By Franck Pachot
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I had a recent question about the following mention from the 12cR2 Multitenant book, about Partial PDB backups:
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Here is an example in 12.2 with local undo to illustrate the answer, which may help to understand what is a partial PDB backup.
Of course, since 12cR1 you can backup PDB individually, without the CDB$ROOT, in the same way you can backup only a few tablespaces subset of a CDB. It can be part of your backup strategy, but it is not to be considered as a backup that you can restore elsewhere later. A PDB is not self-consistent without the PDB$ROOT except if is has been closed and unplugged. In 12.1 you cannot restore a partial PDB backup if you don’t have the CDB$ROOT at the same point in time, because the recovery phase will need to rollback the ongoing transactions, and this requires to have the UNDO tablespace recovered at the same point in time.
However, in 12.2 with LOCAL UNDO, the partial PDB backup contains the local UNDO tablespace and then it can be sufficient to do a PDB Point In Time Recovery within the same CDB. And, in this case only, it is not required to have a backup of the root.
Let’s test it. I explicitly delete all backups
Recovery Manager: Release 12.2.0.1.0 - Production on Sun Apr 30 22:11:38 2017
Copyright (c) 1982, 2017, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
RMAN>
echo set on
RMAN> connect target /
connected to target database: CDB1 (DBID=914521258)
RMAN> delete noprompt backup;
using channel ORA_DISK_1
using channel ORA_DISK_2
using channel ORA_DISK_3
using channel ORA_DISK_4
specification does not match any backup in the repository
RMAN> list backup;
specification does not match any backup in the repository
No backup
I have only one PDB here:
RMAN> report schema;
Report of database schema for database with db_unique_name CDB1A
List of Permanent Datafiles
===========================
File Size(MB) Tablespace RB segs Datafile Name
---- -------- -------------------- ------- ------------------------
1 820 SYSTEM YES /u01/oradata/CDB1A/system01.dbf
3 630 SYSAUX NO /u01/oradata/CDB1A/sysaux01.dbf
4 70 UNDOTBS1 YES /u01/oradata/CDB1A/undotbs01.dbf
5 250 PDB$SEED:SYSTEM NO /u01/oradata/CDB1A/pdbseed/system01.dbf
6 330 PDB$SEED:SYSAUX NO /u01/oradata/CDB1A/pdbseed/sysaux01.dbf
7 5 USERS NO /u01/oradata/CDB1A/users01.dbf
8 100 PDB$SEED:UNDOTBS1 NO /u01/oradata/CDB1A/pdbseed/undotbs01.dbf
103 250 PDB1:SYSTEM YES /u01/oradata/CDB1A/PDB1/system01.dbf
104 350 PDB1:SYSAUX NO /u01/oradata/CDB1A/PDB1/sysaux01.dbf
105 100 PDB1:UNDOTBS1 YES /u01/oradata/CDB1A/PDB1/undotbs01.dbf
List of Temporary Files
=======================
File Size(MB) Tablespace Maxsize(MB) Tempfile Name
---- -------- -------------------- ----------- --------------------
1 131 TEMP 32767 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/temp01.dbf
2 64 PDB$SEED:TEMP 32767 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/pdbseed/temp012017-04-08_22-24-09-441-PM.dbf
4 64 PDB1:TEMP 32767 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/PDB1/temp012017-04-08_22-24-09-441-PM.dbf
all datafiles need backup:
RMAN> report need backup;
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 1
Report of files with less than 1 redundant backups
File #bkps Name
---- ----- -----------------------------------------------------
1 0 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/system01.dbf
3 0 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/sysaux01.dbf
4 0 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/undotbs01.dbf
5 0 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/pdbseed/system01.dbf
6 0 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/pdbseed/sysaux01.dbf
7 0 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/users01.dbf
8 0 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/pdbseed/undotbs01.dbf
103 0 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/PDB1/system01.dbf
104 0 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/PDB1/sysaux01.dbf
105 0 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/PDB1/undotbs01.dbf
Partial backup not including the root
I backup only the pluggable database PDB1
RMAN> backup pluggable database PDB1;
Starting backup at 30-APR-17
using channel ORA_DISK_1
using channel ORA_DISK_2
using channel ORA_DISK_3
using channel ORA_DISK_4
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting full datafile backup set
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying datafile(s) in backup set
input datafile file number=00104 name=/u01/oradata/CDB1A/PDB1/sysaux01.dbf
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting piece 1 at 30-APR-17
channel ORA_DISK_2: starting full datafile backup set
channel ORA_DISK_2: specifying datafile(s) in backup set
input datafile file number=00103 name=/u01/oradata/CDB1A/PDB1/system01.dbf
channel ORA_DISK_2: starting piece 1 at 30-APR-17
channel ORA_DISK_3: starting full datafile backup set
channel ORA_DISK_3: specifying datafile(s) in backup set
input datafile file number=00105 name=/u01/oradata/CDB1A/PDB1/undotbs01.dbf
channel ORA_DISK_3: starting piece 1 at 30-APR-17
channel ORA_DISK_1: finished piece 1 at 30-APR-17
piece handle=/u01/fast_recovery_area/CDB1A/4E68DF57035A648FE053684EA8C01C78/backupset/2017_04_30/o1_mf_nnndf_TAG20170430T221146_djdk827s_.bkp tag=TAG20170430T221146 comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_1: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:03
channel ORA_DISK_3: finished piece 1 at 30-APR-17
