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PROVEN SOLUTION GUIDE

EMC APPSYNC FOR ORACLE LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT Enabled by EMC VMAX, VNX, and XtremIO storage systems

Agility–Clone, protect, and recover critical databases in minutes Availability–Enable SLAs in the entire Oracle landscape from

production to patch Simplicity–One-click Oracle database cloning, protection, and

recovery

EMC Solutions

April 2015

Abstract

This solution illustrates how EMC® AppSync® simplifies Oracle Lifecycle Management by enabling self-service Oracle database copy management and point-and-click cloning, protection, and recovery models for DBAs and storage teams in an Oracle data center.

2 EMC AppSync for Oracle Lifecycle Management Enabled by EMC VMAX, VNX, and XtremIO storage systems Proven Solution Guide

Copyright © 2015 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice.

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Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license.

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All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

Part Number H13678.1

Contents


Contents

Chapter 1 Executive Summary 8

Business case ............................................................................................................ 9

Solution overview ....................................................................................................... 9

Centralized control of all snapshots and clones ..................................................... 9

Simplified operations for Oracle database administrators ..................................... 9

Oracle test, development, patch, recovery, cloning, and protection ..................... 10

Chapter 2 Introduction 11

Document overview .................................................................................................. 12

Purpose ............................................................................................................... 12

Scope .................................................................................................................. 12

Audience ............................................................................................................. 12

Terminology ......................................................................................................... 12

Chapter 3 Technology Overview 13

Solution architecture ................................................................................................ 14

Key components ....................................................................................................... 14

Hardware resources .................................................................................................. 15

Software resources ................................................................................................... 16

AppSync installation and configuration .................................................................... 16

Chapter 4 Service Plans 17

Service plans overview ............................................................................................. 18

Service plan phases and customization options ....................................................... 18

Creating service plans .............................................................................................. 20

Chapter 5 Use Cases 21

Duration times .......................................................................................................... 22

Use case 1: Recreating failed patch maintenance environments ............................... 22

Test scenario ....................................................................................................... 22

Test execution ..................................................................................................... 23

Test validation ..................................................................................................... 35

Use case 2: Creating multiple persistent snapshots .................................................. 36

Test scenario ....................................................................................................... 36

Test execution ..................................................................................................... 37

Test validation ..................................................................................................... 49

Contents


Use case 3: Restoring a database with AppSync and Oracle12c Storage Snapshot Optimization ...................................................................................................... 50

Test scenario ....................................................................................................... 50

Test execution ..................................................................................................... 51

Impact on database server CPU ........................................................................... 60

Test Validation ..................................................................................................... 61

Chapter 6 Conclusion 63

Summary .................................................................................................................. 64

Findings ................................................................................................................... 64

Chapter 7 References 65

EMC documentation ................................................................................................. 66

Other documentation ............................................................................................... 66

Oracle documentation ......................................................................................... 66

Appendix A Installing and Configuring AppSync 67

Installing AppSync Server ......................................................................................... 68

Configuring the environment .................................................................................... 68

VNX registration ................................................................................................... 68

vCenter registration ............................................................................................. 70

VNX configuration ................................................................................................ 71

Oracle configuration ............................................................................................ 71

Oracle database server registration ..................................................................... 72

Appendix B Creating Service Plans 75

Creating service plans .............................................................................................. 76

Example 1: Protection/Low priority ...................................................................... 76

Example 2: Protection/high priority ..................................................................... 78

Example 3: daily repurpose ................................................................................. 80

Figures

Figure 1. Solution architecture ........................................................................... 14

Figure 2. Use case 1 scenario steps ................................................................... 22

Figure 3. Use case 1: Create a repurpose copy ................................................... 23

Figure 4. Use case 1: Intention page .................................................................. 24

Figure 5. Use case 1: Create 1st gen copy ........................................................... 24

Figure 6. Use case 1: Create 2nd gen copy ........................................................... 25

Figure 7. Use case 1: Mount copy ....................................................................... 25

Figure 8. Use case 1: Schedule page .................................................................. 26

Figure 9. Use case 1: Summary page .................................................................. 26

Contents


Figure 10. Use case 1: Repurpose steps and progress messages ......................... 27

Figure 11. Use case 1: VMware vCenter Recent Tasks ........................................... 27

Figure 12. Use case 1: Unmount the copy ............................................................ 29

Figure 13. Use case 1: Unmount a copy from the host .......................................... 29

Figure 14. Use case 1: Unmount process status messages .................................. 30

Figure 15. Use case 1: VMware vCenter Recent Tasks ........................................... 30

Figure 16. Use case 1: Unmount status messages ................................................ 31

Figure 17. Use case 1: Expire the copy ................................................................. 31

Figure 18. Use case 1: Confirm an expired copy ................................................... 32

Figure 19. Use case 1: Repurpose a copy ............................................................. 32

Figure 20. Use case 1: Intention page .................................................................. 33

Figure 21. Use case 1: Settings page.................................................................... 33

Figure 22. Use case 1: Mount copy phase ............................................................ 34

Figure 23. Use case 1: Mount copy progress messages ........................................ 34

Figure 24. Use case 2 scenario steps ................................................................... 36

Figure 25. Use case 2: Create 1st gen copy ........................................................... 37

Figure 26. Use case 2: Create 2nd gen copy ......................................................... 38

Figure 27. Use case 2: Schedule page .................................................................. 38


Figure 29. Use case 2: Repurpose steps and progress messages ......................... 39

Figure 30. Use case 2: View the new copies ......................................................... 40

Figure 31. Use case 2: Repurpose a copy for development ................................... 40

Figure 32. Use case 2: Development copy progress status and messages ............ 41

Figure 33. Use case 2: View the development copy .............................................. 41

Figure 34. Use case 2: Refresh the copy ............................................................... 43

Figure 35. Use case 2: Refresh status messages .................................................. 44

Figure 36. Use case 2: Refresh confirmation ........................................................ 44

Figure 37. Use case 2: Mount and recover the development copy ........................ 45

Figure 38. Use case 2: Select a copy .................................................................... 45

Figure 39. Use case 2: Mount options page .......................................................... 46

Figure 40. Use case 2: Confirm the mount settings ............................................... 46

Figure 41. Use case 2: Results page ..................................................................... 47

Figure 42. Use case 2: VMware vCenter Server page ............................................. 47

Figure 43. Use case 2: Mount and recovery status of the development copy ........ 48

Figure 44. Use case 3: Bronze service plans description and schedule ................ 50

Figure 45. Use case 3 steps for the scenario with and without hot backup mode . 51

Figure 46. Use case 3: Subscribe the database to the plan .................................. 52

Figure 47. Use case 3: Subscribe to Plan and Run page ....................................... 52

Figure 48. Use case 3: Select the last copy made with this plan ........................... 54

Contents


Figure 49. Use case 3: Restore Options page ....................................................... 54


Figure 51. Use case 3: Results page ..................................................................... 55

Figure 52. Use case 3: Database host usage without hot backup mode ............... 60

Figure 53. Use case 3: Database host usage with hot backup mode .................... 61

Figure 54. VNX storage system setup information ................................................ 69

Figure 55. A completed VNX storage system registration ...................................... 69

Figure 56. EMC AppSync settings ......................................................................... 70

Figure 57. VCenter server credentials ................................................................... 70

Figure 58. A vCenter Server registered in AppSync ............................................... 71

Figure 59. VNX consistency groups ...................................................................... 71

Figure 60. Swingbench Order-Entry data model .................................................... 72

Figure 61. Unix server credentials ........................................................................ 73

Figure 62. Completed deployment ....................................................................... 73

Figure 63. Server overview displaying the new server ........................................... 73

Figure 64. AppSync test environment servers ....................................................... 74

Figure 65. Service plans ....................................................................................... 76

Figure 66. Example 1: Create a new plan .............................................................. 76

Figure 67. Example 1: Select the new plan ........................................................... 77

Figure 68. Example 1: Plan Startup phase ............................................................ 77

Figure 69. Example 1: Create local copy phase ..................................................... 78

Figure 70. Example 1: Overview page with the new plan ...................................... 78








Figure 78. Example 3: Unmount previous copy ..................................................... 82

Figure 79. Example 3: Mount copy phase ............................................................. 83

Figure 80. Example 3: Post-mount script phase .................................................... 83


Tables

Table 1. Terminology ......................................................................................... 12

Table 2. Use case 1 summary ............................................................................ 35


Contents


Table 4. Without hot backup data restore timeline ............................................ 56

Table 5. With hot backup data restore timeline ................................................. 58


Table 7. Disk groups for an Oracle ASM configuration ....................................... 71

Chapter 1: Executive Summary


Chapter 1 Executive Summary

This chapter presents the following topics:

Business case .......................................................................................................... 9

Solution overview .................................................................................................... 9



Business case

According to a 2014 Enterprise Platform Decisions Survey by the Independent Oracle Users Group, Oracle customers spend too much time and money maintaining their Oracle systems. 64 percent of customers reported seeing increased database growth and 73 percent said they used custom scripts and open source tools. Databases are increasing in size, and tasks such as backup cloning, recovery, replication, and failover are becoming more complex and time-consuming.

