In the simple replication topology in Figure 9-1, a protected database sends backups to one Recovery Appliance, which passes the backups on to another Recovery Appliance. This topology is called one-way Recovery Appliance replication. The first Recovery Appliance is the upstream Recovery Appliance and the second is the downstream Recovery Appliance.

This section contains the following topics:

• Protection Policies for Replication

• Replication Topology Examples

• How Recovery Appliance Replicates Backups: Basic Process

• How RMAN Restores Backups in a Replication Environment

This section contains the following topics:

• Accessing the Replication Page in Cloud Control

• DBMS_RA Procedures Relating to Replication

• Recovery Catalog Views for Replication

Figure 9-7 shows the basic workflow for configuring replication. "Planning for Recovery Appliance" describes the stage in the workflow in which you decide the recovery requirements for each service tier of databases.

You can perform the configuration using either Cloud Control or the command-line interface. Oracle recommends that you use Cloud Control because the steps are considerably less complicated.

This section explains how to configure a downstream Recovery Appliance.

When backing up or restoring protected databases, RMAN uses this account to connect to the recovery catalog on the downstream Recovery Appliance.

This task assumes that you want to create a virtual private catalog account named vpc_des_moines1 on the downstream Recovery Appliance.

To create virtual private catalog account:

• Follow the instructions in "Creating Virtual Private Catalog Accounts".

  For example, execute the following statement to create user account vpc_des_moines1:

  # ./racli add vpc_user --user_name=vpc_des_moines1

  Enter the password for vpc_des_moines1 user when prompted.

To create a protection policy specifying recovery windows and other properties of backups replicated to this downstream Recovery Appliance, execute DBMS_RA.CREATE_PROTECTION_POLICY.

This task assumes that you create a reppolicy_ds_gold policy to protect the orcl11 and orcl12 databases. You will later associate this policy with a Recovery Appliance.

To create a replication protection policy:

1. With SQL*Plus or SQL Developer, connect to the downstream Recovery Appliance database as RASYS.

2. Create a protection policy with the DBMS_RA.CREATE_PROTECTION_POLICY procedure.

   For example, execute the following PL/SQL program:

   BEGIN
     DBMS_RA.CREATE_PROTECTION_POLICY (
       protection_policy_name => 'reppolicy_ds_gold',
       description            => 'For protected dbs in gold tier',
       storage_location_name  => 'delta',
       recovery_window_goal   => INTERVAL '28' DAY,
       guaranteed_copy        => 'NO');
   END;

When you configure a downstream Recovery Appliance to replicate backups for a protected database, you must create a replication user account that the upstream Recovery Appliance uses to log in to this downstream Recovery Appliance. The credentials for the user on the downstream Recovery Appliance are stored in the Oracle wallet of the upstream Recovery Appliance (see "Task 5: Create an Oracle wallet on the upstream Recovery Appliance").

This task assumes that you want to create an account named repuser_from_boston that the upstream Recovery Appliance uses to authenticate on this Recovery Appliance.

To create a replication user account:

1. With SQL*Plus or SQL Developer, connect to the downstream Recovery Appliance database as SYSTEM or any user with the DBA role.

2. Create the replication user account.

   For example, execute the following SQL statements to create the repuser_from_boston database user account and grant it CREATE SESSION privileges:

   # ./racli add vpc_user --user_name=repuser_from_boston

   Note:

   Oracle recommends that you use a highly complex password to enhance security. You add this password and user name to the Oracle wallet in a subsequent step. After you save these credentials in the wallet, you will not need to enter the password manually again.

To add the protected databases to the replication protection policy, execute DBMS_RA.ADD_DB. You must also specify the amount of disk space reserved for each protected database.

This task assumes that you want to add databases orcl11 and orcl12 to the reppolicy_ds_gold protection policy that you created in Task 2: Create a replication protection policy on the downstream Recovery Appliance and allocate 128 GB of reserved space for each protected database.

