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Manage backup policy

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 Overview of backup policy

Backup policies are rules that define a schedule, bandwidth for scheduled backups, and retention period for snapshots. In terms of Oracle Servers, you define the rules for full backups, incremental backups, and archive log backups.

A backup policy for an Oracle Server defines the following:

  • When a backup job is triggered.
  • The bandwidth available for the agent to execute a backup job.
  • The backup frequency to back up archive logs.
  • The period for which a snapshot is retained.
  • Backup set is enabled or disabled for long term retention. To know more, see About long term retention.

You can create a backup policy and attach it to one or more databases. Druva backs up databases to the Druva Cloud based on the backup schedule defined in the backup policy. 

Best practices for creating a backup policy

  • Druva allows you to attach the same backup policy to different databases. 
  • You can assign only one backup policy to a database.
  • The backup policy defines the backup schedules for your Oracle servers. The schedules that you set depends on the volume and frequency of database change on your Oracle servers. The schedules also depend on the availability of bandwidth for data transmission to Druva Cloud. If you expect a large dataset during backups, you can schedule backups to run during off-peak hours, such as weekends or after a workday.

    Note: The backup schedule that you define in a backup policy depends on your organization's policies.

About retention

Retention defines the rules for retaining your backups (recovery point)  within the storage. Use the retention period to define the duration for which you want to retain your historical backups.

The objective of retention is to keep important data for future access, depending on how critical it is. Retention also ensures that backups that are no longer required are cleaned from your storage periodically, resulting in less storage utilization and costs.

The retention period would not be honored for the most recent snapshot when a server or VM or backup set is disabled. This allows you to restore the latest snapshot later if required.

Retention should consider the value of your data and the compliance requirements. The different types of data will be retained for different durations. For example, a bank's retention period for customers' financial records is different from facilities inventory records.

The main factors to consider while defining a retention period are:

  • Compliance requirements
  • Storage costs
  • Type of data

Retention period settings

Druva follows the Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) retention model wherein, in case of an overlap, the retention setting of the longer period (Son-Father-Grandfather relation) is considered. The snapshot is expired as per the settings of the higher period.  For example, in case there is an overlap between the daily and weekly retention period, the weekly retention period is considered. So daily is the smallest unit and weekly overrides daily > monthly overrides weekly  > yearly overrides monthly. 

Also, Druva follows the Gregorian calendar for tracking days.

While backup schedules are configured on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis the last snapshot created by the backups on that particular day will be retained as per the retention setting.  

You can define the following durations to retain snapshots.

Retention Period Description
Daily snapshots

Druva retains all the snapshots that are created for the number of days specified in Daily snapshots.  

Druva considers midnight as the end of a day.

If you have configured Druva to back up your server multiple times within a day, Druva retains all the snapshots for the days specified.
Weekly snapshots (Son)

The number of weekly snapshots that Druva should retain. Druva treats the latest snapshot in the week as the weekly snapshot.

Druva considers midnight on Sunday as the end of the week.
Monthly snapshots (Father)

The number of monthly snapshots that Druva should retain. Druva treats the latest snapshot in the month as the monthly snapshot.

Druva considers midnight of the last day of a month as the end of the month.
Yearly snapshots (Grandfather)

The number of yearly snapshots that Druva should retain. Druva treats the latest snapshot in the year as the yearly snapshot.

Druva considers the midnight of the last day of the year as the end of the year.

The snapshot name displayed on the Hybrid Workloads Management Console is snapshot creation time as per the server time zone, on which the backup occurred. Druva considers the time zone of the server for retaining the snapshots as per the retention setting.

Default retention period settings 

If you are registering the server under default organization, Druva provides a default backup policy with the following retention settings:

  • Daily snapshots: 14 days
  • Weekly revisions: 4 weeks
  • Monthly revisions: 3  months
  • Yearly revisions: 3  years

The following diagram illustrates the snapshots that will be available on a given day ( Feb 9 in this example) based on the retention settings you have configured. In this example the policy is created and backups start on Dec 30 of the previous year.