EMC® AppSync® simplifies Oracle database copy management automation by enabling administrators to create, protect, and recover databases in minutes instead of hours or days.

AppSync service plans have tiered recovery point objectives (RPOs) and use multiple EMC replication technologies from EMC VMAX®, VNX®, or XtremIO® to complete such tasks as synchronous replication, asynchronous replication, snapshots, and clones. This makes it simple for the database, storage, and business teams to agree on a Data Recovery (DR) strategy for the entire Oracle landscape, from production to repair (patch).

Solution overview

AppSync copy management uses the advanced technologies of storage systems to create and restore copies of Oracle databases. AppSync software enables you to focus on the copy and protection requirements of your business rather than the technical details of the underlying platforms.

This solution provides a simplified approach to Oracle Lifecycle Management (LCM) and recovery using AppSync copy management. Although the solution was proven on EMC VNX storage, it is also supported using EMC VMAX and XtremIO storage systems.

AppSync centralizes control of snapshots and clones, providing the following benefits:

Simplifies creation and management of clones and snapshots for all databases

Uses service level agreement (SLA) templates to optimize RPOs across databases with Bronze (local), Silver (remote), and Gold (both local and remote) service plans

Automates snapshots and clones for Oracle, Microsoft, and VMware environments

The simplified features of AppSync enable you to:

Control snapshots and clones without intervention by storage administrators

Use cloning without the need to manage scripts

Deploy service plans to multiple databases with a single click

Centralized control of all snapshots and clones

Simplified operations for Oracle database administrators

https://community.emc.com/docs/DOC-39207



You can use the AppSync solution to improve Oracle cloning and protection in the following ways:

Accelerate new database tests and development cycles

Test and apply Oracle patches in less time with greater reliability

Avoid impacting performance to production databases when using snapshots and clones

Oracle test, development, patch, recovery, cloning, and protection

Chapter 2: Introduction


Chapter 2 Introduction

This chapter presents the following topic:

Document overview ................................................................................................ 12

Chapter 2: Introduction


Document overview

This document shows the benefits of using AppSync in a selection of LCM scenarios.

This guide describes the AppSync solution for Oracle LCM use cases. AppSync can be deployed for local sites with XtremIO storage systems, and for both local and remote sites with VMAX and VNX storage systems. In this solution, we1 use a VNX storage system at a local site only.

The guide includes the following use cases:

1. Recreating failed patch maintenance environments

2. Creating multiple persistent snapshots

3. Restoring a database with AppSync and Oracle 12c Storage Snapshot Optimization

Out of scope

While this document does report duration times, such as copy and restore times, performance is not the focus of the document. Duration times will vary based on the rated performance of your hardware, including the storage system and host you are using.

This guide is intended for executives, managers, architects, database and storage administrators, and developers who want to understand how AppSync for Oracle can simplify their LCM and reduce the use of time and resources.

Table 1 lists the terminology used in the guide.

Table 1. Terminology

Term Definition

Application- consistent snapshot

A snapshot taken after first preparing the application; this allows point-in-time recovery of the database. For Oracle databases, AppSync takes snapshots of data files, redo log files, and archive log files.

Copy A clone or snapshot. In this solution, which uses local VNX storage, AppSync creates VNX advanced snapshots.

Crash consistent snapshot

A snapshot taken without preparing the application. For Oracle databases, AppSync takes snapshots of data files and redo log files only and not of archive log files.

Hot backup An Oracle database backup that is application-consistent and includes data files, redo log files, and archive log files. A backup that is not hot (or crash-consistent) does not include archive log files.

1 In this guide, “we” refers to the EMC Solutions engineering team that validated the solution.

Purpose

Scope

Audience

Terminology

Chapter 3: Technology Overview


Chapter 3 Technology Overview


Solution architecture ............................................................................................. 14

Key components .................................................................................................... 14

Hardware resources ............................................................................................... 15

Software resources ................................................................................................ 16

AppSync installation and configuration ................................................................. 16



Solution architecture

Figure 1 shows the architecture of the solution.

Figure 1. Solution architecture

Key components

The solution architecture includes the following components:

AppSync server—The EMC AppSync server resides on a supported Windows system. It controls the service plans and stores data about each copy it creates.

The repository is stored in a PostgreSQL database on the AppSync server.

Host plug-in—AppSync installs light-weight plug-in software on the production and mount hosts. AppSync installs, or pushes, the plug-in software from the AppSync server to the host when you add the host as a resource. In an environment that prevents the AppSync server from accessing a host, you can install the plug-in manually.



AppSync user interface—The AppSync console is web-based. Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Firefox browsers are supported.

Oracle 12c database servers—These are used for the single instance databases, and for the Real Application Cluster (RAC) database configuration. Oracle 11g release 2 is also supported.

A single-instance Oracle 12c database (named ORDER) was installed on a vSphere virtual machine. The Swingbench load generator was used to populate a 600 GB Order Entry Schema.

The two-node Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) system has two physical nodes, identified as r910a and r910b. The system hosts an identical database as the single instance server (named PROD) with 600 GB of data.

A single-instance Oracle 12c server is available as Mount host for AppSync.

Oracle Linux—Our solution environment uses Oracle Linux, although it also supports other operating systems, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), Linux Community Enterprise Operating System (CentOS), and IBM Advanced Interactive eXecutive (AIX).

EMC VNX unified storage system—Our solution uses EMC VNX5400TM.

Hardware resources

We used the following physical and virtual components to test this solution:

EMC AppSync Server (one virtual machine):

4 CPU

8 GB RAM

Oracle single instance server (two virtual machines):

4 CPU

8 GB RAM

Oracle RAC nodes (two physical servers):

Dell PowerEdge R910

4x Intel Xeon CPU X7560 at 2.27 GHz

125 GB RAM

EMC VNX Unified Storage System:

EMC VNX5400

Block software version 05.33.000.5.038

1 TB NL-SAS drives, providing a storage pool using RAID6 (6+2) protection



Software resources

We used the following software components in this solution:

AppSync Server:

EMC AppSync Server 2.0.0.1 CF 26

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64)

Oracle single instance servers and RAC nodes:

Oracle Linux 6.5

Oracle Database 12c R1 Enterprise Edition

Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12c R1

Oracle ASMLib 2.0 for Oracle Linux 6

EMC PowerPath® 5.7 SP5

EMC AppSync host plug-in 2.0.0.1 CF10

AppSync UI—Google Chrome

Oracle database population—Swingbench 2.5

Note: AppSync on XtremIO requires AppSync Server and host plug-in versions 2.1 or above.

AppSync installation and configuration

Appendix A: Installing and Configuring AppSync describes in detail the installation and configuration process to enable AppSync to protect the Oracle databases.

Chapter 4: Service Plans


Chapter 4 Service Plans


Service plans overview........................................................................................... 18

Service plan phases and customization options ..................................................... 18

Creating service plans ........................................................................................... 20



Service plans overview

AppSync creates and manages copies of application data. A service plan defines the attributes of these copies. To make it fast and easy for a database administrator to protect a database, AppSync comes with a predefined set of tiered service plans to meet the most common data protection objectives. Service plans contain a range of attributes, including replica scheduling, replica frequency, mounting and unmounting policies, and expiration policy.

You can subscribe an Oracle database to a service plan. When the service plan is run, copies of the data are created from the attributes specified in the plan.

