verify backup results

• After the backup plan is created, you can view its details on the Backup Plans tab. The details include the next run time and backup interval for Full Backup, Incremental Backup, and Log Backup. Cloud Backup runs Oracle database backup jobs based on the specified start time and backup interval.

• At the scheduled time, Cloud Backup starts to run the backup plan. The current backup job is complete when the Status changes to Idle and a time is displayed in the Next Run column.

The backup plan details page also displays the Backup Content such as oracle://orcl and oracle://orcl/archivelog, Backup Options such as concurrent threads, retry time, speed limit, and archive log retention period, and the name and ID of the associated backup vault.

Troubleshooting

If a restore job for a standby Oracle Data Guard database fails, the failure may be due to using password-free logon during instance activation. You can find the target database, click ⋮ in the Actions column, and then select Reactivate. Reactivate the instance by using the database username and password, and then retry the job.

FAQ

• FAQ about database backup

• Database backup FAQ

• How are expired backups in a database backup vault cleared?

• How do I view the backup data size and backup vault usage? What are the billing rules?

More operations

On the Backup Plan tab, you can perform the following operations in the Actions column for a backup plan.

• Edit a backup plan

  Click Edit to modify the backup plan.

• Configure alert settings

  Click ⋮ in the Actions column and select Alert Settings. Then, select a backup alert method.

  Backup alert method	Description
  Disabled	The client no longer sends alert notifications.
  Same as Backup Vault	The client uses the same alert method as the backup vault.
  Notify Alibaba Cloud Account	Sends alert notifications by email to the Alibaba Cloud account.
  Custom	Select one or more contacts or contact groups. After the configuration is complete, the client sends backup alerts to the selected contacts or contact groups.

• Delete a backup plan

  Deleting a backup plan interrupts any running backup and restore jobs.

  Click ⋮ in the Actions column and select Delete Backup to delete a backup plan that is no longer needed.

Related documents

• Register an Oracle database hosted on an ECS instance

• Register an on-premises Oracle database

• To learn about the benefits, core concepts, procedures, and limits of database backup, see Feature overview (ECS database) and Feature overview (on-premises database).