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Oracle® Secure Backup Administrator's Guide
Release 10.1

Part Number B14234-02
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3 Getting Started

This chapter provides a brief tour of the interfaces that you can use with Oracle Secure Backup. You will need to use one or more of the interfaces when you configure and manage your administrative domain. This chapter contains the following topics:

See Also:

Before You Begin

Before you begin using Oracle Secure Backup, ensure that:

Using the Web Tool

The Web tool is the browser-based interface to Oracle Secure Backup. You can use the Web tool to configure the administrative domain, perform file system backup and restore operations, browse and manage backup data, and monitor operations.

Oracle Secure Backup invokes the Apache Web server, which runs behind the scenes when Oracle Secure Backup is started on the administrative server, to launch the Web tool. As explained in "Web Server Authentication", you can access the Web tool from any supported browser that can connect to the server through SSL (see Oracle Secure Backup Readme for a list of supported Web browsers).

This section contains the following topics:

Starting the Web Tool

This section explains how to log in to the Oracle Secure Backup administrative domain through a Web browser.

Follow these steps:

  1. Launch your Web browser and supply the URL of the host running Oracle Secure Backup. Use the following syntax, where hostname can be a fully qualified domain name:

    https://hostname
    
    

    For example, you might invoke the following URL:

    https://patti.oracle.com
    
    

    The Security Alert box warns that the certificate is not trusted, but it is not necessary to view the certificate and make any configuration changes.

    Oracle Secure Backup installs a self-signed certificate for the Apache Web server. The Web server requires a signed certificate for data encryption purposes. The Security Alert box is displayed because the signer of the certificate is not trusted, that is, the browser does not recognize the signer as a registered Certificate Authority (CA). This alert does not mean that your data is not encrypted, only that the CA is not recognized.

  2. Click Yes to continue.

    The Oracle Secure Backup Login page appears.

  3. Enter an Oracle Secure Backup username in the User Name box and a password in the Password box.

    Log in as the admin user if you are logging into Oracle Secure Backup for the first time. You can create additional users after you log in.

  4. Click the Login button. The Oracle Secure Backup Home page appears.

    The Home, Configure, Manage, Backup, and Restore tabs are explained in detail in the following sections.

Exploring the Web Tool

After you log in to the Oracle Secure Backup Web tool interface, the Oracle Secure Backup Home page appears. Figure 3-1 shows an example of the Home page.

The purpose of this page is to provide a snapshot of the current status of Oracle Secure Backup jobs and devices. As such, the page presents important summary information to administrators and users.

The main page includes the schedule times and status of recent jobs as well as job IDs, job type, and job level. Oracle Secure Backup provides a link for failed jobs, alerting users and administrators to potential trouble spots.

The Devices link lists the devices associated with each job along with information concerning device type, device name, and status. This page provides you with an overall picture of the various backup or restore processes that are going on.

Note:

A status of "device not in use" means that the device is present but is not currently being utilized for backup or restore operations.

A menu bar at the top of the Oracle Secure Backup Home page enables you to select among the Configure, Manage, Backup, and Restore tabs.

Note:

When using the Web tool, make sure that your browser is configured to reload the page every time it is viewed. Otherwise, the browser may display stale information. For example, changes made in obtool may not be visible in the browser.

Configure Tab

Click the Configure tab from the menu bar to display configuration options. Figure 3-2 shows an example of the Configure page.

The Configure page is divided into two main sections:

Basic

This section provides the following links:

  • Users

    Click this link to configure one or more user accounts for logging into and employing Oracle Secure Backup.

  • Hosts

    Click this link to configure one or more hosts. A host is a machine that participates in the Oracle Secure Backup administrative domain

  • Devices

    Click this link to configure devices for use with Oracle Secure Backup. A device is a tape drive or library identified by a user-defined name.

  • Media Families

    Click this link to configure media families. A media family is a named classification of backup volumes. A volume is a single unit of media, such as an 8mm tape.

  • Database Backup Storage Selectors

    Click this link to configure one or more devices and media families for use during Oracle database backup and restore operations.

Advanced

This section provides the following links:

  • Classes

    Click this link to configure classes. A class defines a set of rights that are granted to a user. A class can apply to multiple users; however, each user is assigned to exactly one class.