AppSync provides application-specific tiered plans. There are three types of copy selections depending on which plan you use:

Create local copy—For Bronze service plans, this creates local copies using VMAX TimeFinder/Clone, VMAX TimeFinder VP/Snap, CDP or snapshot for EMC RecoverPoint®, VNX advanced snapshot, or XtremIO snapshot.

Create remote copy—For Silver service plans, this creates remote copies on RecoverPoint CRR, VMAX Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF), and VNX file storage targets.

Create local and remote copy—For Gold service plans, this creates both local and remote copies using EMC RecoverPoint® or VNX file storage snapshots.

Bronze, Silver, and Gold service plans are provided by default; you can customize and create your own plans.

Note: In our environment, we tested a local site with local (VNX) storage. We did not configure a remote site and we used only local copies with the Bronze service plan.

Service plan phases and customization options

A service plan has a set of phases, each of which can easily be enabled and configured:

Plan Startup—Defines when and how frequently a plan runs and enables you to set an RPO. RPOs are monitored by AppSync and you are alerted if an RPO is not met.

Application discovery—A mandatory phase, with no associated settings.

Application mapping—A mandatory phase, with no associated settings.

Pre-copy script—Preparatory steps before a copy is created, performed by specifying a pre-copy script and parameters. This can be an executable file or a script, optionally passing a set of credentials.

The pre-copy script runs on the schedule set in the “Plan Startup” phase and initiates after completion of the previous phase.



Create local copy—A mandatory phase. For Bronze copies, this creates a local copy. This phase has the following Oracle options:

Place database in hot backup mode (enabled by default).

When enabled, this protection phase puts the database in a hot backup mode and creates copies of the archive logs. When disabled, the copy will be created from the live unquiesced data.

Copy the Fast Recovery Area (disabled by default).

When enabled, this field instructs AppSync to create a copy of the underlying storage used by the Oracle Fast Recovery Area (FRA), protecting the database’s archive log files.

Index and copy the block change tracking (BCT) file (disabled by default).

When enabled, AppSync creates an entry in the Oracle block change tracking file and copies over the file as part of the protection. This file can be used as part of a mount and backup use-case to provide an accelerated incremental backup. Place the database in hot backup mode when using the BCT option.

Create backup control file for Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) cataloging (disabled by default).

When enabled, this field instructs AppSync to create a binary backup control file for use with a request to catalog the database contents in a remote RMAN catalog. This option also requires the hot backup mode.

The Create local copy phase also specifies a storage order preference, listing Snapshot, Clone, and Bookmark. A local storage environment allows only Bronze type copies, and Snapshot is the only available option. On the EMC VNX storage system, this will apply VNX advanced snapshots.

This phase also specifies the copy expiration, and you can specify how many copies must be kept before they expire.

Note: RecoverPoint copies can be included in the expiration rotation policy.

Post-copy script—Specify a post-copy script and parameters to perform cleanup or other post-copy steps after creating a copy. This is similar to the pre-copy script phase.

Unmount previous copy–The service plan unmounts a previously mounted copy after creating the new copy. The exception is a copy that was mounted on-demand instead of by the service plan, where the on-demand mounted copy is not unmounted. No user settings are associated with this phase and it can be enabled or disabled.



Pre-mount script–You can enable this phase if you want to run a script before AppSync performs a mount operation.

This script will be executed once per host for each service plan run. If you enable the script phase, but the permissions to run it are not correct, or if the script does not exist in the specified path, the service plan run fails with an appropriate error.

Be cautious when you use several mount hosts in a service plan run. You must select Same as the mount host in the Run on host option so that the script runs on all mount hosts.

Note: For details, refer to “Overriding mount settings on a service plan” in the EMC AppSync 2.0.0 User and Administration Guide.

Mount copy–Either mounts the copy or mounts and recovers the copy. This phase can be enabled or disabled.

Note: AppSync can perform mounts of Oracle databases to an alternate mount host or, in certain cases, also mount to an alternate location on the production host.

In Mount Copy Defaults settings, you can set values to Mount copy or Mount and recover copy.

In Mount copy settings, you can set the mount host value and mount path and the RecoverPoint image access type.

In the Mount and recover copy settings, you specify the recovery instance, the type of recovery, and the database naming details. Other settings are similar to the Mount copy settings, such as mount path and image access type.

Post-mount script–You can enable this phase to run a script after AppSync performs a mount operation. It has the same characteristics as the Pre-mount script phase.

Unmount copy–The final phase in the service plan unmounts the copy.

This phase is disabled if the Unmount previous copy phase is enabled. There are no user settings associated with this phase.

If you mount with recovery options (standalone, RMAN, or cluster mount) in the Mount copy phase, all the mounted databases are shut down as part of this phase.

Creating service plans

Appendix B: Creating Service Plans takes three typical Oracle protection and repurpose scenarios and shows how to create a service plan for each of them.

Chapter 5: Use Cases


Chapter 5 Use Cases


Summary ............................................................................................................... 64

Findings ................................................................................................................ 64



Duration times

The duration times for steps in the use cases discussed in this section can vary based on the underlying storage system and host. For example, you can expect a decrease in the copy time for VMAX or XtremIO storage systems.

Use case 1: Recreating failed patch maintenance environments

This use case recreates a failed patch maintenance environment. It describes the centralized control of snapshots and clones, and how self-service automation results in an improved patch maintenance process.

With AppSync, database administrators do not have to wait for the storage administrator to provide the patch test environments. If a patch fails, the database administrator can quickly remove and recreate the patch testing environment.

In this use case, we ran the PROD production database on the physical RAC setup, and the patch maintenance copy was recovered to the virtualized mount host, appsync-linux2.

Figure 2 shows the steps for use case 1. The PROD database is shown on the left and each dashed line shows the action of a snapshot being taken. The numbers from 1 to 4 identify the steps. The 1st generation snapshot is labeled copy t1. The 2nd generation snapshots are of the 1st generation snapshot and are labeled copy t1.2.

Figure 2. Use case 1 scenario steps

Test scenario



To run the test for this use case: 1. Create a first generation copy t1 of the PROD database, without using the hot

backup mode. This will be the gold copy that can be used if the patch environment needs to be recreated.

2. Create a second generation copy t1.1 where the patch can be tested.

3. Fail the patch maintenance copy. We simulated this by dropping a table from the database.

4. Remove the failed copy and recreate a new copy t1.2 from the gold copy.

This section describes the steps we took to test this use case.

Use case 1 steps 1-2: Create 1st and 2nd generation copies of PROD database

Note: Steps 1 and 2 can be combined in AppSync because the wizard supports this repurposing scenario.

1. Log in to the AppSync console and select Copy Management > Oracle.

2. Select the row with the database for the test patch and select Repurpose > Create Repurpose Copy, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Use case 1: Create a repurpose copy

3. In the Intention page, select Create a 1st gen copy and a 2nd gen copy, which combines use case steps 1 and 2, and click Next, as shown in Figure 4.

Test execution



Figure 4. Use case 1: Intention page

4. In the Settings page, select Create 1st gen copy, edit the copy label if desired for ease of identification, and select Snap as the copy type, as shown in Figure 5.

Note: Do not select either of the two Oracle-Specific Copy Options.

Figure 5. Use case 1: Create 1st gen copy

5. Select 2nd Generation and then Create 2nd gen copy.

6. Edit the copy label if desired and select Snap, as shown in Figure 6.



Figure 6. Use case 1: Create 2nd gen copy

7. Select Mount copy and the Mount operation of Mount on standalone server and recover database, as shown in Figure 7.

This recovers the database on the mount host that we selected in Mount Settings.

Note: We did not change the default prefix for the recovered SID PROD database name, which was renamed by AppSync from PROD to APSPROD.

Figure 7. Use case 1: Mount copy

8. Click Next to open the Schedule page.

9. Select Run Now to create the copy now and then click Next, as shown in Figure 8.



Figure 8. Use case 1: Schedule page

10. In the Summary page, review your selections and click Finish, as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9. Use case 1: Summary page

The Repurpose page displays the process status and descriptive messages, as shown in Figure 10.



Figure 10. Use case 1: Repurpose steps and progress messages

11. Click Close when the process is complete.

When the 1st generation local copy creation is finished, a second pane is displayed, showing the creation of the 2nd generation local copy.

Note: Because database servers are virtualized, you can also open the VMware vCenter application and view the Recent Tasks. Figure 11 shows the tasks that AppSync is running in vCenter to provision the LUNs for the database copy on the mount host.

