System Administrator’s Guide U42252-J-Z915-1-76

2 Introduction
This guide to Backing up and Restoring a Database describes the functionality,
installation, configuration and adminstration of the NetWorker component “Net-
Worker Save and Restore for ORAcle (NSR-ORA)” V3.2. This software compo-
nent allows to integrate ORACLE databases into the Networker data backup
concept.
NetWorker is intended for automatic data backup in heterogeneous networks.
Among its advantages are the large number of supported backup media and
simple user prompting in spite of the wide range of functions. However, the
backup of database files with NetWorker is only possible offline. Where a data-
base needs to be recovered, NetWorker can restore the faulty files and return
the database to a consistent, updated status, although additional steps need to
be performed with ORACLE tools.
NSR-ORA closes the gap between NetWorker and ORACLE as it can commu-
nicate with both of them. It can be used to back up ORACLE databases online
or offline. Backup is possible in normal and compressed modes. Whether the
database is located in a Unix file system or on raw devices is immaterial. When
using NetApp NAS filers the database can be backed up on tapes and also as
a snapshot on the NAS filer directly. The database (thus also NSR-ORA) and
the NetWorker server need not be installed on the same computer; database
backup is also possible from NetWorker clients.
NSR-ORA enables you to initiate the recovery of an inconsistent database to a
specific second automatically. NSR-ORA automatically checks the status of the
database and commences the required restore and recovery measures to
restore the current status. This means that you can perform a database recov-
ery at any time even without any knowledge of ORACLE (you will find further
information about recovery in the chapter “Recovery”).
For a better understanding of the database interface, the fundamental ORACLE
database terms are described briefly below:
●The physical database structure
●The logical database structure
●The database backup
●Archive mode of the database.