  • Job Summaries

    Click this link to create a job summary schedule for generation of job summaries for email distribution. A job summary is a generated text file report that tells you whether a backup operation was successful. Oracle Secure Backup can generate and email job summaries detailing the status of scheduled backups.

  • Defaults and Policies

    Click this link to edit defaults and policies. Defaults and policies are a set of configuration data that control how Oracle Secure Backup runs throughout an administrative domain.

Manage Tab

Click the Manage tab to display management options. Figure 3-3 shows an example of the Manage page.

The Manage page is divided into two main sections:

Devices and Media

This section includes the following links:

  • Drives

    Click this link to determine the status of a volume or device or mount or unmount a volume.

  • Libraries

    Click this link to view and control libraries.

  • Device Reservations

    Click this link to reserve and unreserve devices for private use.

Maintenance

This section includes the following links:

  • Jobs

    Click this link to manage jobs in an administrative domain. You can view the status of backup and restore jobs.

  • Volumes

    Click this link to filter and then view all volumes in the catalog. You can filter the results to scale down your search. A volume is a single unit of media, such as 8mm tape. A volume can contain one or more backup images.

  • Backup Images

    Click this link to manage backup images. A backup image is the work product of a single backup operation.

  • Backup Sections

    Click this link to view and remove backup sections. A backup section is that part of a backup image that occupies one physical volume.

  • Checkpoints

    Click this link to list and delete checkpoints describing certain in-progress, failed, and completed NDMP backups.

  • Daemons

    Click this link to manage daemons and control and view daemon properties.

Backup Tab

Click the Backup tab to display backup image options. Figure 3-2 shows a sample page.

The Backup page is divided into two main sections:

Operations

This section includes the Backup Now link. Click this link to perform one-time backups of data described by existing dataset files.

Settings

This section includes the following links:

  • Datasets

    Click this link to configure dataset files. A dataset file describes the data that you want to back up.

  • Schedules

    Click this link to configure a backup schedule. The backup schedule describes the frequency with which a backup runs.

  • Backup Windows

    Click this link to configure backup windows. A backup window is a time range for the execution of scheduled backups.

Restore Tab

Click the Restore tab to display restore options. Figure 3-5 shows a sample page.

The Operations section includes the following links:

  • Backup Catalog

    Click this link to browse data associated with backup and restore operations.

  • Directly from Media

    Click this link to perform raw restores, which require prior knowledge of the names of the file system objects you want to restore. You must also know the volume IDs and the file numbers on which the volumes are stored.

Persistent Page Links

The top and bottom panels of the Home page, and every page of the Web tool interface, have the following persistent links:

Help

Click Help to display this manual in PDF form.

Logout

Click Logout to log out of Oracle Secure Backup and return to the Oracle Secure Backup Login page. Oracle Secure Backup clears your user name and password cookies from the Web browser that you are using.

Preferences

Click Preferences to go to the Preference page. In this page you can select settings for the following options:

  • Extended command output

    Click this button to specify that Oracle Secure Backup should display a section with the commands that enable the Web tool to build its pages.

    The Web tool makes calls into obtool, the underlying Oracle Secure Backup command line engine. If you select On, then directory paths and command line entries for obtool executables are displayed at the bottom of each page. Select Off to hide the display of command output.

  • Background timeout

    Enter a value in this box to set the maximum idle time for obtool background processes.

    Operations such as catalog browsing, data restore operations, and on-demand backups require Oracle Secure Backup to create a background obtool process to retain state information too complex to represent in a browser cookie. The background timeout value identifies the maximum idle time of these background process. When a background process exceeds this idle time limit, it exits gracefully and the associated user's browser state is lost. The default is 24 hours.

  • Select table size

    Enter a value in this box to set the size (in number of rows) of the display window of the Web tool interface. The default is 8 rows.

  • Inactivity logout

    Enter a time period. If the user does not use the Web tool within this time frame, then the browser will automatically refresh the user to the login page. The default is 30 minutes.

About

The bottom panel of every page of the Web tool has a link to information about the Oracle Secure Backup product, including release date, system information, administrative server, and IP address.

