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RACLE BACKUP

BUYER’SGUIDE

SOFTWARE SOLUTI

ONS

© 2011 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved.

2011 ORACLE BACKUP SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS BUYER’S GUIDEThe Insider’s Guide to Evaluating Oracle Backup Software Solutions

By Will Boudreau, Carl Rubin and Jerome Wendt

www.monumentdata.com

http://www.dciginc.com

www.monumentdata.com

© 2011 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved.

DCIG 2011 ORACLE BACKUP SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS BUYER’S GUIDEThe Insider’s Guide to Evaluating Oracle Backup Software Solutions

Table of Contents

i

1 Introduction

4 Executive Summary

6 How to Use this Oracle Backup Software Solutions Buyer’s Guide

6 Disclosures

7 The Seven-Step Process Used to Score and Rank the Oracle Backup Software Solutions

7 Observations and Recommendations Regarding Each Backup Software Ranking

9 Recommended and/or Best-in-Class

9 Excellent

9 Good

10 Basic

11 Oracle Backup Software Solutions Scores and Rankings

12 Overall

13 Oracle Integration

14 Oracle Backup Software Solutions Buyer's Guide Data Sheets

15 Arkeia Network Backup 9

16 Asigra Cloud Backup™

17 Atempo Time Navigator

4.2 SP6 Oracle Module

18 CA ARCserve r15

19 Commvault® Simpana® 9

20 EMC Avamar 6.0

21 EMC Networker 7.6 SP2

22 HP Data Protector 6.2

23 Innovation FDR/UPSTREAM client and

UPSTREAM Reservoir client v 3.6.3

24 NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup

25 Quest Software NetVault Backup 8.5.3

26 Quest Software LiteSpeed® Engine

for Oracle 2.1

Appendix A Definitions, Explanations and Terminology

B Oracle Backup Software Provider Contact Information

C Author Contact Information

27 Product Rankings Dashboard

© 2011 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. 1


Introduction

This DCIG 2011 Oracle Backup Software Solution Buyer’s Guide is the latest in the ongoing series of Buyer’s Guides that DCIG began producing in 2010. Unlike other Buyer’s Guides that only look at factors that influence buying decisions of a particular and/or a limited number of products, DCIG Buyer’s Guides take a comprehensive look at products in a particular market segment. DCIG then weights and scores the products in that space and publishes the results without bias.

Like every other Buyer’s Guide that DCIG has produced, the Oracle Backup Software Solutions Buyer’s Guide was produced without any vendor sponsorship. Vendors of the products covered in this Buyer’s Guide are only given the opportunity to license and market the final results once DCIG’s research is complete.

This particular Buyer’s Guide is collaboration between Jerome Wendt of DCIG, LLC, (DCIG) and Carl Rubin and Will Boudreau of Monument Data Solutions LLC (Monument). Our intent in producing this Buyer’s Guide is to provide a resource for vendors, end-users, and others that establish the landscape for Oracle Backup Software Solutions and the important features and functions that the vendors of this technology are offering.

This Buyer’s Guide is intended as a complement to the evaluation and buying process that compa-nies must normally undertake themselves. It provides a comprehensive handbook to help them shorten the time and reduce the effort needed to evaluate Oracle Backup Software Solutions.

One of the goals of this and every DCIG Buyer’s Guide is to accelerate the evaluation process for the end-user. Jerome’s extensive experience and research into a variety of data storage and data protection technologies coupled with Carl and Will’s years of experience managing and support-ing Oracle databases and backups collectively convinced us that there was a dearth of informa-tion about which backup solutions were best suited to backup and recover Oracle databases.

As such, it was determined that a DCIG Buyer’s Guide that identified and positioned the land-scape would be of tremendous value to vendors, end-users, and others. Using it they could quickly and easily approach this space and, with much less upfront research, discovery, and analysis, more confidently arrive at an insightful, informed conclusion as to how to best proceed.

Putting together this Oracle Backup Software Solution Buyer’s Guide validated our belief that the discovery and evaluation of products in this space is both arduous and resource-intensive. In a segment as complex as backing up Oracle databases, just identifying the vendors that offer specialized products in this space can be challenging.

Short-listing which features matter in each product and weighting each one is even more difficult, especially for companies and/or individuals that are new to backing up Oracle databases. They many times are not aware of the breadth of products and features in this space and may not have the time to do the initial research and then an exhaustive evaluation of available solutions.

