Performing common RMAN tasks for Oracle DB instances - Amazon Relational Database Service
Common parametersValidating DB instance filesControlling block change trackingCrosschecking archived redo logsBacking up archived redo logsPerforming a full backupPerforming an incremental backupBacking up a tablespaceBacking up a control file

Performing common RMAN tasks for Oracle DB instances

In the following section, you can find how you can perform Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) DBA tasks on your Amazon RDS DB instances running Oracle. To deliver a managed service experience, Amazon RDS doesn't provide shell access to DB instances. It also restricts access to certain system procedures and tables that require advanced privileges.

You can use the Amazon RDS package rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util to perform RMAN backups of your Amazon RDS for Oracle database to disk. The rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util package supports full and incremental database file backups, tablespace backups, and archive log backups.

RMAN backups consume storage space on the Amazon RDS DB instance host. When you perform a backup, you specify an Oracle directory object as a parameter in the procedure call. The backup files are placed in the specified directory. You can use default directories, such as DATA_PUMP_DIR, or create a new directory. For more information, see Creating and dropping directories in the main data storage space.

After an RMAN backup has finished, you can copy the backup files off the Amazon RDS for Oracle DB instance host. You might do this for the purpose of restoring to a non-RDS host or for long-term storage of backups. For example, you can copy the backup files to an Amazon S3 bucket. For more information, see using Amazon S3 integration.

The backup files for RMAN backups remain on the Amazon RDS DB instance host until you remove them manually. You can use the UTL_FILE.FREMOVE Oracle procedure to remove files from a directory. For more information, see FREMOVE procedure in the Oracle documentation.

When backing up archived redo logs or performing a full or incremental backup that includes archived redo logs, redo log retention must be set to a nonzero value. For more information, see Retaining archived redo logs.

Note

For backing up and restoring to another Amazon RDS for Oracle DB instance, you can continue to use the Amazon RDS backup and restore features. For more information, see Backing up and restoring

Currently, RMAN restore isn't supported for Amazon RDS for Oracle DB instances.

Common parameters for RMAN procedures

You can use procedures in the Amazon RDS package rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util to perform tasks with RMAN. Several parameters are common to the procedures in the package. The package has the following common parameters.

Parameter name Data type Valid values Default Required Description

p_directory_name

varchar2

A valid database directory name.

—

Yes

The name of the directory to contain the backup files.

p_label

varchar2

a-z, A-Z, 0-9, '_', '-', '.'

—

No

A unique string that is included in the backup file names.

Note

The limit is 30 characters.

p_owner

varchar2

A valid owner of the directory specified in p_directory_name.

—

Yes

The owner of the directory to contain the backup files.

p_tag

varchar2

a-z, A-Z, 0-9, '_', '-', '.'

NULL

No

A string that can be used to distinguish between backups to indicate the purpose or usage of backups, such as daily, weekly, or incremental-level backups.

The limit is 30 characters. The tag is not case-sensitive. Tags are always stored in uppercase, regardless of the case used when entering them.

Tags don't need to be unique, so multiple backups can have the same tag.

If you don't specify a tag, then RMAN assigns a default tag automatically using the format TAGYYYYMMDDTHHMMSS, where YYYY is the year, MM is the month, DD is the day, HH is the hour (in 24-hour format), MM is the minutes, and SS is the seconds. The date and time refer to when RMAN started the backup.

For example, a backup might receive a tag TAG20190927T214517 for a backup that started on 2019-09-27 at 21:45:17.

The p_tag parameter is supported for the following Amazon RDS for Oracle DB engine versions:

  • Oracle Database 21c (21.0.0)

  • Oracle Database 19c (19.0.0), using 19.0.0.0.ru-2021-10.rur-2021-10.r1 or higher

  • Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2), using 12.2.0.1.ru-2021-10.rur-2021-10.r1 or higher

  • Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), using 12.1.0.2.V26 or higher

p_compress

boolean

TRUE, FALSE

FALSE

No

Specify TRUE to enable BASIC backup compression.