Figure 11. Use case 1: VMware vCenter Recent Tasks

Confirm database recovery on mount host

You can check the recovery of the database on the mount host, by logging in and counting the rows of a table in the PROD database:

[oracle@AppSync-Linux2 ~]$ export ORACLE_SID=APSPROD

[oracle@AppSync-Linux2 ~]$ sqlplus soe/soe



SQL*Plus: Release 12.1.0.1.0 Production on Mon Jan 5 19:38:22 2015

Copyright (c) 1982, 2013, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Last Successful login time: Mon Jan 05 2015 19:51:53 +00:00

Connected to:

Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.1.0.1.0 - 64bit

Production

With the Partitioning, Automatic Storage Management, OLAP,

Advanced Analytics

and Real Application Testing options

SQL> select count(*) from warehouses;

COUNT(*)

----------

1000

Use case 1 step 3: Fail maintenance patch copy

For testing purposes, we failed the patch maintenance copy. We simulated this by dropping a table from the database as follows:

SQL> drop table warehouses cascade constraints purge;

Table dropped.

SQL>

Use case 1 step 4: Remove and recreate the copy

To remove and recreate the copy: 1. Unmount the 2nd gen copy with the failed patch.

2. Expire the 2nd gen copy.

3. Recreate the copy.

4. Confirm database recovery on the mount host.

Unmount the copy

To unmount the copy: 1. From Copy Management, select the PROD database, select the 2nd gen copy

that was created earlier, and click Unmount, as shown in Figure 12.



Figure 12. Use case 1: Unmount the copy

2. In the Unmount Confirmation page, click OK to start the unmount process, as shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13. Use case 1: Unmount a copy from the host

3. The Unmount page displays the process status and descriptive messages. Click Close when the process is completed.

Note: As part of the process, AppSync shuts down the database, as shown in the third message in Figure 14.



Figure 14. Use case 1: Unmount process status messages

Note: You can also open VMware vCenter and view Recent Tasks, as shown in Figure 15, displaying activities that AppSync is running in vCenter to unmount the database copy.

Figure 15. Use case 1: VMware vCenter Recent Tasks

The database is now completely removed from the mount host. Figure 16 displays sample confirmation messages.



Figure 16. Use case 1: Unmount status messages

Expire the copy

You can expire the copy to delete it on the storage as well as AppSync’s database because there is no further need for it. To do this:

1. Select the 2nd gen copy and click Expire, as shown in Figure 17.

Figure 17. Use case 1: Expire the copy

2. Confirm the copy to be expired and click OK, as shown in Figure 18.



Figure 18. Use case 1: Confirm an expired copy

Recreate a 2nd generation PROD database copy

Recreate a 2nd generation copy of the production PROD database from the existing gold copy.

To create the copy: 1. Select the 1st generation copy and click Repurpose, as shown in Figure 19.

Figure 19. Use case 1: Repurpose a copy

In the Intention page, because we are repurposing a 1st generation copy, Create 2nd gen copy is the only available option.

2. Click Next, as shown in Figure 20.



Figure 20. Use case 1: Intention page

3. In the Settings page, type a new name for the 2nd gen copy, as shown in Figure 21.

Figure 21. Use case 1: Settings page

4. Select Mount copy, select your desired configuration settings, and click Next, as shown in Figure 22.



Figure 22. Use case 1: Mount copy phase

5. In the Summary page, review your selections and click Finish.

Figure 23 shows mount copy process status and descriptive messages.

Figure 23. Use case 1: Mount copy progress messages

6. Click Close.



Confirm database recovery on the mount host

You can check the recovery of the database on the mount host by logging in and counting the rows of a table in the APSORDER database:


SQL*Plus: Release 12.1.0.1.0 Production on Mon Jan 5 20:19:36 2015


Last Successful login time: Mon Jan 05 2015 19:51:53 +00:00

Connected to:


Production


Advanced Analytics


SQL> select count(*) from warehouses;

select count(*) from warehouses;

COUNT(*)

----------

1000

SQL>

Table 2 summarizes the overall steps in use case 1.

Table 2. Use case 1 summary

Start Finish Duration Step

Getting ready for patch testing

07:21 07:36 15 min Create 1st and 2nd copy, mount and recover.

Recreating the patch test environment

07:42 07:49 7 min Remove 2nd gen copy

08:03 08:14 11 min Recreate 2nd gen copy, mount and recover.

Summary

Use case 1 shows that AppSync provides increased efficiency for database administrators. The process of testing a patch is fully supported by AppSync and does not require the help of a system administrator or storage administrator.

This fast and efficient process enables a database administrator to test and apply Oracle patches in less time with greater reliability.

Test validation



Use case 2: Creating multiple persistent snapshots

This use case shows the ability of AppSync to support repurposing, including creating multiple persistent snapshots that can be used for other purposes, such as testing, development, and reporting.

These activities can be requested in an ad hoc manner, allowing a database administrator to deal with such requests swiftly.

End users might require that the requested environments be available to them until their work is done. The use case shows the persistence of the environment, even when the underlying 1st generation copy is refreshed.

In this use case, we ran the production ORDER database on the virtualized single instance server appsync-linux1 and recovered the repurpose copy to the virtualized mount host appsync-linux2.

Figure 24 shows the test steps for use case 2. The ORDER database on the left and each dashed line show the action of a snapshot being taken. The numbers from 1 to 4 identify the steps.

Figure 24. Use case 2 scenario steps

To run the scenario for this use case: 1. Create a 1st generation copy t1 of the production database without using the

hot backup mode. This will be the gold copy from which the repurpose environments will be created.

2. Create a 2nd generation copy t1.1 for testing.

3. Create another 2nd generation copy t1.2 for development.

Test scenario



4. Change the production database and refresh the 1st generation gold copy t2.

5. Show persistence of the repurposed environments, even after refreshing the underlying 1st generation copy.

Duration times are captured during these steps.

This section describes the steps we took to test this use case:

Use case 2 steps 1-2: Create 1st and 2nd generation copies of the ORDER database

Note: Use case steps 1 and 2 can be combined in AppSync, because the wizard supports this repurposing scenario.

1. Log in to the AppSync console and select Copy Management > Oracle.

2. Select the row with the database for which we need to create multiple persistent copies, and then select Repurpose > Create Repurpose Copy.

3. Select Create a 1st gen copy and a 2nd gen copy, which combines use case steps 1 and 2, and click Next.

4. In the Settings page, select Create 1st gen copy, edit the copy label if desired, and select a copy type of Snap, as shown in Figure 25.

Note: Do not select either of the two Oracle-Specific Copy Options.

Figure 25. Use case 2: Create 1st gen copy

5. Select 2nd Generation and select Create 2nd gen copy.

6. Edit the copy label if desired, select Snap and click Next, as shown in Figure 26.

Test execution



Figure 26. Use case 2: Create 2nd gen copy

7. In the Schedule page, select Run Now and click Next, as shown in Figure 27.

Figure 27. Use case 2: Schedule page

8. In the Summary page, review your selections and click Finish, as shown in Figure 28.




The Repurpose ORDER page, as shown in Figure 29, displays the process status and descriptive messages.

Figure 29. Use case 2: Repurpose steps and progress messages

9. Click Close when the process is completed.

When the 1st generation local copy creation is finished, a second window is displayed, showing the creation of the 2nd gen local copy.

10. Select Copy Management > Oracle > ORDER to view the new copies.



You can click a copy in the top Copies pane to view corresponding status messages in the lower Events pane, as shown in Figure 30.

Figure 30. Use case 2: View the new copies

Use case 2 step 3: Create another 2nd generation copy for development

A testing copy was created in use case 2. To create the copy for development, select the new 1st generation copy and perform the following steps. You can only create a 2nd generation copy:

1. Select the 1st generation copy and click Repurpose, as shown in Figure 31.

Figure 31. Use case 2: Repurpose a copy for development

2. In the Intention page, click Next.

3. In the Settings page, do the following:

Select the Create 2nd gen copy phase.

Edit the copy label if desired.

Select a copy type of Snap.

Click Next.

4. In the Summary page, review your selections and click Finish.



5. The Repurpose page shows the copy process status and descriptive messages. Click Close when the process is completed, as shown in Figure 32.