Our Methodology

In preparing this Buyer’s Guide, DCIG and Monument identified over 30 vendors who were potentially candidates for inclusion and sent them surveys to complete. However what we found was that a number of vendors that organizations may normally associate with Oracle backup (IBM, Symantec and others) declined to complete the survey associated with this particular Buyer’s Guide.



Introduction continued

The reason they most often cited for not participating is that their backup software does not offer the advanced integration to backup Oracle databases that the majority of the products found in this Buyer’s Guide provide. Other backup software products that are specifically targeted at virtual backup also declined to participate because Oracle does not certify the backup of Oracle databases on virtual server platforms other than the one Oracle resells.

Responses such as these further helped to exemplify why a Buyer’s Guide like this one was needed. The vendors that were included in this Buyer’s Guide completed a questionnaire that contained more than 60 yes/no and multiple choice questions. The survey included questions in the areas of Database Technology, Database Versions, Backup, Restore, Oracle RMAN, and Support.

Once DCIG received back the completed surveys, DCIG and Monument tabulated and assembled all of the responses. As part of our process, we also spoke to end-users to get a sense of what their specific needs were in these various areas as well as how they prioritized and weighted specific features.

Monument then took the lead in assessing the vendors’ capabilities indicated in the question-naire using vendor submitted information as well as information available in the public domain. Vendors’ capabilities were then evaluated by applying weighting based on our conversations with end-users as well as our own expertise and understanding of where the Oracle backup and recovery market is headed.

After we compiled all of the scores, we then assessed what constituted a “Best-in-Class” and/or “Recommended” solution, an “Excellent” solution, a “Good” solution, and which solu-tions provided more “Basic” functionality.

Each vendor in this Buyer’s Guide has something to offer in the right scenario and applica-tion. “Best-in-Class,” “Recommended,” “Excellent,” “Good,” and “Basic” are a measure of how much functionality and capability each solution has relative to the overall landscape—not whether the solution is the right and appropriate fit for any particular end-user’s needs.

This Buyer’s Guide will therefore NOT tell you which solution is necessarily best for your environment. Only YOU can make that decision. Rather, it removes the heavy lifting that you would otherwise have to do to understand the vendor landscape and the features and functions to focus on.

This Oracle Backup Software Solutions Buyer’s Guide:

• ListseachindividualOracleBackupSoftwareSolution

• ListsdifferentOraclebackupsoftwarefeatures

•Weightsthesefeaturesaccordingtowhatendusersconsidermostimportant

• Scoresandranksthefeaturesoneachproductbaseduponthecriteriathat matters most to users

• Providesanobjective,third-partyevaluationofOraclebackupsoftwarefrom an end-user’s viewpoint



• Providesdatasheetsfor12OracleBackupSoftwareSolutionstoenable quick comparisons of the features that are supported or not supported by each backup software

• FurtheralignstheOracleBackupSoftwareSolutionsbyfunctionalityto help you determine which vendors fit best with specific functionality needs

• Providescontactinformationforeachvendortoaccelerateyourabilityto contact the vendors.

• ProvidesrecommendationsonhowtobestusethisOracleBackupSoftware Solutions Buyer’s Guide

The end result is that this Buyer’s Guide gives users the opportunity to do “at-a-glance” comparisons between different Oracle Backup Software Solutions. Using these results, orga-nizations can quickly come up with a short list of products that meet their specific needs and either go directly to a product evaluation with select products or even opt to immediately get competitive bids on these products.

Note that this Buyer’s Guide is not intended to be a substitute for bringing individual products into your environment and testing them in-house with your applications. That function should still be done since these products may behave differently under different application work-loads and in different environments. However what this Buyer’s Guide will do is help you get to that buying decision and/or testing stage more quickly.

We hope this Buyer’s Guide meets this intended purpose in your environment.

Carl, Will and Jerome

Introduction continued



As more organizations have chosen Oracle databases, the need for an efficient, effective, and reliable backup solution is critical as this marketplace is changing in two ways. First, larger orga-nizations are increasing the number and size of instances; and, second, smaller organizations with limited IT staff are now purchasing Oracle databases.

