Fast, transaction-level recovery for Oracle databases
Backing up and restoring Oracle databases with Veeam
You don’t have to be an expert in Oracle to back it up! Whether you are running Oracle on Linux or Windows, Veeam makes transactionally consistent backups of Oracle databases by automatically putting databases in hot backup mode using one of the methods provided by Oracle, before taking an image-level backup. For example, Oracle VSS Writer will be leveraged on certain versions of Windows, except for certain version combinations of Windows and Oracle where Oracle Call Interface (OCI) is leveraged for more reliable operation.
As a result, Veeam Backup & Replication™ provides reliable, agentless, image-level backup for Oracle databases that run any supported operating system and hypervisor, with transaction log backup and replay capability so that you can restore your Oracle database to a precise point in time — even to a specific transaction.
Moreover, Veeam fully supports image-level backup and recovery even for databases leveraging Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM), which is a popular Oracle deployment scenario since every competing vendor today only supports via agent-based, file-level backup and recovery.
Oracle databases are often utilized for the most critical applications — those that really are the backbone of the modern data center. Previously, restoring an Oracle database from an image-level backup was a tedious process that required specific expertise and experience with the corresponding toolset, and which took significant amount of time — thus impacting RTOs. Now, anyone can do the same with just a few clicks using Veeam Explorer for Oracle — even with zero Oracle expertise. You can even recover Oracle databases using Veeam's self-service Enterprise Manager or Windows PowerShell scripting.
Veeam Explorer for Oracle opens a database directly from the compressed, deduplicated Veeam backup file, and by leveraging RMAN, provides flexible recovery options for:
- Database recovery to the state stored in an image-level backup
- Point-in-time database recovery via transaction log replay
- Transaction-level recovery via transaction log review
Thanks to these advanced capabilities, Veeam Explorer for Oracle is a perfect granular recovery tool for tactical restores, whether you need to recover an entire database to a specific point in time or roll back the latest transaction.
And, when you need to recover your entire Oracle server, the fastest way to bring it back online is by using Instant VM Recovery™.
Oracle transaction log backup and replay
The key with recovery is to be able to do it in a way that minimizes data loss. For example, if someone deletes a record in a database table, restoring the whole virtual machine (VM) to last night’s backup isn’t the best way to recover from that situation, especially when multiple applications may be using that database server across different databases.
Transaction log backup and replay is the mechanism that enables the extra recovery options with Veeam Explorer for Oracle. It is implemented via a sub-job that periodically copies online redo log files from Oracle server to the backup repository. In conjunction with image-level backups, transaction log backups can be used to restore the individual databases to the time of the image-based backup — or via log replay — to a specific point in time. Moreover, Veeam Explorer for Oracle can present the transaction log in human-readable format, thus enabling restore to a specific transaction — prior to the transaction containing the undesired operation.
Archived logs management
Supported environments
Veeam Explorer for Oracle supports the following versions of Oracle running on 32 and 64-bit Windows and Linux VMs:
- Oracle 12
- Oracle 11
It is fully compatible with Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM), but Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) are not supported. Visit our release notes for more information.
