Oracle Secure Backup

Oracle Secure Backup is the tape management component of Recovery Appliance. The Recovery Appliance offloads tape backup operations from protected databases to the Recovery Appliance. Thus, protected database hosts do not need the RMAN-integrated media management software module. Instead, a single copy of the Oracle Secure Backup module is installed on Recovery Appliance. The Recovery Appliance automatically manages the copy of backups to tape for all protected databases.

Note: Oracle Secure Backup (OSB) 19.1 desupport was announced on May 1, 2026 with premier support end date on September 30, 2027. See My Oracle Support note PNEWS3035 for more information. Please refer to Lifetime Support Policy: Oracle Technology Products for updated support timeframes.

Oracle recommends that database backups to cloud take advantage of Oracle Database Zero Data Loss Cloud Protect, which uses Oracle Zero Data Loss Autonomous Recovery Service in OCI. Cloud Protect offers an efficient incremental forever backup strategy, real-time transaction protection, logically air-gapped immutable backups, and fast, point-in-time recovery.

For customers who require database backups to Amazon S3, Oracle Database Cloud Backup for Amazon S3 may be used. This offering is similar to Oracle Secure Backup Cloud Module in that it is fully integrated with Recovery Manager (RMAN) and enables you to back up your Oracle database to Amazon S3. You can exchange your Oracle Secure Backup license for an Oracle Database Cloud Backup for Amazon S3 license on a 1:1 basis. See Oracle Database Cloud Backup for Amazon S3 for more information.

As with Oracle Secure Backup Cloud Module, Oracle Database Cloud Backup for Amazon S3 can be used free of charge on Oracle Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance (ZDLRA) for the sole purpose of backing up data to and restoring data from S3-compatible storage devices that are in the same campus as ZDLRA.

Tape Archival

Protected databases send backups to the Recovery Appliance, which stores them on disk in the specified storage locations. To reclaim disk space and to create transportable tape backups, business requirements may necessitate archival to tape.

Tape backups are a repetitive task that the Recovery Appliance automates and performs as a background task. The Recovery Appliance administrator configures rules that specify the frequency with which the Recovery Appliance creates tape backups. Because the protection policy is a natural grouping of databases, databases sharing the same protection policy can share the same tape archival requirements.

Recovery Appliance creates tape backups in the compatibility version that matches the greatest compatibility version of any full or incremental backup that contributes blocks to the backup. The database identity information that the Recovery Appliance sends to the media management layer is identical to the information that would be sent if the database were sending the backup. This consistency guarantees that the database for which the backups were created can use them.

Tape Retrieval

Backups are stored on tape as complete backup sets, not virtual backups, so tape backups are usable by RMAN without mediation by the Recovery Appliance. You can restore backups from tape in the following ways:

Retrieval by Recovery Appliance

This is the simplest way to restore an SBT backup created by Recovery Appliance. RMAN requests the restore from Recovery Appliance, without needing to be aware that this particular backup has been moved to tape. Recovery Appliance recognizes that the requested backup set is located on tape, open an SBT session to restore the backup from the media manager, and transfer the data over the network to the protected database host.
Retrieval by protected database

Because the SBT backups exist in a client-compatible format, RMAN can restore the backups from tape directly to any host, without involving Recovery Appliance. In this case, RMAN must first catalog the backup pieces before it can restore them from tape, and the Oracle Secure Backup library must be installed on the protected database host.

See Also: Oracle Database Backup and Recovery User’s Guide to learn how to restore backups from tape