Another big change is the number of organizations that have instituted and/or are looking to institute failover and disaster recovery for their business critical systems is on the rise. As the cost of hardware continues to decline and backup software continues to offer more options to do advanced forms of recovery, it is becoming both more affordable and practical for any size business to achieve this objective.

Oracle databases and the applications that rely upon these databases are at the top of the list for most organizations in terms of putting in place solutions that provide failover and recovery. These are most often business critical applications that have the least amount of tolerance for downtime and the highest demand for fast, reliable recoveries.

Of course, the key to executing on these ideals is to first successfully backup your Oracle data-bases and then have a methodology in place to either reload this Oracle database in its existing location or another site to continue business operations.

The difficulty then becomes choosing the right solution to deliver on these tasks. In addition to the time it takes to compare and review different products, each organization has its own particular backup and recovery requirements that it often needs to first define and understand before it can select the correct solution and then properly install so they can backup and recover a single specific Oracle database instance or multiple types of Oracle instances.

The challenge associated with protecting Oracle databases has been growing and becoming especially acute in the mid-market. Monument has found in its practice a growing number of smaller firms are utilizing Oracle databases as a result of their purchases of business applica-tions that run on Oracle databases beneath the covers.

So they are not choosing Oracle per se. Instead they now need to protect Oracle databases as a result of bringing a specific business application in house. This puts the onus on IT depart-ment to protect Oracle databases as part of their other duties.

Both DCIG and Monument have for some time been watching these trends and hearing from end-users that some guidance is needed on the Oracle Backup Software landscape. In fact, since DCIG announced on its website in the form of a blog entry that it was producing a Buyer’s Guide on Oracle Backup Software Solutions, it has become one of the most viewed entries on DCIG’s website. This combination of factors has resulted in the decision to produce this initial Buyer’s Guide on Oracle Backup Software Solutions.

This Buyer’s Guide is the result of a multi-month effort talking to multiple vendors about their solutions and then developing a survey with over 60 different yes/no and multiple choice ques-tions that covered a broad range of features and functionality as it relates to Oracle backup.

Executive Summary



The goal of this Buyer’s Guide is to:

• IdentifythemainfeaturesandfunctionsofOracleBackupSoftwareSolutions

• Providearankingofthevendorsacrosstwomajorcategories

• Presentinsighttohelpend-usersperformthoroughevaluations.

• Impartexpertisebyweightingthequestionstohelporganizationswadethroughthefeaturesand functions to understand which are more important than others

This Buyer’s Guide cannot tell you the “right” solution for your environment. Rather this Oracle Backup Software Solutions Buyer’s Guide will help you focus your attention more quickly in the right areas, identify important features to evaluate, ask the right questions, accelerate your evaluation, strategy, and decision-making, and then provide you with a reference and audit trail to justify your conclusions.

Executive Summary continued



How to Use this Oracle Backup Software Solutions Buyer’s GuideThis Buyer’s Guide should help you initiate an evaluation of backup software for your Oracle databases and create a short list of vendors to consider.

“Best-in-Class” and/or “Recommended,” “Excellent,” “Good,” and “Basic” are a measure of how much function-ality and capability each solution has relative to the overall landscape—not whether the solution is the right and appro-priate fit for any particular’s end-user’s needs.

This Oracle Backup Software Solutions Buyer’s Guide will therefore not tell you which solutions to eliminate. Instead the intent of this Buyer’s Guide is to take the place of the heavy lifting that organizations normally need to do to understand the vendor landscape and the features and functions that each Oracle backup software solution has to offer.

This Buyer’s Guide ranks the products from more complete functionality to lesser amounts of functionality. This does not therefore tell you which functionality, which features, or what amount of functionality is the best fit for your envi-ronment. You should instead use this Buyer’s Guide as a handbook in evaluating Oracle Backup Software Solutions to understand:

•Whotheplayersare

•Whatfeaturesandfunctionsareavailable

• Thespecificfeaturesandfunctionsavailableon each product

•Whichspecificfeaturesandfunctionstofocuson.

This Oracle Backup Software Solutions Buyer’s Guide should help you in the following five ways:

1. Accelerate your ability to assess the Oracle

database backup software market place.

2. More quickly develop a “short-list” of backup

software vendors that are a good fit for

your environment.

3. Use the Oracle Backup Software Solution

Buyer’s Guide as a complement and “audit trail”

in your evaluation process.