Retention example.png

On 9 Feb you will have 17 recovery points or snapshots to restore as described in the table. 

Note: Daily is the smallest unit and weekly overrides daily and monthly overrides weekly and yearly overrides monthly.

Recovery points resulting from

Description
Daily retention setting You will have 11 ( 14 daily less 2 weekly less 1 monthly)  recovery points (starting from 27 Jan) created due to the daily retention settings.
Weekly retention setting You will have 4 recovery points for 14 Jan, 21 Jan, 28 Jan and 4 Feb created due to the weekly settings.

The weekly recovery points that coincide with the daily recovery points (28 Jan and 4 Feb) will be considered and retained as per the weekly setting. So, even though the daily retention period expires for these dates the recovery points will be retained as per the weekly settings (4 weeks).
Monthly retention setting You will have 1 monthly recovery point of 31 Jan. This recovery point will be available for the next 3 months as it is a monthly retention point. So even though the 14 days daily retention period expires after 9 Feb, the recovery point will be available for the next 3  months.
Yearly retention setting You will have one recovery point for 31 Dec due to the yearly retention setting. This recovery point will be available for 3 years.

Impact of retention period settings on recovery point objective (RPO)

In continuation with the example above, so let us say malware was detected on 9 Feb evening.  After investigation, it was discovered that the data till 7 Feb is corrupted.  In that case, the recovery point available to you will be of 6 Feb which is available due to the daily snapshot.  However, there could be a data loss of data backed between 7 Feb and 9 Feb.

Retention Setting and RPO.png

Considerations

  • Any changes that you make to the existing retention policies will be applied to all the new as well as the existing snapshots.
  • Retention periods are applicable for snapshots that reside on CloudCache and Druva Cloud.
  • Druva runs a retention expiration algorithm to delete the snapshots that have crossed the expiration period. This algorithm does not delete thawed snapshots. For more information, see Snapshots.

Create backup policy

Before creating a backup policy for Oracle databases, ensure that you read Overview of a backup policy. You can create a backup policy and attach it to one or more databases. Druva backs up databases to the Druva Cloud based on the backup schedule defined in the backup policy.

The following diagram depicts the steps and the attributes to be configured in the respective step, for creating the backup policy for an Oracle database.

Oracle Backup Policy.png

Step 1: Provide general information

  1. On the Create Backup Policy: Oracle page, provide the following details in the General tab:
        SBTBackupPolicySummary.PNG
    • Name: The name for this backup policy.
    • Description: A short description of this backup policy.
  2. Click Next. 

Step 2: Define a backup schedule

  1. In the Backup Schedule tab, provide the following details to define the backup schedule.
    BackupPolicy_DTC_BackupSchedule1.PNG
    1. Backup Type: The type of Oracle server backup, for example, Full, Incremental, or Archive Logs. For more information, see Backup methods.
    2. To define settings for the Full and Incremental backup type, provide the following details: 
      1. Backup Frequency: The specific days of the week on which you want backups to occur.
      2. Start At: The time when you want backups to start. In the adjacent list, select AM or PM.
      3. Backup Window: The backup window for how long the backup should run. Type the number of hours.
        Example: If you set Start at to 01:00 AM and you set the backup window to 6 hours, backups from your Oracle server start at 01:00 AM and stop at 07:00 AM, even if they do not complete.
      4. Max. Bandwidth: The maximum bandwidth that the Oracle servers can consume while backing up data to the Druva Cloud. 

        Note: The maximum bandwidth that a backup job can consume is 2 Gbps (2048 Mbps).

        • For a scheduled backup, the job will consume the assigned bandwidth.
        • However, for manually triggered backup, the job will consume the available bandwidth on your network.
    3. To define settings for the Archive Logs backup type, provide the following details: 
      1. Every: The interval at which Druva backs up the archived logs. Archived logs contain the changes made to the databases. In the adjacent list, select Hr or Min. The default value is 4 hours. However, Druva allows you to provide a minimum value of 5 minutes. 
      2. Max. Bandwidth: The maximum bandwidth that the Oracle servers can consume while backing up data to the Druva Cloud.

