VERITAS NetBackup (Optional)

VERITAS NetBackup provides backup, archive, and restore capabilities for database files and directories contained on client systems in a client-server network. NetBackup server software resides on platforms that manage physical backup storage devices. The NetBackup server provides robotic control, media management, error handling, scheduling, and a repository of all client backup images.

Administrators can set up schedules for automatic, unattended full and incremental backups. These backups are managed entirely by the NetBackup server. The administrator can also manually back up clients. Client users can perform backups, archives, and restores from their client system, and once started, these operations also run under the control of the NetBackup server.

VERITAS NetBackup, while not a shipped component of VERITAS Storage Foundation for Oracle, can be purchased separately.

Block-Level Incremental Backup

Block-Level Incremental (BLI) Backup extends the capabilities of NetBackup to back up only changed data blocks of Oracle database files. BLI Backup accomplishes this backup methodology using the Storage Checkpoint facility in the VERITAS File System (VxFS) available through VERITAS Storage Foundation for Oracle. BLI Backup reduces both the time required to complete a database backup and the amount of data transferred during backups. It also allows more frequent backups, resulting in more up-to-date backup images. When restoring from backups, the restore time is increased only by the extra time needed for NetBackup to apply the incremental backups after a full restore completes. However, frequent incremental backups can speed up the database recovery by reducing the number of redo logs to apply.

BLI Backup is particularly useful in a database environment where a database can be hundreds of gigabytes or terabytes. Using traditional backup methods for an offline database backup, any change in the database file---no matter how small---requires backing up the entire database file. Using BLI Backup, only modified data blocks need to be backed up.

For information on how to install, configure, and use VERITAS NetBackup for Oracle Advanced BLI Agent to perform Oracle database backups, see VERITAS NetBackup for Oracle Advanced BLI Agent System Administrator's Guide.