Specify FALSE to disable BASIC backup compression.

p_include_archive_logs

boolean

TRUE, FALSE

FALSE

No

Specify TRUE to include archived redo logs in the backup.

Specify FALSE to exclude archived redo logs from the backup.

If you include archived redo logs in the backup, set retention to one hour or greater using the rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.set_configuration procedure. Also, call the rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.crosscheck_archivelog procedure immediately before running the backup. Otherwise, the backup might fail due to missing archived redo log files that have been deleted by Amazon RDS management procedures.

p_include_controlfile

boolean

TRUE, FALSE

FALSE

No

Specify TRUE to include the control file in the backup.

Specify FALSE to exclude the control file from the backup.

p_optimize

boolean

TRUE, FALSE

TRUE

No

Specify TRUE to enable backup optimization, if archived redo logs are included, to reduce backup size.

Specify FALSE to disable backup optimization.

p_parallel

number

A valid integer between 1 and 254 for Oracle Database Enterprise Edition (EE)

1 for other Oracle Database editions

1

No

Number of channels.

p_rman_to_dbms_output

boolean

TRUE, FALSE

FALSE

No

When TRUE, the RMAN output is sent to the DBMS_OUTPUT package in addition to a file in the BDUMP directory. In SQL*Plus, use SET SERVEROUTPUT ON to see the output.

When FALSE, the RMAN output is only sent to a file in the BDUMP directory.

p_section_size_mb

number

A valid integer

NULL

No

The section size in megabytes (MB).

Validates in parallel by dividing each file into the specified section size.

When NULL, the parameter is ignored.

p_validation_type

varchar2

'PHYSICAL', 'PHYSICAL+LOGICAL'

'PHYSICAL'

No

The level of corruption detection.

Specify 'PHYSICAL' to check for physical corruption. An example of physical corruption is a block with a mismatch in the header and footer.

Specify 'PHYSICAL+LOGICAL' to check for logical inconsistencies in addition to physical corruption. An example of logical corruption is a corrupt block.

Validating DB instance files

You can use the Amazon RDS package rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util to validate Amazon RDS for Oracle DB instance files, such as data files, tablespaces, control files, or server parameter files (SPFILEs).

For more information about RMAN validation, see Validating database files and backups and VALIDATE in the Oracle documentation.

Validating a DB instance

To validate all of the relevant files used by an Amazon RDS Oracle DB instance, use the Amazon RDS procedure rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.validate_database.

This procedure uses the following common parameters for RMAN tasks:

  • p_validation_type

  • p_parallel

  • p_section_size_mb

  • p_rman_to_dbms_output

For more information, see Common parameters for RMAN procedures.

The following example validates the DB instance using the default values for the parameters.

EXEC rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.validate_database;

The following example validates the DB instance using the specified values for the parameters.

BEGIN
    rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.validate_database(
        p_validation_type     => 'PHYSICAL+LOGICAL', 
        p_parallel            => 4,  
        p_section_size_mb     => 10,
        p_rman_to_dbms_output => FALSE);
END;
/

When the p_rman_to_dbms_output parameter is set to FALSE, the RMAN output is written to a file in the BDUMP directory.

To view the files in the BDUMP directory, run the following SELECT statement.

SELECT * FROM table(rdsadmin.rds_file_util.listdir('BDUMP')) order by mtime;

To view the contents of a file in the BDUMP directory, run the following SELECT statement.

SELECT text FROM table(rdsadmin.rds_file_util.read_text_file('BDUMP','rds-rman-validate-nnn.txt'));

Replace the file name with the name of the file you want to view.

Validating a tablespace

To validate the files associated with a tablespace, use the Amazon RDS procedure rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.validate_tablespace.

This procedure uses the following common parameters for RMAN tasks:

  • p_validation_type

  • p_parallel

  • p_section_size_mb

  • p_rman_to_dbms_output

For more information, see Common parameters for RMAN procedures.