Using obtool

This section explains how to use obtool, which is the primary command-line interface to Oracle Secure Backup. The obtool executable is located in the bin subdirectory of the Oracle Secure Backup home. You can start obtool on any host in the administrative domain, log in to the domain as an Oracle Secure Backup user, and issue commands.

This section contains the following topics:

Displaying obtool Invocation Help

Assuming that the bin subdirectory of the Oracle Secure Backup home is in your system path, you can obtain online help about obtool invocation options by running the following command at the operating system prompt:

% obtool help invocation

The obtool utility displays the following output:

obtool invocation:
Usage: To enter interactive mode:
       obtool [<cl-option>]...
Usage: To execute one command and exit:
       obtool [<cl-option>]... <command> [<option>]... [<argument>]...
Usage: To display program version number and exit:
       obtool --version/-V
Usage: To create a new administrative domain with this machine acting as the
       administrative server:
       obtool --initnewdomain [--adminpassword/-A passwd] [--force]
       [--nullpassword/-N] [--verbose/-v]

The following sections explain the obtool invocation options in more detail.

Starting obtool in Interactive Mode

To use obtool in interactive mode, enter obtool at the operating system command line once:

% obtool

After a successful login to obtool, the following prompt is displayed:

ob>

The first time you invoke the obtool utility, you are required to establish your identity as an Oracle Secure Backup user. If you have not yet established a user identity, then obtool prompts you for a user name and password, as shown in the following example:

% obtool
Oracle Secure Backup 10.1
login: 

The Oracle Secure Backup installation script creates the admin user automatically and requires you to create a password. You can enter the admin credentials when you log in to Oracle Secure Backup for the first time.

Executing obtool Commands in Interactive Mode

You can enter the commands described in Oracle Secure Backup Reference at the obtool prompt. For example, you can enter the lshost command to display the hosts in your administrative domain (sample output included):

ob> lshost
brhost2          client                            (via OB)   in service
brhost3          mediaserver,client                (via OB)   in service
br_filer         client                            (via NDMP) in service
stadv07          admin,mediaserver,client          (via OB)   in service

In general, this manual describes how to use the Web tool rather than obtool to perform administrative tasks. You can click Preferences at the top of any Web tool page and enable Extended command output. Whenever you perform a task in the Web tool, the Extended Command Output section at the bottom of the page shows the underlying obtool commands used to perform the task.

Redirecting Input in Interactive Mode

In interactive mode, you can redirect input to a script containing multiple obtool commands. This technique is useful if you need to run the same series of obtool commands on a regular basis. The syntax is as follows, where pathname is the path name of a file containing obtool commands:

ob> < pathname

For example, you can create a file called hosts.txt with the following content:

lshost --long
lsdev --long

You can redirect the obtool input to this script as follows:

ob> < /home/hosts.txt

Executing obtool Commands in Noninteractive Mode

To execute commands in obtool noninteractively, use the following syntax:

obtool  [ cl-option ]... command-name [ option ]... [ argument ]...

The following example executes the obtool lshost command and then returns to the operating system prompt:

% obtool lshost
brhost2          client                            (via OB)   in service
brhost3          mediaserver,client                (via OB)   in service
br_filer         client                            (via NDMP) in service
stadv07          admin,mediaserver,client          (via OB)   in service
%

Redirecting Input in Noninteractive Mode

You can also redirect input to obtool when in noninteractive mode. For example, you can create a file called hosts.txt with the following content:

lshost --long
lsdev --long

You can redirect the obtool input to this script as follows at the system prompt:

% obtool < /home/hosts.txt

Configuring an Administration Domain with obtool

When you run installob and specify a host as the administrative server, Oracle Secure Backup implicitly initializes the administrative domain. Initializing the domain assigns the host the role of administrative server within the administrative domain.

In some circumstances, you may need to initialize a new domain or reinitialize an old domain. You can use the following syntax to establish the local host as the administrative server for a new Oracle Secure Backup administrative domain:

obtool --initnewdomain [--adminpassword/-A passwd] [--force] 
       [--nullpassword/-N] [--verbose/-v]

If the local host is already established as an administrative server, then specifying --force causes the host to reinitialize itself. The --force option is useful when you have forgotten your password.