piece handle=/u01/fast_recovery_area/CDB1A/4E68DF57035A648FE053684EA8C01C78/backupset/2017_04_30/o1_mf_nnndf_TAG20170430T221146_djdk83go_.bkp tag=TAG20170430T221146 comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_3: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:03
channel ORA_DISK_2: finished piece 1 at 30-APR-17
piece handle=/u01/fast_recovery_area/CDB1A/4E68DF57035A648FE053684EA8C01C78/backupset/2017_04_30/o1_mf_nnndf_TAG20170430T221146_djdk830z_.bkp tag=TAG20170430T221146 comment=NONE
channel ORA_DISK_2: backup set complete, elapsed time: 00:00:03
Finished backup at 30-APR-17
Starting Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 30-APR-17
piece handle=/u01/fast_recovery_area/CDB1A/autobackup/2017_04_30/o1_mf_s_942703909_djdk85m1_.bkp comment=NONE
Finished Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 30-APR-17
Here is the proof that only PDB1 has a backup, the CDB$ROOT has no backup:
RMAN> report need backup;
RMAN retention policy will be applied to the command
RMAN retention policy is set to redundancy 1
Report of files with less than 1 redundant backups
File #bkps Name
---- ----- -----------------------------------------------------
1 0 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/system01.dbf
3 0 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/sysaux01.dbf
4 0 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/undotbs01.dbf
5 0 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/pdbseed/system01.dbf
6 0 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/pdbseed/sysaux01.dbf
7 0 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/users01.dbf
8 0 /u01/oradata/CDB1A/pdbseed/undotbs01.dbf
Restore the PDB
I will do PDB Point In Time Recovery, using a restore point
RMAN> create restore point RP;
Statement processed
RMAN> alter pluggable database PDB1 close;
Statement processed
Here is the restore
RMAN> restore pluggable database PDB1 until restore point RP;
Starting restore at 30-APR-17
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: SID=15 device type=DISK
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_2
channel ORA_DISK_2: SID=149 device type=DISK
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_3
channel ORA_DISK_3: SID=268 device type=DISK
allocated channel: ORA_DISK_4
channel ORA_DISK_4: SID=398 device type=DISK
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting datafile backup set restore
channel ORA_DISK_1: specifying datafile(s) to restore from backup set
channel ORA_DISK_1: restoring datafile 00104 to /u01/oradata/CDB1A/PDB1/sysaux01.dbf
channel ORA_DISK_1: reading from backup piece /u01/fast_recovery_area/CDB1A/4E68DF57035A648FE053684EA8C01C78/backupset/2017_04_30/o1_mf_nnndf_TAG20170430T221146_djdk827s_.bkp
channel ORA_DISK_2: starting datafile backup set restore
channel ORA_DISK_2: specifying datafile(s) to restore from backup set
channel ORA_DISK_2: restoring datafile 00105 to /u01/oradata/CDB1A/PDB1/undotbs01.dbf
channel ORA_DISK_2: reading from backup piece /u01/fast_recovery_area/CDB1A/4E68DF57035A648FE053684EA8C01C78/backupset/2017_04_30/o1_mf_nnndf_TAG20170430T221146_djdk83go_.bkp
channel ORA_DISK_3: starting datafile backup set restore
channel ORA_DISK_3: specifying datafile(s) to restore from backup set
channel ORA_DISK_3: restoring datafile 00103 to /u01/oradata/CDB1A/PDB1/system01.dbf
channel ORA_DISK_3: reading from backup piece /u01/fast_recovery_area/CDB1A/4E68DF57035A648FE053684EA8C01C78/backupset/2017_04_30/o1_mf_nnndf_TAG20170430T221146_djdk830z_.bkp
channel ORA_DISK_2: piece handle=/u01/fast_recovery_area/CDB1A/4E68DF57035A648FE053684EA8C01C78/backupset/2017_04_30/o1_mf_nnndf_TAG20170430T221146_djdk83go_.bkp tag=TAG20170430T221146
channel ORA_DISK_2: restored backup piece 1
channel ORA_DISK_2: restore complete, elapsed time: 00:00:03
channel ORA_DISK_3: piece handle=/u01/fast_recovery_area/CDB1A/4E68DF57035A648FE053684EA8C01C78/backupset/2017_04_30/o1_mf_nnndf_TAG20170430T221146_djdk830z_.bkp tag=TAG20170430T221146
channel ORA_DISK_3: restored backup piece 1
channel ORA_DISK_3: restore complete, elapsed time: 00:00:03
channel ORA_DISK_1: piece handle=/u01/fast_recovery_area/CDB1A/4E68DF57035A648FE053684EA8C01C78/backupset/2017_04_30/o1_mf_nnndf_TAG20170430T221146_djdk827s_.bkp tag=TAG20170430T221146
channel ORA_DISK_1: restored backup piece 1
channel ORA_DISK_1: restore complete, elapsed time: 00:00:07
Finished restore at 30-APR-17
and the recover
RMAN> recover pluggable database PDB1 until restore point RP;
Starting recover at 30-APR-17
using channel ORA_DISK_1
using channel ORA_DISK_2
using channel ORA_DISK_3
using channel ORA_DISK_4
starting media recovery
media recovery complete, elapsed time: 00:00:00
Finished recover at 30-APR-17
Fimnally, I open resetlogs
RMAN> alter pluggable database PDB1 open resetlogs;
Statement processed
Thanks to LOCAL UNDO there is no need to restore the CDB$ROOT into an auxiliary instance, as it was the case for PDBPITR in 12.1 and then we can do PDBPITR without a backup of the root.
So what?
In theory, and as demonstrated above, including CDB$ROOT into a partial PDB backup is not mandatory in 12cR2 in local undo mode. However, keep in mind that this is for academic purpose only, not for real-life production. For short-term point in time, you will not use backups but flashback. For long-term restore, then you may have different reasons to restore the PDB elsewhere with its CDB$ROOT at the same point in time: some common objects (users, roles, directories, etc) may have changed. And anyway, your backup strategy should be at CDB level.
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