This procedure also uses the following additional parameter.

Parameter name Data type Valid values Default Required Description

p_tablespace_name

varchar2

A valid tablespace name

—

Yes

The name of the tablespace.

Validating a control file

To validate only the control file used by an Amazon RDS Oracle DB instance, use the Amazon RDS procedure rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.validate_current_controlfile.

This procedure uses the following common parameter for RMAN tasks:

  • p_validation_type

  • p_rman_to_dbms_output

For more information, see Common parameters for RMAN procedures.

Validating an SPFILE

To validate only the server parameter file (SPFILE) used by an Amazon RDS Oracle DB instance, use the Amazon RDS procedure rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.validate_spfile.

This procedure uses the following common parameter for RMAN tasks:

  • p_validation_type

  • p_rman_to_dbms_output

For more information, see Common parameters for RMAN procedures.

Validating a data file

To validate a data file, use the Amazon RDS procedure rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.validate_datafile.

This procedure uses the following common parameters for RMAN tasks:

  • p_validation_type

  • p_parallel

  • p_section_size_mb

  • p_rman_to_dbms_output

For more information, see Common parameters for RMAN procedures.

This procedure also uses the following additional parameters.

Parameter name Data type Valid values Default Required Description

p_datafile

varchar2

A valid datafile ID number or a valid datafile name including complete path

—

Yes

The datafile ID number (from v$datafile.file#) or the full datafile name including the path (from v$datafile.name).

p_from_block

number

A valid integer

NULL

No

The number of the block where the validation starts within the data file. When this is NULL, 1 is used.

p_to_block

number

A valid integer

NULL

No

The number of the block where the validation ends within the data file. When this is NULL, the maximum block in the data file is used.

Enabling and disabling block change tracking

Block changing tracking records changed blocks in a tracking file. This technique can improve the performance of RMAN incremental backups. For more information, see Using Block Change Tracking to Improve Incremental Backup Performance in the Oracle Database documentation.

To enable block change tracking for a DB instance, use the Amazon RDS procedure rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.enable_block_change_tracking. To disable block change tracking, use disable_block_change_tracking. These procedures take no parameters.

Read-only replicas support block change tracking. If you create a read-only replica from a source DB that uses block change tracking, the replica uses block change tracking. You can't enable block change tracking on a mounted replica. If you place a mounted replica in read-only mode, block change tracking isn't enabled, but you can enable it using enable_block_change_tracking. If you promote an Oracle replica to a source DB, you can use block change tracking just as for any other Oracle DB instance.

Block change tracking procedures are supported for the following DB engine versions:

  • Oracle Database 21c (21.0.0)

  • Oracle Database 19c (19.0.0)

  • Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2), using 12.2.0.1.ru-2019-01.rur-2019-01.r1 or higher

  • Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), using 12.1.0.2.v15 or higher

Note

In a single-tenant CDB, the following operations work, but no customer-visible mechanism can detect the current status of the operations. See also Limitations of a single-tenant CDB.

To determine whether block change tracking is enabled for your DB instance, run the following query.

SELECT STATUS, FILENAME FROM V$BLOCK_CHANGE_TRACKING;

The following example enables block change tracking for a DB instance.

EXEC rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.enable_block_change_tracking;

The following example disables block change tracking for a DB instance.

EXEC rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.disable_block_change_tracking;

Crosschecking archived redo logs

You can crosscheck archived redo logs using the Amazon RDS procedure rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.crosscheck_archivelog.

You can use this procedure to crosscheck the archived redo logs registered in the control file and optionally delete the expired logs records. When RMAN makes a backup, it creates a record in the control file. Over time, these records increase the size of the control file. We recommend that you remove expired records periodically.

Note

Standard Amazon RDS backups don't use RMAN and therefore don't create records in the control file.

This procedure uses the common parameter p_rman_to_dbms_output for RMAN tasks.

For more information, see Common parameters for RMAN procedures.