To add databases to a protection policy:

1. With SQL*Plus or SQL Developer, connect to the downstream Recovery Appliance database as RASYS.

2. Add metadata for each protected database using the DBMS_RA.ADD_DB procedure.

   For example, execute the following PL/SQL programs:

   BEGIN
     DBMS_RA.ADD_DB (
       db_unique_name         => 'orcl11',
       protection_policy_name => 'reppolicy_ds_gold',
       reserved_space         => '128G');
   END;
   BEGIN
     DBMS_RA.ADD_DB (
       db_unique_name         => 'orcl12',
       protection_policy_name => 'reppolicy_ds_gold',
       reserved_space         => '128G');
   END;

Execute DBMS_RA.GRANT_DB_ACCESS to grant protected database access to the following database accounts:

• The virtual private catalog account created in "Task 1: Create a virtual private catalog account on the downstream Recovery Appliance"

• The replication user account created in "Task 3: Create a replication user account on the downstream Recovery Appliance"

To grant protected database access to the replication and catalog accounts:

1. With SQL*Plus or SQL Developer, connect to the downstream Recovery Appliance database as RASYS.

2. For each protected database that will send backups to the upstream Recovery Appliance that must authenticate with this account, grant privileges to the replication user.

   The following example grants the replication user repuser_from_boston the required privileges on protected databases orcl11 and orcl12:

   BEGIN
     DBMS_RA.GRANT_DB_ACCESS (
       username       => 'repuser_from_boston',
       db_unique_name => 'orcl11');
   END;
   BEGIN
     DBMS_RA.GRANT_DB_ACCESS (
       username       => 'repuser_from_boston',
       db_unique_name => 'orcl12');
   END;
   

3. For each protected database on each upstream Recovery Appliance that will authenticate with this account, grant privileges to the virtual private catalog account.

   The following example grants the recovery catalog account vpc_des_moines1 the required privileges on protected databases orcl11 and orcl12:

   BEGIN
     DBMS_RA.GRANT_DB_ACCESS (
       username       => 'vpc_des_moines1',
       db_unique_name => 'orcl11');
   END;
   BEGIN
     DBMS_RA.GRANT_DB_ACCESS (
       username       => 'vpc_des_moines1',
       db_unique_name => 'orcl12');
   END;

This section explains how to configure an upstream Recovery Appliance. This section assumes that you have completed the steps in "Configuring a Downstream Recovery Appliance for Replication Using DBMS_RA".

When backing up protected databases, RMAN uses this account to connect to the recovery catalog on the upstream Recovery Appliance.

This section assumes that you want to create a virtual private catalog account named vpc_boston1 on the upstream Recovery Appliance.

To create virtual private catalog account:

• Follow the instructions in "Creating Virtual Private Catalog Accounts".

  For example, execute the following statement to create user account vpc_boston1:

  # ./racli add vpc_user --username=vpc_boston1

  Enter the password for vpc_boston1 user when prompted.

Execute DBMS_RA.CREATE_PROTECTION_POLICY to create a protection policy to specify the disk recovery windows and other properties of backups to this upstream Recovery Appliance. The upstream Recovery Appliance replicates these backups to its downstream Recovery Appliance.

This task assumes that you create a reppolicy_us_gold policy to protect the orcl11 and orcl12 databases. In the next task, you associate this protection policy with the protected databases.

To create a protection policy for Recovery Appliance replication:

1. With SQL*Plus or SQL Developer, connect to the upstream Recovery Appliance metadata database as RASYS.

2. Create each protection policy with the DBMS_RA.CREATE_PROTECTION_POLICY procedure.

   For example, execute the following PL/SQL program:

   BEGIN
     DBMS_RA.CREATE_PROTECTION_POLICY (
       protection_policy_name => 'reppolicy_us_gold',
       description            => 'For protected dbs in gold tier',
       storage_location_name  => 'delta',
       recovery_window_goal   => INTERVAL '28' DAY,
       guaranteed_copy        => 'NO');
   END;

To add the protected databases to the replication protection policy, execute the DBMS_RA.ADD_DB procedure. You must also specify the amount of disk space reserved for each protected database.

This task assumes that you want to add databases orcl11 and orcl12 to the reppolicy_us_gold protection policy that you created in "Task 2: Create a protection policy on the upstream Recovery Appliance", and allocate 128 GB of reserved space for each protected database.