Figure 32. Use case 2: Development copy progress status and messages

6. Select Copy Management > Oracle > ORDER to view the new development copy.

You can click a copy in the top Copies pane to view corresponding status messages in the lower Events pane, as shown in Figure 33.

Figure 33. Use case 2: View the development copy



Use case 2 step 4: Change the PROD database

To show that the repurpose copies for testing and development are persistent, refresh the 1st generation copy that was taken. Before the refresh, add a table to the production database to simulate a change of data that can be used for the persistence check.

The following SQL output confirms adding a new customer table with 4 rows of data, resulting in 13 tables in the schema. Key details are highlighted in yellow.

[oracle@AppSync-Linux1 bin]$ sqlplus soe/soe

SQL*Plus: Release 12.1.0.1.0 Production on Wed Oct 29 15:17:46

2014


Last Successful login time: Wed Oct 29 2014 15:13:04 +00:00

Connected to:


Production


Advanced Analytics


SQL> @add-customer_new-table.sql

Table created.

1 row created.

1 row created.

1 row created.

1 row created.

SQL> select * from customer_new;

CUST_ID NAME ADDRESS CITY ST

ZIP

---------- --------------- -------------------- --------------- --

1 John Doe 392 Sunset Blvd. New York NT

10059

2 Mary Smith 6900 Main St. San Francisco CA

94032

3 Richard Newman 2040 Riverside Rd. San Diego CA

92010

4 Cathy Cook 4010 Speedway Tucson AZ

85719

SQL>

SQL> select table_name from user_tables;

TABLE_NAME

------------------------------------------------------------------

CUSTOMER_NEW



CUSTOMER_T

CUSTOMERS

ADDRESSES

CARD_DETAILS

WAREHOUSES

ORDER_ITEMS

ORDERS

INVENTORIES

PRODUCT_INFORMATION

LOGON

PRODUCT_DESCRIPTIONS

ORDERENTRY_METADATA

13 rows selected.

SQL>

Refresh 1st generation copy

To refresh the 1st generation copy: 1. Select Copy Management > Oracle > ORDER.

2. Select the copy and click Refresh, as shown in Figure 34.

Figure 34. Use case 2: Refresh the copy

3. Click Yes to confirm the refresh.

The Refresh 1st Gen Copy page shows the process status and descriptive messages, as shown in Figure 35.



Figure 35. Use case 2: Refresh status messages

4. Click Close.

The Oracle copy overview displays the time of the copy, as shown in Figure 36.

Figure 36. Use case 2: Refresh confirmation



Use case 2 step 5: Show persistence of 2nd Gen copies

To show persistence of the 2nd gen copies for testing and development, a 2nd gen copy is mounted and recovered with the same database content as before the change.

Mount and Recover the 2nd gen copy on another server

The development copy must be mounted and recovered on another standalone server.

To mount and recover the development copy: 1. Select the copy and click Mount, as shown in Figure 37.

Figure 37. Use case 2: Mount and recover the development copy

2. In the 1 Select a copy page, click Next to accept the selected development copy, as shown in Figure 38.

Figure 38. Use case 2: Select a copy



3. In the Mount Options page, select the desired Mount Settings and Recovery Settings and click Next, as shown in Figure 39.

The Mount on Server field displays the mount host.

Recovery Settings are customized to open the database in a read-only view, and the database name has a DEV prefix to identify it as the development copy.

Figure 39. Use case 2: Mount options page

4. In the Summary page, review the settings and click Finish, as shown in Figure 40.

Figure 40. Use case 2: Confirm the mount settings

5. In the Results page, review the progress and completion of the activities used by AppSync to provision the required LUNs and mount points to the mount host and click Close, as shown in Figure 41.



Note: The Results page shows messages confirming that the REDO and DATA ASM disk groups have been created and mounted and that the disk groups and database have been renamed.

Figure 41. Use case 2: Results page

After the copy is recovered on a virtualized mount host, you can also review process details in the Recent Tasks page of the VMware vCenter Server application, as shown in Figure 42.

Figure 42. Use case 2: VMware vCenter Server page

The Oracle copy overview for the database displays the changed mount and recovery status of the development copy, as shown in Figure 43.



Figure 43. Use case 2: Mount and recovery status of the development copy

Check content of 2nd gen db copy

To prove the persistence of the copies and of the database, connect to the recovered ORDER database and confirm that the database is in the state it was when the 2nd gen copies were taken.

To prove this persistence, confirm that the new table is not available in the 2nd generation copies, which were created before the 1st generation copy refresh. Key details are highlighted in yellow in the following SQL output:

[oracle@AppSync-Linux2 ~]$ export ORACLE_SID=DEVORDER


SQL*Plus: Release 12.1.0.1.0 Production on Wed Oct 29 15:51:01

2014


Last Successful login time: Tue Oct 28 2014 22:14:00 +00:00

Connected to:


Production


Advanced Analytics


SQL> select * from customer_new;

select * from customer_new

*

ERROR at line 1:

ORA-00942: table or view does not exist

SQL> select table_name from user_tables;



TABLE_NAME

------------------------------------------------------------------

CUSTOMER_T

CUSTOMERS

ADDRESSES

CARD_DETAILS

WAREHOUSES

ORDER_ITEMS

ORDERS

INVENTORIES

PRODUCT_INFORMATION

LOGON

PRODUCT_DESCRIPTIONS

ORDERENTRY_METADATA

12 rows selected.

SQL>

Table 3 summarizes use case 2.


Start Finish Duration Step

Create test and development environments

03:45 03:55 10 min Create the 1st generation gold copy and 2nd generation copies for testing and development

Refresh the gold copy

04:13 04:17 4 min Refresh the 1st generation copy

04:31 04:39 8 min Mount and Recover the 2nd generation development copy

Use case 2 demonstrates that using AppSync in an Oracle repurpose scenario provided the following benefits:

Time and complexity are significantly reduced.

The self service automation of AppSync accelerates database test and development cycles and enables database administrators to quickly create or refresh environments.

AppSync also reduces the continuous need for storage administrator involvement. There are no scripts to run or maintain and the AppSync console keeps the database administrator informed of the status and all the steps performed by AppSync.

The persistence of copies, even when the underlying copy is refreshed, enables database administrators to respond quickly to end user requests for copies for different purposes.

Test validation



Use case 3: Restoring a database with AppSync and Oracle12c Storage Snapshot Optimization

To maintain system availability, database administrators face the challenge of minimizing data loss and downtime. AppSync meets these challenges by protecting, restoring, and cloning critical applications in minutes with its single-click copy management functionality. The AppSync self-service capability even enables application owners to drive protection and cloning.

AppSync 2.0 also supports Oracle 12c Storage Snapshot Optimization. This allows point-in-time recovery of snapshots and clones by not placing the source database in hot backup mode while taking the snapshot or clone. If the snapshot was made with hot backup mode enabled, the database can be rolled forward using the archive log files.

In hot backup mode, the Oracle datafiles and archive log files are backed up in the snapshot. This creates an application-consistent backup. When the hot backup mode is not used, only Oracle datafiles (and the redo log) are backed up in the snapshot. This creates a crash-consistent backup.

This use case shows the impact of enabling or disabling hot backup mode on the database server.

This scenario is run twice with the ORDER production database:

Once for a copy taken with hot backup mode disabled

A second time for a copy taken with hot backup mode enabled

The two plans have a 24 hour RPO and are run every night. The only difference between the two plans is the hot backup setting, as shown in Figure 44.

Figure 44. Use case 3: Bronze service plans description and schedule

Figure 45 shows the scenario steps for use case 3, with and without hot backup mode.

Test scenario



Figure 45. Use case 3 steps for the scenario with and without hot backup mode

To run the test for this use case: 1. Create a 1st generation protection copy of the production database using the

corresponding service plan.

2. Create a database issue, causing the need to do a restore.

3. Use AppSync to restore the production database.

4. Roll forward redo logs to the point-in-time when the production copy was made.

5. Verify a successful recovery by starting the Oracle instance.

Note: The AppSync Windows 2008 Server in this solution is adjusted for daylight savings time and is one hour ahead of the time on the Oracle Linux Server.

This section describes the steps we took to test this use case.

Use case 3 step 1: Create a 1st generation protection copy of the production database

Normally, a subscription plan like this is left running, creating a new protection copy every time it is activated at the scheduled time. In this case we subscribe the database to the plan and run it immediately, as shown in Figure 46.