This procedure also uses the following additional parameter.

Parameter name Data type Valid values Default Required Description

p_delete_expired

boolean

TRUE, FALSE

TRUE

No

When TRUE, delete expired archived redo log records from the control file.

When FALSE, retain the expired archived redo log records in the control file.

This procedure is supported for the following Amazon RDS for Oracle DB engine versions:

  • Oracle Database 21c (21.0.0)

  • Oracle Database 19c (19.0.0)

  • Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2), using 12.2.0.1.ru-2019-01.rur-2019-01.r1 or higher

  • Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), using 12.1.0.2.v15 or higher

The following example marks archived redo log records in the control file as expired, but does not delete the records.

BEGIN
    rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.crosscheck_archivelog(
        p_delete_expired      => FALSE,  
        p_rman_to_dbms_output => FALSE);
END;
/

The following example deletes expired archived redo log records from the control file.

BEGIN
    rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.crosscheck_archivelog(
        p_delete_expired      => TRUE,  
        p_rman_to_dbms_output => FALSE);
END;
/

Backing up archived redo logs

You can use the Amazon RDS package rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util to back up archived redo logs for an Amazon RDS Oracle DB instance.

The procedures for backing up archived redo logs are supported for the following Amazon RDS for Oracle DB engine versions:

  • Oracle Database 21c (21.0.0)

  • Oracle Database 19c (19.0.0)

  • Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2), using 12.2.0.1.ru-2019-01.rur-2019-01.r1 or higher

  • Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), using 12.1.0.2.v15 or higher

Backing up all archived redo logs

To back up all of the archived redo logs for an Amazon RDS Oracle DB instance, use the Amazon RDS procedure rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.backup_archivelog_all.

This procedure uses the following common parameters for RMAN tasks:

  • p_owner

  • p_directory_name

  • p_label

  • p_parallel

  • p_compress

  • p_rman_to_dbms_output

  • p_tag

For more information, see Common parameters for RMAN procedures.

The following example backs up all archived redo logs for the DB instance.


BEGIN
    rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.backup_archivelog_all(
        p_owner               => 'SYS', 
        p_directory_name      => 'MYDIRECTORY',
        p_parallel            => 4, 
        p_tag                 => 'MY_LOG_BACKUP',
        p_rman_to_dbms_output => FALSE);
END;
/

Backing up an archived redo log from a date range

To back up specific archived redo logs for an Amazon RDS Oracle DB instance by specifying a date range, use the Amazon RDS procedure rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.backup_archivelog_date. The date range specifies which archived redo logs to back up.

This procedure uses the following common parameters for RMAN tasks:

  • p_owner

  • p_directory_name

  • p_label

  • p_parallel

  • p_compress

  • p_rman_to_dbms_output

  • p_tag

For more information, see Common parameters for RMAN procedures.

This procedure also uses the following additional parameters.

Parameter name Data type Valid values Default Required Description

p_from_date

date

A date that is between the start_date and next_date of an archived redo log that exists on disk. The value must be less than or equal to the value specified for p_to_date.

—

Yes

The starting date for the archived log backups.

p_to_date

date

A date that is between the start_date and next_date of an archived redo log that exists on disk. The value must be greater than or equal to the value specified for p_from_date.

—

Yes

The ending date for the archived log backups.

The following example backs up archived redo logs in the date range for the DB instance.


BEGIN
    rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.backup_archivelog_date(
        p_owner               => 'SYS', 
        p_directory_name      => 'MYDIRECTORY',
        p_from_date           => '03/01/2019 00:00:00',
        p_to_date             => '03/02/2019 00:00:00',
        p_parallel            => 4,  
        p_tag                 => 'MY_LOG_BACKUP',
        p_rman_to_dbms_output => FALSE);
END;
/

Backing up an archived redo log from an SCN range

To back up specific archived redo logs for an Amazon RDS Oracle DB instance by specifying a system change number (SCN) range, use the Amazon RDS procedure rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.backup_archivelog_scn. The SCN range specifies which archived redo logs to back up.