To add databases to a protection policy:

1. With SQL*Plus or SQL Developer, connect to the upstream Recovery Appliance metadata database as RASYS.

2. Add metadata for each protected database using the DBMS_RA.ADD_DB procedure.

   For example, execute the following PL/SQL programs:

   BEGIN
     DBMS_RA.ADD_DB (
       db_unique_name         => 'orcl11',
       protection_policy_name => 'reppolicy_us_gold',
       reserved_space         => '128G');
   END;
   BEGIN
     DBMS_RA.ADD_DB (
       db_unique_name         => 'orcl12',
       protection_policy_name => 'reppolicy_us_gold',
       reserved_space         => '128G');
   END;

To grant protected database access to the upstream catalog account created in "Task 1: Create a virtual private catalog account on the upstream Recovery Appliance", execute DBMS_RA.GRANT_DB_ACCESS. This step makes it possible for RMAN to connect to the recovery catalog when it backs up or restores the protected databases.

To grant protected database access to the virtual private catalog:

1. With SQL*Plus or SQL Developer, connect to the upstream Recovery Appliance metadata database as RASYS.

2. For each protected database whose backups will be replicated, grant privileges to the virtual private catalog account.

   The following example grants the catalog account vpc_boston1 the required privileges on protected databases orcl11 and orcl12:

   BEGIN
     DBMS_RA.GRANT_DB_ACCESS (
       username       => 'vpc_boston1',
       db_unique_name => 'orcl11');
   END;
   BEGIN
     DBMS_RA.GRANT_DB_ACCESS (
       username       => 'vpc_boston1',
       db_unique_name => 'orcl12');
   END;

On the upstream Recovery Appliance, use the mkstore utility to create an Oracle auto-login wallet and add the replication user credentials created in "Task 3: Create a replication user account on the downstream Recovery Appliance". The upstream Recovery Appliance requires these credentials when it logs in to a downstream appliance. Each stored credential contains the name and verifier of a Recovery Appliance user account.

This task assumes the following:

• You want to create the Oracle wallet used for replication in the /dbfs_repdbfs/REPLICATION directory on the upstream Recovery Appliance host.

• You want to add credentials for replication user repuser_from_boston.

To create an Oracle Wallet on the upstream Recovery Appliance:

1. Log in to the upstream Recovery Appliance host as the operating system user who installed Recovery Appliance or as a member of that user's operating system group.

2. To create the Oracle wallet, run the following command, where wallet_location is an existing directory on the upstream Recovery Appliance in which to store the wallet:

   mkstore -wrl wallet_location -createALO
   

   For example, the following command creates an auto-login wallet in the /dbfs_repdbfs/REPLICATION directory:

   mkstore -wrl file:/dbfs_repdbfs/REPLICATION -createALO
   

   The mkstore utility creates a file named cwallet.sso in the designated location.

3. To add the credentials, run the following command:

   mkstore -wrl wallet_location -createCredential serv_name ds_rep_user pwd
   

   The placeholders are defined as follows:

   • wallet_location is the directory in which to create the wallet. The directory must exist.

   • serv_name is an Oracle network service name that you use in an EZ Connect descriptor to identify the downstream Recovery Appliance on an Oracle network.

   • ds_rep_user is the user name of the replication user account on the downstream Recovery Appliance.

   • pwd is the secure password of the replication user on the downstream Recovery Appliance.

   For example, the following command adds credentials for the net service name radsm01repl-scan.acme.com using port 1522 and a database name of zdlradsm, and the replication user name repuser_from_boston:

   mkstore -wrl file:/dbfs_repdbfs/REPLICATION -createCredential \
   "radsm01repl-scan.acme.com:1522/zdlradsm" "repuser_from_boston" "pwd"
   

4. Verify that credentials were properly added for all users by running the following command, which lists the credentials in the Oracle wallet (no passwords or verifiers are displayed):

   mkstore -wrl wallet_location -listCredential
   

   For example, the following command lists the credentials in the Oracle wallet stored in /dbfs_repdbfs/REPLICATION:

   mkstore -wrl file:/dbfs_repdbfs/REPLICATION -listCredential
   
   Oracle Secret Store Tool : Version 12.1.0.1 Copyright (c) 2004, 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
   List credential (index: connect_string username)
   1: radsm01repl-scan1.acme.com:1522/zdlradsm repuser_from_boston

For each downstream Recovery Appliance to which this upstream Recovery Appliance will replicate, create a replication server configuration by executing DBMS_RA.CREATE_REPLICATION_SERVER.