Note: In this solution we document the scenario without hot backup, as shown in the following screen images. The scenario with hot backup uses the same steps.

Test execution



Figure 46. Use case 3: Subscribe the database to the plan

After the plan is finished, the Subscribe to Plan and Run page displays an overview of the steps, status, and messages, as shown in Figure 47.

Figure 47. Use case 3: Subscribe to Plan and Run page



Use case 3 step 2: Create a production database error

We simulated an error by dropping an important table, which makes it necessary to restore the last database copy. Key details are highlighted in yellow in the following SQL output:

[oracle@AppSync-Linux1 ~]$ sqlplus '/ as sysdba'

SQL*Plus: Release 12.1.0.1.0 Production on Tue Nov 11 14:05:15

2014


Connected to:


Production


Advanced Analytics


SQL> !date

Tue Nov 11 14:05:25 GMT 2014

SQL> select count(*) from soe.warehouses;

COUNT(*)

----------

1000

SQL> drop table soe.warehouses cascade constraints purge;

Table dropped.


select count(*) from soe.warehouses

*

ERROR at line 1:

ORA-00942: table or view does not exist

SQL>

Use case 3 step 3: Use AppSync to restore the production database

To restore the production database: 1. In the overview of copies for the ORDER database, select the last copy made

with this plan and click Restore, as shown in Figure 48.



Figure 48. Use case 3: Select the last copy made with this plan

2. In the Select Copy page, click Next to select the highlighted copy from step 1.

3. In the Restore Options page, as shown in Figure 49, select what must be restored and click Next:

For a copy with hot backup disabled, you can only choose to restore Data.

For a copy with hot backup enabled, you can choose to restore Data, Data and archive logs, or Archive logs.

Note: We selected Data for the copy with hot backup disabled. For the scenario with hot backup enabled we selected Data and archive logs.

Figure 49. Use case 3: Restore Options page

4. In the Summary page, as shown in Figure 50, review the settings and click Next.


5. In the Results page, click Finish to start the restore.



When the restore is completed, the Results page displays messages such as those in Figure 51.

Figure 51. Use case 3: Results page

Use case 3 step 4: Roll forward redo logs

To provide the database administrator with maximum control over the startup of the database, AppSync leaves the database in a restored, shut down state. Type the following commands to recover the full database and apply the redo logs. We ran these same steps for the scenario with hot backup mode enabled. Key details are highlighted in yellow.

To roll forward redo logs:

[oracle@AppSync-Linux1 ~]$ sqlplus '/ as sysdba'

SQL*Plus: Release 12.1.0.1.0 Production on Tue Nov 11 14:12:13

2014


Connected to an idle instance.

SQL> !date

Tue Nov 11 14:12:18 GMT 2014

SQL> startup mount

ORACLE instance started.

Total System Global Area 2355015680 bytes

Fixed Size 2291040 bytes

Variable Size 637536928 bytes

Database Buffers 1694498816 bytes

Redo Buffers 20688896 bytes

Database mounted.

SQL> !date

Tue Nov 11 14:12:35 GMT 2014



SQL> recover database

Media recovery complete.

Use case 3 step 5: Verify a successful recovery by starting the Oracle instance

Type the following query for the deleted table to confirm that the database was successfully restored:

SQL> !date

Tue Nov 11 14:13:00 GMT 2014

SQL> alter database open;

Database altered.


COUNT(*)

----------

1000

SQL>

Timeline of Events: hot backup enabled/disabled

The following tables show a timeline overview of all events that were logged during the execution of the complete test scenario:

The events in Table 4 were logged during the hot backup mode disabled scenario that only restores data and redo.

Table 4. Without hot backup data restore timeline

Event Date and Time Activity Description

1.1 Tue 11/11/2014 03:00:10 PM

Application discovery

Begin application discovery phase for ORDER database

1.2 Tue 11/11/2014 03:00:26 PM


Protect the Oracle ORDER database with hot backup mode disabled

1.3 Tue 11/11/2014 03:00:26 PM


Application discovery phase for ORDER database completed successfully

2.1 Tue 11/11/2014 03:00:30 PM

Application mapping

Begin application mapping phase for ORDER database

2.2 Tue 11/11/2014 03:02:31 PM

Application mapping

Storage array APM00140631432 is not licensed for use with AppSync, but is within the 90 day trial period

2.3 Tue 11/11/2014 03:02:31 PM

Application mapping

Application mapping phase for ORDER database completed successfully

3.1 Tue 11/11/2014 03:02:35 PM

Create local copy

Begin create local copy phase for ORDER database




3.2 Tue 11/11/2014 03:03:43 PM

Create local copy

Create VNX Snapshot of VNX consistency group AppSync_CG-1 using service processor IP 10.110.80.37

3.3 Tue 11/11/2014 03:03:48 PM

Create local copy

Successfully created VNX Snapshot AppSyncSnap-20141111_150246:544-5628d872-1603-46cf-a97e-08c7555ed540-AppSync_CG-1 on VNX consistency group AppSync_CG-1 using service processor IP 10.110.80.37

3.4 Tue 11/11/2014 03:03:50 PM

Create local copy

Run Recovery Point Objective Compliance check for ORDER database

3.5 Tue 11/11/2014 03:03:51 PM

Create local copy


3.6 Tue 11/11/2014 03:03:51 PM

Create local copy

Create local copy phase for ORDER database completed successfully

Tue 11/11/2014 03:05:30 PM

Table dropped: Ask the database administrator to restore

4.1 Tue 11/11/2014 03:08:04 PM

Restore copy Begin restore copy phase for ORDER database

4.2 Tue 11/11/2014 03:08:05 PM

Restore copy Begin restore on production host appsync-linux1

4.3 Tue 11/11/2014 03:08:05 PM

Restore copy Shut down ORDER database

4.4 Tue 11/11/2014 03:08:23 PM

Restore copy Shut down ORDER database

4.5 Tue 11/11/2014 03:08:23 PM

Restore copy Unmount production file systems +DATA,+REDO to prepare for restore

4.6 Tue 11/11/2014 03:08:25 PM

Restore copy Perform restore of replication copy to production file system

4.7 Tue 11/11/2014 03:08:56 PM

Restore copy Restore VNX Snapshot AppSyncSnap-20141111_150246:544-5628d872-1603-46cf-a97e-08c7555ed540-AppSync_CG-1 for source LUNs 46, 34, 44, 45, 35, 47, 48, 36 on VNX array APM00140631432_VNX5400_116D

4.8 Tue 11/11/2014 03:09:09 PM

Restore copy Mount production file systems after restore

4.9 Tue 11/11/2014 03:09:25 PM

Restore copy Restore copy phase for ORDER database completed successfully

Tue 11/11/2014 03:12:20 PM

Mount and recover database




Tue 11/11/2014 03:13:00 PM

Open and query the database

Table 4 shows snapshots of the VNX consistency group AppSync_CG-1, which hosts all the database files, including control files, redo logs, and datafiles. Snapshots are shown in the following phases:

Phase 3—Create a local copy

Phase 4—Create a copy of the archive logs

Phase 5—Restore copy, shows the restore of the two snapshots

The events in Table 5 were logged during the With hot backup scenario that restores data and archive logs.