        Note: The maximum bandwidth that a backup job can consume is 2 Gbps (2048 Mbps).

  2. Click Add Schedule to add multiple schedules; repeat steps 1.a through 1.c to add as many schedules that you want to create.
  3. Click the delete icon next to the schedule to delete a schedule.
  4. Ignore backup window for the first backup: By default, the Ignore backup window for first backup option is enabled. When this option is enabled, Druva ignores the specified backup duration until the first backup job is complete. The first backup job is complete when the first snapshot is created. You can disable this option to enforce backup duration for the first backup job.
    By default, Druva retries a job twice with a ten-minute interval between the two attempts.
  5. Delete Archive Logs after backup: Select this check box to delete the archived logs on the Oracle server host after snapshots are created.
  6. Click Next.

Step 3: Define retention period

  1. In the Retain section, provide the following details to retain snapshots in the Druva Cloud:
    Oracle_DTC.png
    1. Daily Snapshots for: The duration for which you want to retain all snapshots.
    2. Weekly Snapshots for: The duration for which you want to retain weekly snapshots.
    3. Monthly Snapshots for: The duration for which you want to retain monthly snapshots.
    4. Yearly Snapshots for: The duration for which you want to retain yearly snapshots.
    5. Enable Long Term Retention: Toggle to enable or disable LTR for the backup policy. You can enable LTR only if the retention period is greater than or equal to one year. To know more about LTR, refer to About Long Term Retention. In the Keep snapshots in warm tier drop-down list,  specify the duration in days to retain the snapshots in the warm tier. For example, 15, 30, 45, and 60 days. See Impact of changing the threshold on the existing snapshots.
    6. Enable Data Lock: Toggle to enable the Data Lock for the backup policy. For more information about Data Lock, refer to Data Lock for preventing malicious or accidental deletion of snapshots.
      Note:  Once you apply Data Lock to the backup policy, you cannot:

      • Disable Data Lock.

      • Delete the snapshots, backup sets, and backup policy.

      • Edit the retention period in the backup policy.

      • Associate another backup policy to the Data Lock-enabled backup set.

  2. Click Next.

Note: If you are registering the server under Default Organization, Druva provides a default backup policy with the following retention settings:

  • Daily Snapshots for: 14 days

  • Weekly Snapshots for: 4 weeks

  • Monthly Snapshots for: 3  months

  • Yearly Snapshots for: 3  years

Step 4: Specify RMAN settings

Druva uses the Backup set method to back up Oracle databases. 

In the RMAN Settings section, provide the following details:

BackupPolicy_DTC_Retention.PNG

  1. # RMAN Channels: Specify the number of channels to be established between RMAN and the databases to be backed up. The default value for the number of channels is set to ‘4’. Druva recommends you to specify a maximum of 32 RMAN channels. For more information about RMAN Channels, see About RMAN Channels.

    Note: RMAN restricts you to allocate only one RMAN channel to back up and restore databases on the Oracle Standard Editions. The jobs are processed serially. However, you can allocate more than one RMAN channel to back up and restore databases on the Oracle Enterprise Edition and the jobs are processed in parallel.

  2. Perform an offline backup if database is in NOARCHIVELOG mode: Select this check box to perform an offline, full backup when a database is run in the NOARCHIVELOG mode. The database is shut down, started up in the mount mode, and backed up as a backup set. In this mode, the archival of redo logs is disabled and therefore, you cannot recover a database to a specific point-in-time.
  3. Delete Archive Logs after backup: Select this check box to delete the archived logs on the Oracle server host after snapshots are created.
  4. Click Finish to create the backup policy.

The Oracle backup policy is created successfully and assigned to the selected databases. To view the backup policy, on the menu bar, click Manage > Backup Policies. On the Manage Backup Policies, click the policy name and view the policy details.