DCIG and Monument have already gone through a rigorous process of first scoring the products and then ranking them as “Best-in-Class,” “Recommended,” “Excellent,” “Good” and “Basic.” This provides a solid starting point when doing a comparative analysis of the different features and functions that each product provides as this Buyer’s Guide includes standardized data sheets for each Oracle Backup Software Solution.

Because each Oracle Backup Software Solution looks different and contains different features and functions, it is difficult to make side-by-side comparisons. This Buyer’s Guide tackles this problem by creating a standard, easy to read reference data sheet for every Oracle Backup Software Solution. In this way, product data sheets for individual products can be printed out, laid down side by side and then the features on them quickly compared.

4. This Buyer’s Guide normalizes complex

Oracle Database backup terminology.

Every industry has a proclivity to adopt acronyms and jargon that is specific to it and the Oracle database market is no different in that it not only uses unfamiliar terms but sometimes refers to the same technology in different ways which complicates any attempts to do an objective evaluation of a technology. This Buyer’s Guide attempts to explain and normalize the jargon specific to Oracle backup while seeking to enhance the quality and productivity of the discussions around the technology.

5. Provides a concise summary of each vendor’s

strengths and weaknesses around the major

categories of this report.

DisclosuresThe general trend in the U.S. over the last few years has been, for better or for worse, for both large and boutique analyst firms to receive some or all of their revenue from software providers.

DCIG is no different in this respect in that DCIG receives payment for the different services it performs for storage providers. The sponsored services that DCIG provides include blogging, case studies, product reviews, executive white papers, special reports and full-length white papers. For more information on DCIG, visit www.dcig.com.

www.dcig.com



In the interest of being fully transparent, a number of the storage providers included in this Oracle Backup Software Solutions Buyer’s Guide are or have been DCIG clients. No vendors, however, whether clients or not, have been afforded preferential treatment in this Buyer’s Guide.

The client relationship means that we have more complete and better knowledge of a specific vendor’s products and solutions, and that DCIG would consider their Oracle Backup Software Solution for inclusion in this Buyer’s Guide.

In that vein, there are a number of important facts to keep in mind when considering the information contained in this Oracle Backup Software Solutions Buyers Guide and its merit.

•NostorageproviderpaidDCIGorMonumentanyfee(s)to develop this Buyer’s Guide.

•NeitherDCIGnorMonumentprovidedanyguarantee to a Oracle Backup Software vendor that their solution would be included in this Buyer’s Guide.

•NeitherDCIGnorMonumentprovidedanyguaranteeorassurance to any vendor about how their solution might be scored in this Buyer’s Guide.

• Allresearchwasbaseduponinformationprovideddirectly by the vendor, research and analysis by DCIG and Monument, and other publicly available information.

•Monumentisanindependentsoftwareconsultancy,working in partnership with DCIG, with no financial or contractual relationship to any of the vendors covered in this Buyer’s Guide. For more information on Monument, visit www.monumentdata.com.

The Seven-Step Process Used to Score and Rank Oracle Backup SoftwareTo score and rank each Oracle Backup Software Solution, DCIG and Monument went through a seven step process to come to the most objective conclusion possible.

1. DCIG and Monument identified the pertinent features available in backup software solutions for the backup and recovery of Oracle databases.

2. DCIG and Monument assessed which features could and should be part of a questionnaire to which vendors would respond. One distinction between a Request for Proposal (RFP) and the Oracle Backup Software

Solutions questionnaire is that we wanted to identify specific differences that are necessary versus those that are “nice to have.” These differences would identify features that would influence a buyer’s decision.

3. A questionnaire was sent to each vendor asking about its Oracle database support for specific backup software features and functions.

4. Each question was assigned a weighting based on our conversations with end-users as well as our own experience and understanding of industry trends.

5. Upon compilation of the vendors’ capabilities against each item in the questionnaire, we looked at each and every vendor capability and scored their capabilities.

6. Scores for each question were then normalized, and summed up as a “Total Score.”

7. The features were broken down into two main categories, “General Oracle Backup” and “Oracle Integration”, with the scores of each shown on each product’s data sheets. The “Total Score” on each data sheet is the sum of the scores of the two categories displayed on each data sheet.

DCIG Observations and Recommendations Regarding Each Backup Software Ranking

Observations

The rankings were based upon what key features and functions that would be needed the most by users of these products.

