Restore Oracle databases

After backing up an Oracle database using the Oracle Plug-in, you can restore the database.

You might also need to recover the entire system, by performing a “bare metal restore” (installing the OS, applications, and then the full database (plus any transaction logs) onto a new system).

If there is an Oracle backup and a full-system backup:

1.   Restore the system (putting back the contents of ORACLE_HOME – specifically the database installation). If you like, you can exclude the data files and archive logs that are backed up by the plug-in.

2.   Restore the Oracle backup, and then copy the required components to the appropriate directories. Follow the standard user-managed Oracle recovery procedure from the Oracle backup and recovery guide (available from Oracle) that is appropriate for the operating system.

An Oracle restore process is performed by a Database Administrator. Briefly, the steps are:

•      Shut down the database.

•      Restore the files.

•      If necessary, reset the control information for the database.

•      Start and recover the database.

•      Re-open the database for use.

The Plug-in does not do table-level restores.

To restore an Oracle database:

1.   On the navigation bar, click Computers.

A grid lists available computers.

2.   Find the computer with the Oracle database that you want to restore, and expand its view by clicking the row for the computer.

3.   Click the Jobs tab.

4.   Find the job with the database that you want to restore, and click Restore in the Select Action menu for the job.

The Restore dialog box shows the most recent safeset for the job.

5.   To restore the database from an older safeset, or from SSI (safeset image) files, do one of the following:

•      To restore data from an older safeset, click the calendar button.  In the calendar that appears, click the date of the safeset from which you want to restore. To the right of the calendar, click the specific safeset that you want to use.

•      To restore data from SSI (safeset image) files on disk, select Directory on disk from the Source Device list. Click the folder button.  In the Select Folder dialog box, select the directory where the files are located, and click Okay.

SSI files are full backups exported from the vault or backed up to disk instead of to a vault. It can be quicker to save backup files on physical media and transport them to a location for a restore, than to restore data from a vault in a remote datacenter.

Note: If SSI files were created by a backup to a directory on disk, you cannot restore from the SSI files until they have been imported into the vault and you have synchronized the Agent with the vault.

6.   In the Files to Restore box, select the items that you want to restore.

7.   Select a Restore Destination option.

•      To restore files and folders to the location where they were backed up, select Restore files to their original location.

•      To restore files and folders to a different location, select Restore files to an alternate location. Click the folder button.  In the Select Folder dialog box, select the location where you want to restore, and click Okay.

8.   Select a File Overwrite option. This option specifies how to restore a file to a location where there is a file with the same name.

•      To overwrite existing files with restored files, select Overwrite existing files.

Note: If you try to restore multiple files with the same name to an alternate location and select Overwrite existing files, only the last file restored will remain. Other files with the same name will be overwritten.

•      To add a numeric extension (e.g., .0001) to a restored file name, select Do not overwrite existing files. For example, if you restore a file named “filename.txt” to a location where there is a file with the same name, an extension is added to the restored file name (e.g., “filename.txt.0001”).

•      To add a numeric extension (e.g., .0001) to an existing file name, select Rename existing files. For example, if you restore a file named “filename.txt” to a location where there is a file with the same name, an extension is added to the existing file name (e.g., “filename.txt.0001”). The name of the restored file continues to be “filename.txt”.

9.   To change the log detail level or bandwidth settings, click Advanced Restore Options. Specify settings in the Advanced Restore Options dialog box, and click Okay. See Advanced restore options.

10.  Click Run Restore.

The Process Details dialog box shows the restore progress and indicates when the restore is completed. Other recent job processes might also be listed in the dialog box. See View current process information for a job.

11.  To close the Process Details dialog box, click Close. If the restore is running, it will continue to run.

Note: For a full disaster recovery (in which the full database instance is restored), be careful when you recover the database because the plug-in does not back up TEMPORARY tablespaces.

In Solaris and Linux, start the database recovery with an explicit PFILE or SPFILE reference:

SQL> STARTUP PFILE='path-to-pfile\initSIDNAME.ora'

It might be necessary to take the temporary tablespace files offline:

SQL> ALTER DATABASE DATAFILE 'path-to-datafile' OFFLINE

Restore the database as usual, but when you open it after recovery, use this command:

SQL> ALTER DATABASE OPEN NORESETLOGS

TEMPORARY tablespaces should be dropped, the data files for the temporary tablespaces should be removed, and the TEMPORARY tablespaces should be recreated (this can include the default TEMP tablespace).

At this point, you can close the database normally and restart it (with RESETLOGS, for example).