Databases are at the heart of the data management strategy for all enterprises. This is because critical applications are built and hosted on databases—both relational and non-relational—so any downtime on databases has a direct impact on the company’s revenue. At Rubrik, we are committed to delivering value to our customers by simplifying their data management strategies across all environments. That’s why Rubrik Andes 5.2, our latest product release, delivers multiple enhancements and capabilities for Oracle databases that provide even more power and flexibility to DBAs.

Rubrik’s Cloud Data Management (CDM) platform delivers enterprise-grade protection and DevOps-centric automation for Oracle databases, enabling customers to automatically backup their Oracle database workloads and leverage flexible recovery options in the event of database failure. This allows DBAs to devote their precious time to other demanding tasks without worrying about database backups or relinquishing restore control. 

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Rubrik’s data management solution for Oracle is built around recovery scenarios that DBAs perform on a day-to-day basis. 

Clone

Cloning is the most obvious use case for DBAs in terms of using the existing database backups. DBAs frequently clone critical production data and create clones that are used for testing and developing new applications. The Clone option (originally known as Export) allows DBAs to easily copy their production database onto an alternate host (test or development server). During this process, an entire Oracle database or tablespace is copied to the target host. 

 

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Rubrik Andes 5.2 introduces Advanced Cloning Options (ACO) for DBAs to accommodate cloning scenarios involving dissimilar Oracle Homes/ ASM disk groups between source and target database. DBAs can also customize memory parameters (SGA, PGA, Huge pages), control database file destinations, and restore SPFILE to a custom location of their choice. 

Live Mount

Live Mount also allows customers to quickly clone their production database onto an alternate host but with the added benefit of not having to copy files, eliminating the need to provision any storage for database clones. The Oracle datafiles are mounted using an NFS share on the target host directly from the backups. Live Mount is one of the most popular features because it saves on storage space and provides agility in terms of cloning a production database. Database Live Mounts satisfy different use cases such as test/dev, quality assurance, ETL, and even granular item-level recovery using Oracle Data Pump. The Live Mounts can be easily unmounted within Rubrik and discarded when no longer needed. 

 

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Similar to the Clone option, the Advanced Cloning Options are also supported for Live Mount in Rubrik Andes 5.2.

Instant Recovery

Instant Recovery helps DBAs achieve near-zero RTOs by quickly recovering their production database in the event of complete database failure. Instant Recovery works exactly as Live Mount but on the original host where the source database was situated. The objective is to reduce the recovery time to near-zero by mounting Oracle database files through an NFS share irrespective of the size of the database. After a full database recovery, DBAs can migrate the files from the Rubrik cluster to the target host using the MOVE DATAFILE command. 

Recover Production

One of the most stressful tasks for DBAs is recovering a production database in place (i.e. overwriting database files directly on the original host where the production database is situated). This is usually the rarest of scenarios when there has been a complete database failure. Recover Production automates this production recovery scenario with a single click and minimizes the stress on DBAs in the event of a production database failure. The complete database is restored directly to the original host from the backups hosted on the Rubrik Cluster, and then the database is recovered to the latest consistent backup. 

Moreover, as part of Rubrik Andes 5.2, we have introduced a new feature called Rollforward Recovery, which allows DBAs to customize the recovery to the desired point in time by applying archive logs on the Oracle host. DBAs can either point to the default location for archive logs on the Oracle host or a customer location.

 

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In addition to the powerful new recovery features described above, Rubrik Andes 5.2 also offers DBAs the ability to control the behavior of Archive Logs after successful log backups. Along with the default option to truncate the logs on the host upon successful backup, customers can now choose to delay the deletion of the archive logs or simply retain the logs on the host forever. This provides customers the flexibility to use the archive logs for other use cases while maintaining ongoing backups.

Rubrik Andes 5.2 now supports automated database recovery for Exadata and Oracle Database Appliance (ODA). The compatibility extends further support for newer Oracle database versions (12c, 18c, 19c), Operating Systems (RHEL/OEL 6,7, SUSE 11/12/15, AIX 7.x), and a multitude of other database features (TDE, CDB/PDB, RAC, RAC-One Node).

The Rubrik CDM platform for Oracle databases automates database discovery, protection, and recovery scenarios for the day-to-day DBA operations. For more detailed information, please visit our Oracle Database solutions page.