For example, we felt that the ability to perform a Bare Metal Restore was critical and we gave this particular feature a high rating. A Bare Metal Restore is the capability to restore a system on a new server if the original server has completely failed and is usually a basic tenet of a reliable Disaster Recovery plan.

Conversely, support for legacy Oracle databases that are no longer formally supported by Oracle (identified as 7.x, 8.0.x, 8i, and 9i on the data sheets) we rated as less impor-tant. So while the product’s support of these legacy data-bases is displayed on the data sheets, we did not assign weightings for these features since most organizations are

http://www.monumentdata.com



not using unsupported versions of Oracle. However, having them listed in the data sheets will help those that still do have these requirements and may need this information when comparing the products from different vendors.

Overall, we determined the following features were deserving of higher rankings and were scored and weighted accordingly:

Oracle RMAN and Data Guard

Oracle’s RMAN is becoming a standard for backing up Oracle Databases. However, a majority of organizations still do not use RMAN. Oracle is pushing the marketplace to utilize this process and we feel in the future it may be used more often. A large number of questions on this survey are related to RMAN but if RMAN is not a requirement for your organization, it should be recognized and duly noted in your evaluation process of an Oracle backup software solution.

Other chief RMAN features are the capability to:

•UsetheRMANVALIDATEcommandwithoutscripting.This is important since this does not require a read of the backup to ensure the backup is running properly.

•NativelymakeuseofRMANbackupandrecoverycommands (no scripting required)

•Determinetheappropriatetypeofrecoverybyperform-ing such tasks as checking for data files, control files, archive logs, etc. that are needed to recover a database without using RMAN

Oracle’s Data Guard product is also becoming more popu-lar for use in maintaining Disaster Recovery (DR) systems. We rated backup software highly which maintained, supported, or generated notifications if Data Guard failures occurs. Once a Data Guard database has been setup and updated with log files from the primary database, it is very difficult to resync the two systems if they get out of sync, so knowing about failures is important.

Oracle RAC

Oracle’s Real Application Clusters (RAC) is a clustered database with a shared cache architecture that delivers highly available database solutions. Oracle RAC usually has a primary and secondary database to provide a higher level of system uptime. If the primary database fails, the second-ary database automatically comes online.

If you are using Oracle RAC in your environment, it is criti-cal that your Oracle Backup Software Solution is aware of RAC, can detect if there is a node failure and can continue to perform backups after such a failure occurs. Those systems that were aware of Oracle RAC and had features that supported Oracle RAC functionality were given a higher rating than those that did not.

Other Oracle Backup Types

Other Oracle backup types that we also rated highly were:

• SecureBackup,whichentailssometypeofencryption.

• Cold/offlineBackup

•Hot/onlineBackup

•DiskImageBackup

Backup Media

Since the backup media world is changing, we rated the ability to perform all different types of backup media as very important. The types of media that can be used by the backup software are:

•Cloudstorage(public)

• Disk(NASorSAN)

• Tape

• VirtualTapeLibrary(VTL)

The difference between disk (either NAS or SAN) and a VTL (virtual tape library) is that a VTL looks like a physical tape library from the perspective of the backup software. This ability of backup software to leverage disk in lieu of tape we view as paramount as the industry is rapidly moving away from using tape as the primary backup and restore target and instead using disk in one of its various iterations (Cloud storage, NAS, SAN or VTL.)

The role of tape in many organizations is primarily evolving to that of a secondary backup target in the form of disk-to-disk-to-tape (D2D2T) or to archive data.

Cloud storage is also rapidly coming on the scene as a potential backup target but for now DCIG and Monument recommend that if it is used, it is used primarily in the same way that tape is used —in the form of disk-to-disk-to-cloud (D2D2C). The main concern is the internet bandwidth that



is required to do backups and restores to and from the Cloud. So it is only practical for most companies to use Cloud storage as a secondary backup target or for archive similar to how tape is being increasingly used.

However, it should be noted that the ability to use a Cloud storage minimizes the issues with moving data off-site and opens up new possibilities for DR purposes which tape by itself does not do.

There are different ways to backup an Oracle database. The traditional ways of doing Oracle backups—Cold, Hot (Full), and Hot (Incremental)—are requirements for most environ-ments since they use a combination of these. Most organi-zations will schedule a cold backup at least once a month and use the Hot (Full) backups for their daily backups.