This task assumes the following:

• You want to create a replication server configuration named zdlradsm_rep.

  Note:

  The replication server configuration name is arbitrary. However, Oracle recommends that you use the service name of the downstream Recovery Appliance, which is also the database name (zdlradsm in this example) followed by _rep.

• You want the upstream Recovery Appliance to log in to its downstream Recovery Appliance using the replication account repuser_from_boston. You created this account in "Task 3: Create a replication user account on the downstream Recovery Appliance".

• The configuration uses the net service name radsm01repl-scan.acme.com:1522/zdlradsm that you stored in the Oracle wallet created in "Task 5: Create an Oracle wallet on the upstream Recovery Appliance".

• The Oracle wallet is stored in /dbfs_repdbfs/REPLICATION.

• The file name of the Recovery Appliance Backup Module, which is preinstalled on every Recovery Appliance, is libra.so. The module functions as an SBT media management library. RMAN references this module when allocating or configuring a channel for backup to the Recovery Appliance (see "Configuring a Protected Database for Recovery Appliance Replication").

To create a replication server configuration:

1. With SQL*Plus or SQL Developer, connect to the upstream Recovery Appliance metadata database as RASYS.

2. Run the DBMS_RA.CREATE_REPLICATION_SERVER procedure for each downstream Recovery Appliance.

   The following example creates the replication server configuration named zdlradsm_rep for the downstream Recovery Appliance named ZDLRA Des Moines:

   BEGIN
     DBMS_RA.CREATE_REPLICATION_SERVER (
       replication_server_name => 'zdlradsm_rep',
       sbt_so_name      => 'libra.so',
       catalog_user_name       => 'RASYS',
       wallet_alias            => 'radsm01repl-scan.acme.com:1522/zdlradsm',
       wallet_path             => 'file:/dbfs_repdbfs/REPLICATION');
   END;
   

3. Confirm the creation of the replication server configuration.

   For example, run the following query:

   SELECT COUNT(*) should_be_one 
   FROM   RA_REPLICATION_SERVER
   WHERE  REPLICATION_SERVER_NAME = 'ZDLRADSM_REP';
   
   SHOULD_BE_ONE
   -------------
   1
   

   If the configuration was created correctly, then the return value is 1.

Specify the downstream Recovery Appliances to which each protected database replicates by assigning the replication server configuration to a protection policy. When this task is completed, Recovery Appliance replication is enabled.

This task assumes the following:

• You want to use the replication server configuration named zdlradsm_rep, which you created in "Task 6: Create the replication server configuration on the upstream Recovery Appliance".

• You want to add the replication server configuration to protection policy reppolicy_us_gold, which you created in "Task 2: Create a protection policy on the upstream Recovery Appliance".

To associate a replication server configuration with a protection policy:

1. Ensure you are connected to the Recovery Appliance metadata database as the Recovery Appliance administrator.

2. Run the DBMS_RA.ADD_REPLICATION_SERVER procedure for each combination of protection policy and replication server configuration.

   For example, execute the following PL/SQL program:

   BEGIN
     DBMS_RA.ADD_REPLICATION_SERVER (
      replication_server_name => 'zdlradsm_rep',
      protection_policy_name  => 'reppolicy_us_gold');
   END;

Each protected database that participates in a Recovery Appliance replication environment must be correctly configured. For example, for each protected database, you must:

• Add the Oracle wallet credentials for the virtual private catalog owner on the upstream and downstream Recovery Appliances to the Oracle wallet.

  Note:

  The replication configuration does not require you to add the downstream credentials. However, if the upstream Recovery Appliance were inaccessible, and if RMAN tried to restore backups from the downstream Recovery Appliance, then RMAN would need to connect directly to the virtual private catalog in the downstream Recovery Appliance. In this case, the Oracle wallet would require the downstream credentials.