Table 5. With hot backup data restore timeline


1.1 Tue 11/11/2014 06:54:25 PM


Begin application discovery phase for ORDER database

1.2 Tue 11/11/2014 06:54:42 PM


Protect the Oracle database ORDER with hot backup mode enabled

1.3 Tue 11/11/2014 06:54:42 PM


Application discovery phase for ORDER database completed successfully

2.1 Tue 11/11/2014 06:54:45 PM

Application mapping

Begin application mapping phase for ORDER database

2.2 Tue 11/11/2014 06:56:46 PM

Application mapping


2.3 Tue 11/11/2014 06:56:46 PM

Application mapping

Application mapping phase for appsync-linux1+ARCH, ORDER completed successfully

3.1 Tue 11/11/2014 06:56:50 PM

Create local copy

Begin the create local copy phase for ORDER database

3.2 Tue 11/11/2014 06:57:01 PM

Create local copy

Started quiescing the Oracle ORDER database

3.3 Tue 11/11/2014 06:57:02 PM

Create local copy

Quiescing the Oracle ORDER database is successful

3.4 Tue 11/11/2014 06:57:59 PM

Create local copy

Creating VNX Snapshot of VNX consistency group AppSync_CG-1 using service processor IP 10.110.80.37




3.5 Tue 11/11/2014 06:58:04 PM

Create local copy

Successfully created VNX Snapshot AppSyncSnap-20141111_185702:554-245c6b38-cda8-48a9-8b07-4c0fc93b6951-AppSync_CG-1 on VNX consistency group AppSync_CG-1 using service processor IP 10.110.80.37

3.6 Tue 11/11/2014 06:58:05 PM

Create local copy

Started unquiescing the Oracle ORDER database

3.7 Tue 11/11/2014 06:58:06 PM

Create local copy

Unquiescing the Oracle ORDER database is successful

3.8 Tue 11/11/2014 06:58:07 PM

Create local copy

Running Recovery Point Objective Compliance check for ORDER database

3.9 Tue 11/11/2014 06:58:09 PM

Create local copy


3.99 Tue 11/11/2014 06:58:09 PM

Create local copy

Create local copy phase for appsync-linux1+ARCH, ORDER database completed successfully

4.1 Tue 11/11/2014 06:58:10 PM

Create archLogs local copy

Begin to create archLogs local copy phase for appsync-linux1+ARCH

4.2 Tue 11/11/2014 06:58:35 PM


Creating VNX Snapshot of VNX consistency group AppSync_CG-2 using service processor IP 10.110.80.37

4.3 Tue 11/11/2014 06:58:39 PM


Successfully created VNX Snapshot AppSyncSnap-20141111_185810:465-b85f6f2a-1471-4977-8545-f85fcb4d69ae-AppSync_CG-2 on VNX consistency group AppSync_CG-2 using service processor IP 10.110.80.37

4.4 Tue 11/11/2014 06:58:40 PM


Create archLogs local copy phase for appsync-linux1+ARCH, ORDER completed successfully

Tue 11/11/2014 07:00:40 PM

Table dropped. The User asks the database administrator to restore

5.1 Tue 11/11/2014 07:05:54 PM

Restore copy

Begin the restore copy phase for ORDER database

5.2 Tue 11/11/2014 07:05:54 PM

Restore copy Beginning restore on production host appsync-linux1

5.3 Tue 11/11/2014 07:05:55 PM

Restore copy Shutting down ORDER database

5.4 Tue 11/11/2014 07:06:11 PM

Restore copy ORDER database is shutdown




5.5 Tue 11/11/2014 07:06:11 PM

Restore copy Unmounting production file systems +DATA,+ARCH,+REDO to prepare for restore.

5.6 Tue 11/11/2014 07:06:15 PM

Restore copy Performing restore of replication copy to production file system

5.7 Tue 11/11/2014 07:06:45 PM

Restore copy Restoring VNX Snapshot AppSyncSnap-20141111_185702:554-245c6b38-cda8-48a9-8b07-4c0fc93b6951-AppSync_CG-1 for source LUNs 46, 34, 44, 45, 35, 47, 36, 48 on VNX array APM00140631432_VNX5400_116D

5.8 Tue 11/11/2014 07:07:26 PM

Restore copy Restoring VNX Snapshot AppSyncSnap-20141111_185810:465-b85f6f2a-1471-4977-8545-f85fcb4d69ae-AppSync_CG-2 for source LUNs 65, 64 on VNX array APM00140631432_VNX5400_116D

5.9 Tue 11/11/2014 07:07:34 PM

Restore copy Mounting production file systems after restore

5.99 Tue 11/11/2014 07:07:57 PM

Restore copy Restore copy phase for ORDER database completed successfully

Tue 11/11/2014 07:09:10 PM

Mount Database, Recover Database

Tue 11/11/2014 07:10:12 PM

Open Database, Query

During the with and without hot backup scenarios shown in Table 4 and Table 5, CPU statistics of the virtualized database server were captured using the vmstat utility. The results are displayed in Figure 52 and Figure 53. The phases are numbered and labeled.

Figure 52. Use case 3: Database host usage without hot backup mode

Impact on database server CPU



Figure 53. Use case 3: Database host usage with hot backup mode

This test shows the performance impact of hot backup mode, which uses the new Storage Snapshot Optimization feature in Oracle 12c. Storage Snapshot Optimization enables database administrators to recover a database using point-in-time snapshots, while not putting the database in hot backup mode. The test offloaded write-order-consistent snapshots to the VNX storage system, instead of leaving the requirement to ensure write consistency over all LUNs in the snapshot with the server.

Table 6 summarizes use case 3. We obtained the duration times for creating a copy and restoring a copy with the ORDER test database. The overall size of the database is nearly 1 TB and contains 600 GB of user data in the tables.


Subscription plan

Duration

Activity

Br-no-hbkp 03:41 Run subscription plan without hot backup

01:21 Restore copy

Br-hbkp 04:15 Run subscription plan with hot backup

02:03 Restore copy

Use case 3 shows the benefits of using AppSync with and without the hot backup mode:

The ability to roll forward the database after restore of a snapshot that was created with hot backup mode disabled saves time and resource load.

Snapshots were completely offloaded to the VNX storage system, which minimizes the impact on the Oracle database server CPU.

There is minimal difference in CPU impact between using a subscription plan with or without hot backup mode. Taking the snapshots and offloading them

Test Validation



from the server takes only seconds, resulting in minimal redo in the archive logs for the hot backup scenario. This results in a minimal impact on the server CPU.

Chapter 6: Conclusion


Chapter 6 Conclusion


Summary ............................................................................................................... 64

Findings ................................................................................................................ 64

Chapter 6: Conclusion


Summary

Today's data centers are required to provide continuous availability to meet mission critical Oracle service level agreements (SLAs), recovery point objectives (RPOs), and replication services. With the increasing demand on database administrators for faster and more reliable services, traditional tools are no longer the primary solution for protecting and repurposing Oracle databases.

EMC AppSync software provides an easy and economical replica and copy management solution that ensures continuous data protection without disrupting production operations or other backup schedules. AppSync makes copy management quick and easy for application administrators, who can use the simple AppSync user interface to meet their SLAs. AppSync continually monitors protected environments and sends alerts if SLAs are not being met.

If there is a recovery need, administrators can restore production databases in a matter of minutes, with AppSync guiding administrators through the available options. AppSync provides a simple way to support an agile working environment without compromising on time and quality, and gives application and database administrators complete control over application recovery and repurposing.

Findings

The use cases in this solution demonstrate the following:

The ease and speed with which an application owner or database administrator can protect or repurpose their application data. There is a significant reduction in time and storage administrator involvement.

There is minimal impact on the CPU performance of the database server during the backup and restore process because AppSync uses the Storage Snapshot Optimization features of Oracle Database 12c and the VNX storage system.

When using VMAX and XtremIO storage platforms and their replication technologies in your Oracle data center, you can also expect minimal CPU performance impact on the production database server during the backup and restore process.

Chapter 7: References


Chapter 7 References


EMC documentation ............................................................................................... 66

Other documentation ............................................................................................. 66

Chapter 7: References


EMC documentation

The following documents, available from EMC Online Support, provide additional information. If you do not have access to a document, contact your EMC representative.

EMC AppSync 2.0.0 Installation and Configuration Guide

EMC AppSync 2.0.0 User and Administration Guide

Other documentation

The following Oracle documents are relevant to this solution:

Oracle Database Installation Guide 12c Release 1 (12.1) for Linux (E41491-10)

Oracle Real Application Clusters Installation Guide 12c Release 1 (12.1) for Linux and UNIX (E48917-10)

Oracle Real Application Clusters Administration and Deployment Guide 12c Release 1 (12.1) (E48838-09)

Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide 12c Release 1 (12.1) (E41058-08)

Oracle documentation

https://support.emc.com/

http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/LADBI/toc.htm

http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/LADBI/toc.htm

http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/RILIN/toc.htm

http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/RILIN/toc.htm

http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/RACAD/toc.htm

http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/RACAD/toc.htm

http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/OSTMG/toc.htm

http://docs.oracle.com/database/121/OSTMG/toc.htm

Appendix A: Installing and Configuring AppSync


Appendix A Installing and Configuring AppSync

This appendix presents the following topic:

Installing AppSync Server ...................................................................................... 68

Configuring the environment ................................................................................. 68



Installing AppSync Server

The EMC AppSync 2.0.0 Installation and Configuration Guide, which can be downloaded from EMC Online Support, describes in detail how to install the AppSync server.