However, with the size of some databases, the ability to do a Hot (Incremental) is very helpful from a backup window standpoint. Again, all of these features and needs depend of database size, backup windows, organizational needs, and potential for failure.

Backup Reporting

A new area that backup software vendors have begun to embrace is running audit reports on database backup successes and failures. This eliminates the need for organizations to write programs that monitor these backup software alerts or reading their log files.

“Best-in-Class” and “Recommended” Rankings

Observations

This Buyer’s Guide measured the rankings by breadth and depth of capability. There are few vendors that have broad and deep enough functionality to be deemed as “Recommended” or “Best-in-Class”—the product

with the top score in each category—as defined in this Buyer’s Guide as vendors with scores of 70 or higher.

•DCIGclassifiesthe“Recommended” Oracle Backup Software Solutions with the top scores.

•CommVaultSimpanaandQuestSoftwareNetVaultBackup received this honor for their strong breadth of Oracle Backup Support and overall Oracle integration.

Quest Software NetVault Backup achieved the “Best-

in-Class” designation in Total Product Score and the Oracle Integration category though the two products by and large ranked fairly consistently across the board.

•WhatendedupgivingQuestSoftwareNetVaultBackupa slight edge was its more advanced Oracle integration with RMAN, Data Guard, and RAC.

“Excellent” Ranking

Observations

Vendors ranked as “Excellent” scored from 60 to 69. Two vendors, EMC NetWorker 7.6 and HP Data Protector 6.2, ranked as “Excellent” overall.

The main shortcomings of these two solutions were that they did not score well on the non-RMAN features. If RMAN is not a requirement for your organization, then these two solutions are very similar to the “Recommended” solu-tions as they both handled key requirements for backing up and restoring Oracle databases as well as RAC, Data Guard, and RMAN integration.

“Good” Ranking

Observations

Vendors ranked as “Good” scored from 48 to 59 with four vendors, Asigra Cloud Backup, Arkeia Network Backup 9, Atempo Time Navigator 4.2 SP6 and CA ARCserve r15 achieving a ranking of “Good.”

The difference between these vendors and the higher rated vendors is that they have not embraced a number of Oracle centric backup and restores feature with a prime example being that they cannot handle backups in a Data Guard environment which would clearly be important if you use Data Guard.

However there are some features on these products worth pointing out. Asigra Cloud Backup has the ability to run audit reports on successful or failed backups which lets the user know about the status of their backups after they are complete. What makes Atempo Time Navigator



noteworthy is that it makes use of the RMAN VALIDATE command whereas other competitive products in this ranking do not.

“Basic” Ranking

Observations

Vendors ranked as “Basic” scored under 48. These included EMC Avamar, Innovation FDR/UPSTREAM, NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup and Quest Software LiteSpeed for Oracle. These solutions can backup and restore your Oracle databases and are intended for use in Oracle environments where the requirements are for simpler Oracle backup and recoveries.

If you do not need these more advanced Oracle backup features, these products may be suitable for your environ-ment. Further, each vendor is continually enhancing its software with more features so that in the future a product in this ranking may be sufficient for a particular organiza-tion’s needs.



ORACLE BACKUP SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS BUYER’S GUIDE SCORES AND RANKINGS

The scores and rankings for the Oracle Backup Software Solutions contain the following information:

•Achartthatincludesthescoresandrankings for all of the products

•Thehighestscore,lowestscoreandmeanthatwere used to establish how each Oracle Backup Software Solution was ranked

•Asummaryoftheprimaryfindings



Overall Scores and Rankings

Oracle Backup Software Solutions SCORE RANKING

1 Quest Software NetVault Backup 8.5.3 76.2 Best-in-Class

2 CommVault Simpana 9 73.9 Recommended

3 EMC NetWorker 7.6 SP2 67.0 Excellent

4 HP Data Protector 6.2 60.5 Excellent

5 Asigra Cloud Backup 55.0 Good

6 CA ARCserve r15 54.4 Good

7 Atempo Time Navigator 4.2 SP6 Oracle Module 54.1 Good

8 Arkeia Network Backup 9 49.2 Good

9 NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup 44.4 Basic

10 Quest Software LiteSpeed Engine for Oracle 2.1 39.1 Basic

11 Innovation FDR/UPSTREAM 38.1 Basic

12 EMC Avamar 6.0 30.5 Basic

Highest Score 76.2 Lowest Score 30.5 Average (Mean) 53.9

Standard Deviation 2.7

Rankings Recommended 70.0 – 76.2 Excellent 60.0 – 69.9 Good 48.0 – 59.9 Basic 30.5 – 47.9

