ZDLRA

I was working on configuring a new database for backup to ZDLRA and hit this issue while testing a controlfile backup via Enterprise Manager -> Schedule backup. It could happen in any environment. Unable to connect to the database with SQLPlus, either because the database is down or due to an environment issue such as incorrectly specified... If the database is up, check the database target monitoring properties and verify that the Oracle Home value is correct. The 2nd line clearly tells the problem but since the Cluster Database status in EM was green, so it took me a while to figure it out. Issue turned out to be a missing / in the end of ORACLE_HOME specified in monitoring configuration of the cluster database. The DB home specified was /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0.4/dbhome_1 instead of /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0.4/dbhome_1 /. ...

To be honest, Fernando Simon has already documented all the steps needed in ZDLRA patching . So this post is more like a reference post for me and it points to the links on his blog. One thing he could change though are the post titles. He also agrees ;) https://twitter.com/amardeep_sidhu/status/1370304085245661192 ZDLRA patching is broadly divided into two parts. First part is where you patch the RA library and Grid & DB homes. Second part includes compute node & storage cell image patch and patches for IB/RoCE switches. Second part is exactly similar to Exadata except that it is bit restricted in terms of image versions that you can use. Only the versions that are certified for ZDLRA can be used. Also the RA library version and the Exadata image version should be compatible with each other. So if you are planning to patch only one part; RA library or the image, make sure that both the components stay compatible. The MOS note that has all these details is 1927416.1. This note should be the first place to go when you are planning to patch a ZDLRA. The steps for upgrade/patch, image patching are given in MOS note 2028931.1. There is another note 2639262.1 that discusses some of the known issues that you may face while doing the patching. It is important to review all three notes before you plan to patch. ...

In part 1, we discussed few things that you should take care before implementation of a ZDLRA. In this post, we will discuss few more things that you should review before or at the time of implementation: If you are getting two ZDLRAs (one each for primary and standby sites), there are two ways they can be deployed. One scenario is where all the primary databases (or the database that have no standby) backup to RA at the primary site and then the data is replicated from primary RA to RA at the standby site. This works well for the DBs that have no standby database. For the DBs where there is a standby database, there is a better architecture that can be deployed. In that scenario, primary databases backup to primary RA and the standby databases backup to standby RA. That saves you all the traffic over replication network. Oracle has published a whitepaper on how to do this configuration. Few of the instructions in this paper are a bit dated but it gives a good overall idea of how to do the implementation. Keep an eye on the features supported for different DB versions. An interesting one is that real-time redo shipping from standby databases is supported on 12c+ databases only. It is not supported for 11g. There could be other similar things. MOS note 1995866.1 has these details. Depending upon the ZDLRA software version being deployed, it may need a minimum version of EM and the ZDLRA plugin. MOS note 2542836.1 has these details. Make sure after discovering the the primary and standby databases in EM, their primary-standby relationship is reflected. Real-time redo sent to ZDLRA is compressed but the archive logs backup will be compressed only if you use compression in the RMAN command. It is always good to include backup archivelog command with daily incremental job to make sure that no archive log is missed. Many of the environments have separate networks for backup traffic. Make sure the backup traffic to ZDLRA uses DB server’s backup network. If that is not the case, you may need to add an explicit route on DB server for ZDLRA client/VIP/scan IPs. There are going to be different users that you will need to use: one OS user for deploying the EM agent, one DB user that will be used to run the backups. Depending upon your environment, it may oracle OS user, SYS DB user or could be some other named user created for this purpose. In next few posts, we will discuss some of the issues I have faced while doing ZDLRA implementation for some customers. ...

Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance (ZDLRA) is Oracle’s solution for database backups. It has many advantages over other backup solutions that are available in the market. This post has a brief introduction to ZDLRA and few links for further reading. This is a quick post about few of things that you should keep in mind if you are planning to get a ZDLRA (RA in short). Of course, there is a lot more that is needed while executing the whole plan, but these are some of the basics: ...