Using Oracle Enterprise Manager

You can use Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g (10.2) to use the Oracle Secure Backup SBT interface for database backup and restore operations. You cannot use Enterprise Manager to perform file system backup and restore operations, although Enterprise Manager includes a link to the Web tool. In general, you should use Enterprise Manager only for database-related tasks.

This section contains the following topics:

Registering an Administrative Server in Enterprise Manager

You can make RMAN backups to the Oracle Secure Backup SBT interface by using Enterprise Manager Database Control or Grid Control. As explained in "Interfaces for Managing Database Backup and Recovery", the Database Control console must run on the administrative server and can only back up an Oracle database running on the administrative server. You can run the Grid Control console on any database host in the administrative domain and use it to back up any database in the domain. This section describes how to get started with the Database Control console.

To use Enterprise Manager to manage your backups, you need to make Enterprise Manager aware of your administrative server. As explained in "Administrative Domains", the administrative server stores the configuration data and catalog for the administrative domain.

Note:

This section assumes that you are familiar with Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control and use it to manage backup and recovery. If you need an introduction to using Oracle Enterprise Manager with RMAN, refer to the chapter on backup and recovery in Oracle Database 2 Day DBA.

To register the administrative server in Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control:

  1. Log in to the Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control console as a user with database administrator rights.

  2. Navigate to the Oracle Secure Backup section of the Maintenance page. Figure 3-6 shows the relevant section of the Maintenance page.

    Figure 3-6 Maintenance Page

    Description of Figure 3-6 follows
    Description of "Figure 3-6 Maintenance Page"

    If you are using releases 10.2.0.1 or 10.2.0.2 of Enterprise Manager Grid Control or release 10.2.0.2 of Enterprise Manager Database Control, then the Maintenance page does not include the Oracle Secure Backup section by default. In this case, proceed to the next step to make the links active; otherwise, skip the following step and proceed directly to Step 4.

  3. If (and only if) the Oracle Secure Backup section does not appear in the Maintenance page, then perform the following steps:

    1. Navigate to the ORACLE_HOME/hostname_SID/sysman/config directory and open the emoms.properties file in a text editor.

    2. Set osb_enabled=true and save the file.

    3. Stop the Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control console as follows:

      emctl stop dbconsole
      
      
    4. Restart the Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control console as follows:

      emctl start dbconsole
      
      
    5. Navigate to the Maintenance page and confirm that the Oracle Secure Backup section is shown.

  4. Click Oracle Secure Backup Device and Media.

    The Add Administrative Server page appears.

  5. Log in to your Oracle Secure Backup administrative domain as follows:

    • In the Oracle Secure Backup Home box, enter the Oracle Secure Backup home directory, which is directory in which you installed Oracle Secure Backup. Typically, this directory is /usr/local/oracle/backup on UNIX and Linux and C:\Program Files\Oracle\Backup on Windows.

    • In the Username box, enter the name of an Oracle Secure Backup administrative user. For example, enter admin.

    • In the Password box, enter the password for the Oracle Secure Backup administrator.

    The Host Credentials page appears.

  6. Enter the username and password of the operating system user on the administrative server. This user needs root privileges.

    The Oracle Secure Backup Device and Media: Administrative Server: hostname page appears. You can use this page to load tapes.

After you have registered the administrative server, you are ready to use Enterprise Manager with Oracle Secure Backup. Refer to Chapter 6, "Using Recovery Manager with Oracle Secure Backup" for further instructions.

Accessing the Oracle Secure Backup Web Tool in Enterprise Manager

Enterprise Manager provides the interface for database backup and recovery. To access information relating to file system backups, you must use either obtool or the Web tool. The Enterprise Manager console provides a link to the Web tool.

To access the Web tool through Enterprise Manager Database Control:

  1. Log in to the Enterprise Manager Database Control as a user with database administrator rights.

  2. Navigate to the Oracle Secure Backup section of the Maintenance page.

    Note:

    If the Oracle Secure Backup section is not displayed in the Maintenance page, then follow the instructions in Step 3 of the previous section to make the links active.
  3. Click File System Backup and Restore.

    Enterprise Manager starts the Web tool interface, which is described in "Starting the Web Tool".