Total Number of Oracle Backup Software Solutions 12



Oracle Integration Scores and Rankings

Oracle Backup Software Solutions SCORE

1 Quest Software NetVault Backup 8.5.3 20.4 Best-in-Class

2 CA ARCserve r15 18.7 Recommended

3 CommVault Simpana 9 16.2 Excellent

4 Quest Software LiteSpeed Engine for Oracle 2.1 13.8 Excellent

5 Arkeia Network Backup 9 12.8 Excellent

6 Atempo Time Navigator 4.2 SP6 Oracle Module 11.1 Good

7 EMC NetWorker 7.6 SP2 10.3 Good

8 HP Data Protector 6.2 9.0 Good

9 Asigra Cloud Backup 8.8 Good

10 EMC Avamar 6.0 5.9 Basic

11 NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup 5.5 Basic

12 Innovation FDR/UPSTREAM 5.4 Basic

Highest Score 20.4 Lowest Score 5.4 Average (Mean) 11.8

Standard Deviation 3.3

Rankings Recommended 17.0 – 20.4 Excellent 12.0 – 16.9 Good 8.0 – 11.9 Basic 5.4 – 7.9

Total Number of Oracle Backup Software Solutions 12



ORACLE BACKUP SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS BUYER’S GUIDE DATA SHEETS

DETECT ORACLE RAC NODE FAILURES AND STILL BACKUP

DATABASE BACKUP IN DATA GUARD ENVIRONMENT

ALERT CONFIGURATION (Email and/or SNMP)

RMAN

ORACLE FLASHBACK RECOVERY

ORACLE FAST RECOVERY

AUDIT REPORTS

DIFFERENT ORACLE DBA SECURITY ROLES

DEDUPLICATION

REPLICATION

SNAPSHOTS

CLONING

BARE METAL RESTORE

BACKUP SOFTWARE FEATURES

BLOCK CHANGE

COLD/OFFLINE

HOT/ONLINE

DISK IMAGE

FULL

INCREMENTAL

CUMULATIVE INCREMENTAL

DIFFERENTIAL INCREMENTAL

LAN-FREE

RAW PARTITION

SERVERLESS

MEDIA TYPES

DISK

TAPE

VTL

CLOUD

DCIG Scores and Rankings

General Oracle Backup

O

RACLE BACKUP

BUYER’SGUIDE

SOFTWARE SOLUTI

ONS

©2011 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such. The information, product recommendations and opinions made by DCIG, LLC are based upon public information and from sources that DCIG, LLC believes to be accurate and reliable. 15

Supported Unsupported

Backup Software Functionality

LEGACY DATABASE SUPPORT

7.X.X

8.0.X

8 i

9 i

ENCRYPTION OPTIONS

RMAN ENCRYPTION

BACKUP SOFTWARE ENCRYPTION

RMAN INTEGRATION

APIS

CLI

COMMAND FILES

DBMS_PIPE

EXTERNAL SCRIPTS

GUI

SCRIPT EDITOR/GENERATOR

DBVERIFY

EXPORT

IMPORT

DATA PUMP

NATIVE ORACLE BACKUP METHODS

ORACLE COLD

ORACLE HOT (Ful l )

ORACLE HOT ( Incremental)

PARTIAL DATABASE BACKUPS

HARDWARE BASED (RMAN supported)

HARDWARE BASED (non-RMAN supported)

RMAN PROXY COPY

FAST RECOVERY AREA

ORACLE VM

ORACLE CLOUD COMPUTING

AUTOMATIC STORAGE MANAGEMENT (ASM)

CROSS-PLATFORM TRANSPORTABLE TABLESPACE

ORACLE INTEGRATION

ORACLE RAC

ORACLE CLUSTERWARE

ORACLE DATA GUARD

ORACLE GOLDENGATE

ORACLE STREAMS

ORACLE SECURE BACKUP

FLASHBACK TECHNOLOGIES

Arkeia Network Backup 9

49.2 Total Score 36.4 General Oracle Backup 12.8 Oracle IntegrationGood Good Excellent

DBVERIFY

EXPORT

IMPORT

DATA PUMP


ORACLE COLD

ORACLE HOT (Ful l )





