Prepare an External Backup Server

Oracle recommends backing up the database to an external backup server to protect against data loss.

The required space on the backup server is a multiple of the size used for the STA database local backup, depending on the number of copies to be retained. Backup server storage should be mirrored or striped.

Obtain the names and credentials of the Oracle user and group used on the STA server.

Because the Backup Service is run as the Oracle user, and this user owns all STA backups, you must create this same user and group on the external backup server. See the STA Installation and Configuration Guide for details about the Oracle user and group.
On the external server, open a terminal session. Log in as the system root user.
Create the Oracle group. For example:
```
# groupadd oinstall
```
Create the Oracle user and assign the same password as on the STA server. For example:
```
# useradd -g oinstall -d /home/oracle oracle
# passwd oracle
```
where:
- -g oinstall assigns the user to the Oracle group.
- -d /home/oracle creates the user's home directory.
Create the directory where the STA backups will be written. For example:
```
# mkdir -p /remote_backups/STAbackups
```
where:
- -p creates the parent directory if it does not exist already.
- /remote_backups/STAbackups is the absolute path to the new directory.
Assign ownership of the backup directory to the Oracle user and group. For example:
```
# chown -R oracle:oinstall /remote_backups/STAbackups
```
where:
- -R indicates to recursively assign the specified attributes to the directory and its files.

List the directory to confirm that all information has been entered correctly. For example:

# ls -l /remote_backups
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 256000 Jan  2 13:20 STAbackups