Note: Installation of Windows 2008 Server with Adobe Flash is a prerequisite for AppSynch installation.

To install AppSync, accept all default settings. Enter the user admin credentials, to access the AppSync UI.

We installed hotfix CF26 to ensure that the latest version of the software is installed.

Configuring the environment

This section provides instructions for configuring components for the AppSync solution environment.

In our environment the AppSync server protects Oracle database servers that have their data stored on the VNX Storage System. To allow AppSync to create copies, the storage system first needs to be registered in AppSync.

To register the storage system on the AppSync server: 1. Select Settings > Storage Infrastructure.

2. Click Add > VNX Storage System. Enter the VNX service processor IP address and credentials and click OK, as shown in Figure 54.

VNX registration

https://support.emc.com/



Figure 54. VNX storage system setup information

Figure 55 shows a completed VNX storage system registration.

Figure 55. A completed VNX storage system registration



Register the vCenter server to enable AppSync to protect the virtualized Oracle environments. For successful mapping, add the vCenter server to the AppSync server and perform discovery, before adding the Oracle host. If this is not done, the Oracle host must be rediscovered after adding the vCenter.

To add the vCenter server: 1. Select Settings > VMware vCenter Servers and click Add, as shown in

Figure 56.

Figure 56. EMC AppSync settings

2. Enter the vCenter name and credentials and click OK, as shown in Figure 57.

Note: To perform Oracle mount and recovery to a virtualized host, you need VMware permissions to modify the VMware configuration of the mount virtual machine, create a Raw Device Mapping (RDM) or SCSI adapter, and rescan datastores and virtual machine file systems (VMFS).

Figure 57. VCenter server credentials

vCenter registration



The vCenter Server is now registered in AppSync, as shown in Figure 58.

Figure 58. A vCenter Server registered in AppSync

When using VNX, ensure that all consistency groups are VNX consistency groups. The archive log files must also reside on a different consistency group from the rest of the database files, as shown in Figure 59.

Figure 59. VNX consistency groups

Oracle was set up using Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM), and the disk groups in Table 7 were created.

Table 7. Disk groups for an Oracle ASM configuration

Group Name

Data +DATA

Redo +REDO

Archive log files +ARCH

Temp space +TEMP

Oracle Cluster Registry +OCR_VOTE, only used on Real Application Clusters (RAC)

This setup is configured on one single instance running on a virtual machine, and on the two-node RAC setup running on the physical servers.

VNX configuration

Oracle configuration



AppSync can create application-consistent copies (using Oracle hot backup) and crash-consistent copies (without hot backup). For AppSync to create app-consistent copies of Oracle databases, the data files and archive logs must not share the ASM disk group, file-system, volume group, VNX consistency group, or datastore. The source database also needs to be running with ARCHIVELOG mode enabled.

The database on each of the two setups was populated with a dataset that provides about 600 GB of data and an overall database size of nearly 1 TB.

The Swingbench OrderEntry data model is based on the oe schema that ships with Oracle11g and Oracle12c. The relational model is shown in Figure 60.

Figure 60. Swingbench Order-Entry data model

After completing the VNX and vCenter registration, register the database servers, which enable AppSync to protect the Oracle applications that are on them. For Oracle RAC configurations, register all nodes (two nodes for an RAC environment) to enable AppSync to automatically protect the database with a different node if the initial node is down.

Any servers on which a copy of the database may later be mounted must first be registered in AppSync.

To register servers in AppSync: 1. Select Settings > Servers.

2. Select Add > Unix Servers.

Oracle database server registration

http://dominicgiles.com/index.html



3. Type the host name, username, and password and click Start, as shown in Figure 61.

Note: You can add multiple servers at the same time.

Figure 61. Unix server credentials

A Discovering Oracle databases message is displayed for each host, followed by a Deployment completed confirmation message, as shown in Figure 62.

Figure 62. Completed deployment

4. The newly added server is also displayed in the server overview. You can select the row with the new server to display the details in the bottom pane, as shown in Figure 63.

Figure 63. Server overview displaying the new server



The AppSync Server is now set up to protect the Oracle databases in the environment. The Servers list for our test environment displays two virtual servers and two physical servers from a two-node RAC system, as shown in Figure 64.

Figure 64. AppSync test environment servers

Appendix B: Creating Service Plans


Appendix B Creating Service Plans

This appendix presents the following topic:

Creating service plans ........................................................................................... 76



Creating service plans

The following examples show how to create a new, customized service plan to protect an Oracle database.

In this example, protect an Oracle database that only changes occasionally. Take a local copy every other day, with no copies needed at the weekend.

To create this new service plan for an Oracle database, begin by creating a new plan based on an existing plan as a template:

1. From the EMC AppSync console, select Service Plans > Oracle.

2. Click Create, as shown in Figure 65.

Figure 65. Service plans

3. In the Create New Plan dialog box, select Bronze as the pre-defined template plan, type a name and description, as shown in Figure 66, and click OK.

Figure 66. Example 1: Create a new plan

4. Select the name of the new plan, as shown in Figure 67.

Example 1: Protection/Low priority



Figure 67. Example 1: Select the new plan

5. From the left pane, select checkboxes for phases that you want included in the plan. Most phases can be enabled or disabled and you can make changes in the right pane.

In this example, for the Plan Startup phase, as shown in Figure 68, we selected a Startup Type of Scheduled, and set a Recurrence Type of On selected days, with a Run at time of 03:00 AM, on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

Figure 68. Example 1: Plan Startup phase

6. We then selected the Create local copy phase to specify that this database does not need to be placed in a hot backup mode, as shown in Figure 69.

Note: A new plan is enabled by default, as shown in Figure 69. To disable a phase, select Plan disabled.



Figure 69. Example 1: Create local copy phase

7. Click Apply to accept the changes for this new plan.

The overview page lists the new plan, as shown in Figure 70.

Figure 70. Example 1: Overview page with the new plan

In this example, protect an Oracle database that is used in a data warehouse scenario in production. The business requires us to provide the following protections:

Six hour RPO

Fast recovery

Last three copies are always available

To create this new service plan: 1. From EMC AppSync, select Service Plans > Oracle.

2. Click Create.

3. Select the default Bronze plan as a template, type a plan name and description, as shown in Figure 71, and click OK.

Example 2: Protection/high priority




4. Select the name of the new plan and select the Plan Startup phase.

Ensure that the default Enable Recovery Point Objective (RPO) property is selected and set it to 6 hours, as shown in Figure 72.


5. Select the Create local copy phase and select checkboxes for the first three Oracle Options to reflect the business requirement of a fast recovery, and the Expiration value of always having 3 copies available. Sample selections are shown in Figure 73.




6. Click Apply to accept the service plan changes.

The overview page displays the changes, as shown in Figure 74.


In this example, repurpose an Oracle production database for testing. The business requires us to provide the following:

A daily copy

A copy available on the AppSync-Linux2 test server

Email notification to the user when the plan is ready and up and running

To create this new service plan: 1. From EMC AppSync, select Service Plans > Oracle.

2. Click Create.

3. Select the default Bronze plan as a template, type a name and description, as shown in Figure 75, and click OK.

Example 3: daily repurpose




4. Select the new plan from the list and select the Plan Startup phase.

5. Select a Recurrence Type of starting Every day at… and 4:10 AM, as shown in Figure 76.


6. Select the Create local copy phase, clear the Place the database in hot backup mode checkbox, and type an Expiration of always keeping 1 copy, as shown in Figure 77.




7. Select Unmount previous copy, as shown in Figure 78.

Figure 78. Example 3: Unmount previous copy

8. Select the Mount copy phase and the following settings:

a. Select a Mount operation of Mount on standalone server and recover database.

b. Select the Mount Settings and Recovery Settings.

We chose to keep the database name, Oracle System ID (SID) name, and ASM disk group names unchanged, as shown in Figure 79.



Figure 79. Example 3: Mount copy phase

9. Select Post-mount script and then specify the script or executable file to be run.

In this example, we used the script to implement the requirement to notify the end user that the daily use of the plan is finished, as shown in Figure 80.

Figure 80. Example 3: Post-mount script phase

10. Click Apply to accept the plan changes.

Figure 81 shows the list of service plans with the new plan included.

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