Lesson 1

Welcome to Oracle Backup and Recovery Methods, the second course in a three-course series. This course is designed to introduce you to the detailed backup and recovery concepts and methods associated with Oracle. The first course in this series focused on the general concepts related to Oracle backup and recovery as well as the required Oracle structures and processes for backup and recovery. This course examines the technical details of different Oracle backup and recovery methods that let you diagnose and troubleshoot database problems and failures when recovery is needed.

• Course Goals
  1. After completing the course, you will be able to:
  2. Explain Oracle's structures and processes required for backup and recovery
  3. Perform Oracle backup to NOARCHIVELOG and ARCHIVELOG databases
  4. Recover a NOARCHIVELOG database from instance failure
  5. Handle complete and incomplete recovery to an ARCHIVELOG database
  
  Diagnose and troubleshoot database problems and failures
• Teaching Mechanisms for this Course:
  
  1. Series of images or Gallery
  2. Diagrams
  
  You will occasionally see a graphic, table, or image used to clarify the concepts presented.
• Interactive Components.
  Throughout this course, you will have the opportunity to use several interactive components.
• Quizzes and Exercises: You will find multiple-choice quizzes and hands-on exercises supplied throughout this course. These learning checks will allow you to assess what you have learned and, if necessary, know what lessons to go back and review.

This course, Backup and Recovery Options & Methods is the second of three courses in the Oracle Backup and Recovery Certification Series. Taken together these three courses will help you to plan and implement a backup and recovery strategy for your Oracle database.
Oracle Backup and Recovery Certification Series

1. Backup and Recovery Concepts, the first course, and
2. Database Backup and Recovery, the third course,

For more information on other courses that can help you obtain Oracle certification, please visit the Sitemap page.

Here's why:

• Extended Support: Oracle 19c has Premier Support until April 2026 and Extended Support until April 2027. This longer support window is typical of long-term releases, providing stability and allowing organizations ample time to plan upgrades.
• Innovation Releases: Oracle has shifted to a release strategy with both long-term and innovation releases. Innovation releases (like 21c) have shorter support cycles and offer newer features, while long-term releases focus on stability.
• Cloud and On-Premises: Oracle 19c is available both in the Cloud and for on-premises deployment. Whether you're using Oracle Database Cloud services or managing your own databases, 19c is a stable and supported option.

If you are looking for a version of Oracle Database with long-term support and stability, both in the cloud and on-premises, Oracle 19c is the recommended choice.

Between Oracle Database 12c and 19c, Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) introduced several enhancements to improve backup, restoration, and recovery processes. These enhancements focus primarily on better support for the multitenant architecture, improved performance, and increased flexibility.

1. Backup Enhancements:
   • Pluggable Database (PDB) Backups: Oracle 19c provides improved capabilities for backing up individual PDBs within a Container Database (CDB). You can perform PDB-level backups without impacting other PDBs or the entire CDB, offering more granular control.
   • Backup Optimization: Enhanced incremental backup and block change tracking features reduce backup times and storage requirements. RMAN now more efficiently identifies and backs up only the changed data blocks.
   • Encrypted Backups: Improved handling of encrypted backups, allowing for easier management of encryption keys and better security compliance.
2. Restoration Enhancements:
   • PDB-Level Restoration: In Oracle 19c, RMAN allows you to restore individual PDBs from backups without affecting other PDBs in the CDB. This granular restoration capability minimizes downtime and disruption.
   • Cross-Platform Transportable Backups: Enhanced support for cross-platform data transport enables you to restore databases across different operating systems with varying endian formats more efficiently.
   • Simplified Clone Procedures: RMAN in 19c streamlines the process of cloning databases or PDBs, making it faster and less error-prone.
3. Recovery Enhancements:
   • Point-in-Time Recovery (PITR) for PDBs: Oracle 19c introduces improved PDB-level PITR, allowing you to recover a single PDB to a specific point in time without impacting other PDBs in the CDB.
   • Table-Level Recovery: Enhanced capabilities for recovering individual tables or table partitions from RMAN backups simplify the recovery process and reduce the need for full database restores.
   • Automated Recovery Features: Improved automation in RMAN commands and recovery options reduces manual intervention, speeds up recovery times, and minimizes the potential for human error.

Summary
The key changes in RMAN between Oracle 12c and Oracle 19c focus on:

• Granular Control: Enhanced support for multitenant architectures allows for PDB-level backup, restoration, and recovery operations.
• Performance Improvements: Optimizations in backup and recovery processes reduce time and storage requirements.
• Flexibility and Ease of Use: Improved cross-platform support, simplified cloning, and automated features make RMAN more versatile and user-friendly.

These enhancements enable database administrators to manage Oracle databases more efficiently, with reduced downtime and improved data protection.

The skills and knowledge required for backup and recovery are covered within broader Oracle Database administration certifications. Here's how you can gain certification relevant to 19c backup and recovery:

1. Oracle Database Administration II (1Z0-083):
   • Focus: This exam covers core database administration skills, including a significant portion on backup and recovery using Recovery Manager (RMAN).
   • Relevance to 19c: While not exclusive to 19c, the exam covers concepts and techniques applicable to 19c and other versions.
   • Preparation: Oracle offers a learning path and courses specifically for this exam, covering RMAN, backup strategies, and recovery procedures in detail.
2. Oracle Certified Professional, Oracle Database 19c Administraton
   • Overall Certification: This certification requires passing two exams:
     • 1Z0-082: Oracle Database Administration I
     • 1Z0-083: Oracle Database Administration II
   • 19c Focus: While both exams cover broader administration topics, they are aligned with the 19c version of the database.
   • Backup and Recovery: As mentioned, 1Z0-083 significantly emphasizes backup and recovery, ensuring you gain proficiency in these areas.

In summary: While no dedicated exam exists solely for 19c backup and recovery, the 1Z0-083 exam within the Oracle Database Administration certifications is your best path to demonstrate your expertise in this domain for Oracle 19c.

Expanded Image Copying Features. A standard RMAN backup set contains one or more backup pieces, and each of these pieces consists of the data blocks for a particular datafile stored in a special compressed format. When a datafile needs to be restored, therefore, the entire datafile essentially needs to be recreated from the blocks present in the backup piece.
An image copy of a datafile, on the other hand, is much faster to restore because the physical structure of the datafile already exists. Oracle 10g now permits image copies to be created at the database, tablespace, or datafile level through the new RMAN directive BACKUP AS COPY. For example, here is a command script to create image copies for all datafiles in the entire database:

RUN {
# Set the default channel configuration. Note the use of the 
# %U directive to insure unique file names for the image copies
ALLOCATE CHANNEL dbkp1 DEVICE TYPE DISK FORMAT 'c:\oracle\rmanbkup\U%';

# Create an image copy of all datafiles in the database
BACKUP AS COPY DATABASE;
}

In the next lesson, you will learn about prerequisites to this course.