• Verify the content of the Oracle wallet.

• Register the database in the virtual private catalog of the upstream Recovery Appliance.

• Back up the protected database, making sure to specify the correct Oracle wallet location when allocating the RMAN channel.

To learn how to configure protected databases, see Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance Protected Database Configuration Guide.

1. Start RMAN, and connect to a protected database as TARGET, and the virtual private catalog on the upstream Recovery Appliance as CATALOG.

   For example, enter the following command at the system prompt to connect to orcl11 as TARGET and zdlra_boston as CATALOG:

   rman TARGET ra_admin@orcl11 CATALOG /@zdlra01bosingest-scan1.acme.com:1521/zdlrabos:dedicated
   

2. List the backup sets, and confirm that the backups exist on the upstream and downstream Recovery Appliances.

   For example, run the following command (sample output included):

   RMAN> LIST BACKUPSET; 
   .
   .
   .
    
   BS Key  Size 
   ------- ----------
   54746   224.25M  
   
     List of Archived Logs in backup set 54746
     Thrd Seq     Low SCN    Low Time            Next SCN   Next Time
     ---- ------- ---------- ------------------- ---------- ---------
     1    17854   153525644  2014/07/01 12:59:40 153545145  2014/07/01 13:00:34
     1    17855   153545145  2014/07/01 13:00:34 153564529  2014/07/01 13:01:36 
     1    17856   153564529  2014/07/01 13:01:36 153585644  2014/07/01 13:02:26
     1    17857   153585644  2014/07/01 13:02:26 153606722  2014/07/01 13:03:18 
     1    17858   153606722  2014/07/01 13:03:18 153629480  2014/07/01 13:04:11
     1    17859   153629480  2014/07/01 13:04:11 153651278  2014/07/01 13:05:05 
     1    17860   153651278  2014/07/01 13:05:05 153672263  2014/07/01 13:05:59
     
     Backup Set Copy #1 of backup set 54746
     Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time     Compressed Tag
     ----------- ------------ ------------------- ---------- --- 
     SBT_TAPE    02:52:20     2014/07/01 13:14:46 NO         TAG20140701T131434
     
       List of Backup Pieces for backup set 54746 Copy #1
       BP Key  Pc# Status      Media                   Piece Name 
       ------- --- ----------- ----------------------- ----------
       54747   1   AVAILABLE   Oracle Recovery Appliance (ZDLRA Boston) 4qpca79s_1_1_DB1211LG 
    
     Backup Set Copy #2 of backup set 54746 
     Device Type Elapsed Time Completion Time     Compressed Tag 
     ----------- ------------ ------------------- ---------- ---
     SBT_TAPE    02:52:20     2014/07/01 16:06:56 NO         TAG20140701T131434
    
       List of Backup Pieces for backup set 54746 Copy #2 
       BP Key  Pc# Status      Media                   Piece Name
       ------- --- ----------- ----------------------- ---------- 
       55019   1   AVAILABLE   Oracle Recovery Appliance (ZDLRA Des Moines) RA_SBT_54971_4qpca79s_1_2_54746_1
   . 
   .
   .
   

   In the preceding output, backup set 54746 has two copies. Copy #1 resides on ZDLRA Boston, which is the upstream Recovery Appliance, and copy #2 resides on ZDLRA Des Moines, which is the downstream Recovery Appliance.

3. With SQL*Plus or SQL Developer, connect to the upstream Recovery Appliance as RASYS.
4. Confirm that the upstream Recovery Appliance has the correct replication status.

   For example, query RA_REPLICATION_SERVER, which should show a state of RUNNING for the replication server configuration that you created in "Task 6: Create the replication server configuration on the upstream Recovery Appliance":

   SELECT REPLICATION_SERVER_NAME AS "RS_NAME", 
          REPLICATION_SERVER_STATE AS "RS_STATE",
   FROM   RA_REPLICATION_SERVER;
   
   RS_NAME         RS_STATE
   --------------- --------
   ZDLRADSM_REP RUNNING
   

   If all preceding tests reveal the expected results, then the upstream Recovery Appliance is replicating backups of this protected database successfully.