Update backup policy

You can update an existing backup policy anytime as per your requirements. You can update details such as the policy name, backup schedule, retention settings, and RMAN settings.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the Hybrid Workloads Management Console. 
  2. Click Oracle > Direct to cloud from the Protect menu. Note that if the All Organizations menu is enabled, you have to first select an organization and then click Oracle > Direct to Cloud.
    The Oracle Servers page opens. 
  3. In the left pane, click the Backup Policies tab.
    The Backup Policies page appears with a list of existing backup policies.
  4. Click the backup policy which needs to be updated. The Summary tab appears, by default.

To update backup policy summary

  1. In the Overview section, click Edit.
  2. On the Edit Overview dialog, provide a new name and description for the backup policy.
  3. Click Save to preserve the modifications made to this backup policy. The backup policy is saved with the modified settings.

To update backup schedule

  1. In the Backup Schedule section, click Edit.
  2. On the Edit Backup Policy Schedule page, update the backup schedule details as per your requirement: backup type, backup frequency, start at, backup window, maximum bandwidth, and the setting to ignore backup window during the first backup. For more information about these settings, see Backup schedule.
  3. Click Save to preserve the modifications made to this backup policy. The backup policy is saved with the modified settings.

Update retention settings

  1. In the Retention section, click Edit.
  2. On the Edit Retention page, update the duration for which Druva should retain the daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly snapshots. For more information about these settings, see Retention settings.
  3. Toggle Enable Long Term Retention to enable or disable LTR for the backup policy.
  4. Click Save to preserve the modifications made to this backup policy. The backup policy is saved with the modified settings.

Update RMAN settings

  1. In the RMAN Settings section, click Edit.
  2. On the Edit RMAN Settings page, update the number of channels to be established between RMAN and the databases based on the requirement, and the setting to perform an offline, full backup when a database is run in the NOARCHIVELOG mode and delete archive logs after the backup. For more details about these settings, see RMAN Settings.
  3. Click Save.

Duplicate Oracle backup policy

Instead of creating a new Oracle backup policy and defining each and every setting again, you can duplicate an existing backup policy, and update only the required parameters according to your requirements. When you duplicate a backup policy, the newly-created backup policy details are identical to the original backup policy.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the Hybrid Workloads Management Console. 
  2. Click Oracle > Direct to cloud from the Protect menu. Note that if the All Organizations menu is enabled, you have to first select an organization and then click Oracle > Direct to Cloud.
    The Oracle Servers page opens. 
  3. In the left pane, click the Backup Policies tab.
    The Backup Policies page appears with a list of existing backup policies.
  4. Select the backup policy, which needs to be duplicated.
  5. Click Duplicate. The Duplicate Policy window appears.
    SBTDuplicatePolicy.png
  6. The Selected backup policy field displays the name of the backup policy selected for duplication.
  7. In the New backup policy name, type a name for this new backup policy.
  8. In the Description field, type a description for this backup policy.
  9. Click Duplicate.
  10. A backup policy is created with settings similar to the original backup policy and listed on the Backup Policies page. 
  11. Click the name of the backup policy to view its details. You can edit the settings as per your requirement and save the policy. You can then assign the backup policy to a database, which defines the backup schedule.

Delete backup policy

If you are a cloud-derived or a group-derived administrator, you can delete backup policies that are not assigned to databases. Before you delete a backup policy associated with a database, ensure that you assign a new backup policy to the database.

Note: If the backup policy has Data Lock enabled, you cannot manually delete this backup policy.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the Hybrid Workloads Management Console. 
  2. Click Oracle > Direct to cloud from the Protect menu. Note that if the All Organizations menu is enabled, you have to first select an organization and then click Oracle > Direct to Cloud.
    The Oracle Servers page opens. 
  3. In the left pane, click the Backup Policies tab.
    On the Backup Policies page, click the backup policy which needs to be deleted.
  4.  On the backup policies details page, click Delete.
    Default_SBT_Backup_Policy.png
    A dialog box appears asking for your confirmation.
  5. Click Yes.