This procedure uses the following common parameters for RMAN tasks:

  • p_owner

  • p_directory_name

  • p_label

  • p_parallel

  • p_compress

  • p_rman_to_dbms_output

  • p_tag

For more information, see Common parameters for RMAN procedures.

This procedure also uses the following additional parameters.

Parameter name Data type Valid values Default Required Description

p_from_scn

number

An SCN of an archived redo log that exists on disk. The value must be less than or equal to the value specified for p_to_scn.

—

Yes

The starting SCN for the archived log backups.

p_to_scn

number

An SCN of an archived redo log that exists on disk. The value must be greater than or equal to the value specified for p_from_scn.

—

Yes

The ending SCN for the archived log backups.

The following example backs up archived redo logs in the SCN range for the DB instance.


BEGIN
    rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.backup_archivelog_scn(
        p_owner               => 'SYS', 
        p_directory_name      => 'MYDIRECTORY',
        p_from_scn            => 1533835,
        p_to_scn              => 1892447,
        p_parallel            => 4,
        p_tag                 => 'MY_LOG_BACKUP',
        p_rman_to_dbms_output => FALSE);
END;
/

Backing up an archived redo log from a sequence number range

To back up specific archived redo logs for an Amazon RDS Oracle DB instance by specifying a sequence number range, use the Amazon RDS procedure rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.backup_archivelog_sequence. The sequence number range specifies which archived redo logs to back up.

This procedure uses the following common parameters for RMAN tasks:

  • p_owner

  • p_directory_name

  • p_label

  • p_parallel

  • p_compress

  • p_rman_to_dbms_output

  • p_tag

For more information, see Common parameters for RMAN procedures.

This procedure also uses the following additional parameters.

Parameter name Data type Valid values Default Required Description

p_from_sequence

number

A sequence number an archived redo log that exists on disk. The value must be less than or equal to the value specified for p_to_sequence.

—

Yes

The starting sequence number for the archived log backups.

p_to_sequence

number

A sequence number of an archived redo log that exists on disk. The value must be greater than or equal to the value specified for p_from_sequence.

—

Yes

The ending sequence number for the archived log backups.

The following example backs up archived redo logs in the sequence number range for the DB instance.

BEGIN
    rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.backup_archivelog_sequence(
        p_owner               => 'SYS', 
        p_directory_name      => 'MYDIRECTORY',
        p_from_sequence       => 11160,
        p_to_sequence         => 11160,
        p_parallel            => 4,  
        p_tag                 => 'MY_LOG_BACKUP',
        p_rman_to_dbms_output => FALSE);
END;
/

Performing a full database backup

You can perform a backup of all blocks of data files included in the backup using Amazon RDS procedure rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.backup_database_full.

This procedure uses the following common parameters for RMAN tasks:

  • p_owner

  • p_directory_name

  • p_label

  • p_parallel

  • p_section_size_mb

  • p_include_archive_logs

  • p_optimize

  • p_compress

  • p_rman_to_dbms_output

  • p_tag

For more information, see Common parameters for RMAN procedures.

This procedure is supported for the following Amazon RDS for Oracle DB engine versions:

  • Oracle Database 21c (21.0.0)

  • Oracle Database 19c (19.0.0)

  • Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2), using 12.2.0.1.ru-2019-01.rur-2019-01.r1 or higher

  • Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), using 12.1.0.2.v15 or higher

The following example performs a full backup of the DB instance using the specified values for the parameters.

BEGIN
    rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.backup_database_full(
        p_owner               => 'SYS', 
        p_directory_name      => 'MYDIRECTORY',
        p_parallel            => 4,  
        p_section_size_mb     => 10,
        p_tag                 => 'FULL_DB_BACKUP',
        p_rman_to_dbms_output => FALSE);
END;
/

Performing an incremental database backup

You can perform an incremental backup of your DB instance using the Amazon RDS procedure rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.backup_database_incremental.

For more information about incremental backups, see Incremental backups in the Oracle documentation.

This procedure uses the following common parameters for RMAN tasks:

  • p_owner

  • p_directory_name

  • p_label

  • p_parallel

  • p_section_size_mb

  • p_include_archive_logs

  • p_include_controlfile

  • p_optimize

  • p_compress

  • p_rman_to_dbms_output

  • p_tag

For more information, see Common parameters for RMAN procedures.

This procedure is supported for the following Amazon RDS for Oracle DB engine versions:

  • Oracle Database 21c (21.0.0)

  • Oracle Database 19c (19.0.0)

  • Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2), using 12.2.0.1.ru-2019-01.rur-2019-01.r1 or higher

  • Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), using 12.1.0.2.v15 or higher

This procedure also uses the following additional parameter.

Parameter name Data type Valid values Default Required Description

p_level

number

0, 1

0

No

Specify 0 to enable a full incremental backup.

Specify 1 to enable a non-cumulative incremental backup.

The following example performs an incremental backup of the DB instance using the specified values for the parameters.

BEGIN
    rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.backup_database_incremental(
        p_owner               => 'SYS', 
        p_directory_name      => 'MYDIRECTORY',
        p_level               => 1,
        p_parallel            => 4,  
        p_section_size_mb     => 10,
        p_tag                 => 'MY_INCREMENTAL_BACKUP',
        p_rman_to_dbms_output => FALSE);
END;
/

Backing up a tablespace

You can back up a tablespace using the Amazon RDS procedure rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.backup_tablespace.

This procedure uses the following common parameters for RMAN tasks:

  • p_owner

  • p_directory_name

  • p_label

  • p_parallel

  • p_section_size_mb

  • p_include_archive_logs

  • p_include_controlfile

  • p_optimize

  • p_compress

  • p_rman_to_dbms_output

  • p_tag

For more information, see Common parameters for RMAN procedures.

This procedure also uses the following additional parameter.

Parameter name Data type Valid values Default Required Description

p_tablespace_name

varchar2

A valid tablespace name.

—

Yes

The name of the tablespace to back up.

This procedure is supported for the following Amazon RDS for Oracle DB engine versions:

  • Oracle Database 21c (21.0.0)

  • Oracle Database 19c (19.0.0)

  • Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2), using 12.2.0.1.ru-2019-01.rur-2019-01.r1 or higher

  • Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), using 12.1.0.2.v15 or higher

The following example performs a tablespace backup using the specified values for the parameters.

BEGIN
    rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.backup_tablespace(
        p_owner               => 'SYS', 
        p_directory_name      => 'MYDIRECTORY',
        p_tablespace_name     => MYTABLESPACE,
        p_parallel            => 4,  
        p_section_size_mb     => 10,
        p_tag                 => 'MYTABLESPACE_BACKUP',
        p_rman_to_dbms_output => FALSE);
END;
/

Backing up a control file

You can back up a control file using the Amazon RDS procedure rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.backup_current_controlfile.

This procedure uses the following common parameters for RMAN tasks:

  • p_owner

  • p_directory_name

  • p_label

  • p_compress

  • p_rman_to_dbms_output

  • p_tag

For more information, see Common parameters for RMAN procedures.

This procedure is supported for the following Amazon RDS for Oracle DB engine versions:

  • Oracle Database 21c (21.0.0)

  • Oracle Database 19c (19.0.0)

  • Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2), using 12.2.0.1.ru-2019-01.rur-2019-01.r1 or higher

  • Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), using 12.1.0.2.v15 or higher

The following example backs up a control file using the specified values for the parameters.

BEGIN
    rdsadmin.rdsadmin_rman_util.backup_current_controlfile(
        p_owner               => 'SYS', 
        p_directory_name      => 'MYDIRECTORY',
        p_tag                 => 'CONTROL_FILE_BACKUP',
        p_rman_to_dbms_output => FALSE);
END;
/