RMAN PROXY COPY

ENCRYPTION OPTIONS

RMAN ENCRYPTION




O

RACLE BACKUP

BUYER’SGUIDE

SOFTWARE SOLUTI

ONS





7.X.X

8.0.X

8 i

9 i

RMAN INTEGRATION

APIS

CLI

COMMAND FILES

DBMS_PIPE

EXTERNAL SCRIPTS

GUI


MEDIA TYPES

DISK

TAPE

VTL

CLOUD




RMAN



AUDIT REPORTS


DEDUPLICATION

REPLICATION

SNAPSHOTS

CLONING

BARE METAL RESTORE


BLOCK CHANGE

COLD/OFFLINE

HOT/ONLINE

DISK IMAGE

FULL

INCREMENTAL



LAN-FREE

RAW PARTITION

SERVERLESS

FAST RECOVERY AREA

ORACLE VM




ORACLE INTEGRATION

ORACLE RAC

ORACLE CLUSTERWARE

ORACLE DATA GUARD

ORACLE GOLDENGATE

ORACLE STREAMS



Asigra Cloud Backup™

55.0 Total Score 46.2 General Oracle Backup 8.8 Oracle IntegrationGood Excellent Good

DBVERIFY

EXPORT

IMPORT

DATA PUMP

MEDIA TYPES

DISK

TAPE

VTL

CLOUD



O

RACLE BACKUP

BUYER’SGUIDE

SOFTWARE SOLUTI

ONS





7.X.X

8.0.X

8 i

9 i

ENCRYPTION OPTIONS

RMAN ENCRYPTION


RMAN INTEGRATION

APIS

CLI

COMMAND FILES

DBMS_PIPE

EXTERNAL SCRIPTS

GUI





RMAN



AUDIT REPORTS


DEDUPLICATION

REPLICATION

SNAPSHOTS

CLONING

BARE METAL RESTORE


BLOCK CHANGE

COLD/OFFLINE

HOT/ONLINE

DISK IMAGE

FULL

INCREMENTAL



LAN-FREE

RAW PARTITION

SERVERLESS


ORACLE COLD

ORACLE HOT (Ful l )





RMAN PROXY COPY

FAST RECOVERY AREA

ORACLE VM




ORACLE INTEGRATION

ORACLE RAC

ORACLE CLUSTERWARE

ORACLE DATA GUARD

ORACLE GOLDENGATE

ORACLE STREAMS



Atempo Time Navigator 4.2 SP6 Oracle Module

54.1 Total Score 43.0 General Oracle Backup 11.1 Oracle IntegrationGood Excellent Good

DBVERIFY

EXPORT

IMPORT

DATA PUMP



O

RACLE BACKUP

BUYER’SGUIDE

SOFTWARE SOLUTI

ONS





7.X.X

8.0.X

8 i

9 i

RMAN INTEGRATION

APIS

CLI

COMMAND FILES

DBMS_PIPE

EXTERNAL SCRIPTS

GUI


MEDIA TYPES

DISK

TAPE

VTL

CLOUDENCRYPTION OPTIONS

RMAN ENCRYPTION





RMAN



AUDIT REPORTS


DEDUPLICATION

REPLICATION

SNAPSHOTS

CLONING

BARE METAL RESTORE


BLOCK CHANGE

COLD/OFFLINE

HOT/ONLINE

DISK IMAGE

FULL

INCREMENTAL



LAN-FREE

RAW PARTITION

SERVERLESS


ORACLE COLD

ORACLE HOT (Ful l )





RMAN PROXY COPY

FAST RECOVERY AREA

ORACLE VM




ORACLE INTEGRATION

ORACLE RAC

ORACLE CLUSTERWARE

ORACLE DATA GUARD

ORACLE GOLDENGATE

ORACLE STREAMS



CA ARCserve r15

54.4 Total Score 35.7 General Oracle Backup 18.7 Oracle IntegrationGood Good Recommended

MEDIA TYPES

DISK

TAPE

VTL


RMAN ENCRYPTION




O

RACLE BACKUP

BUYER’SGUIDE

SOFTWARE SOLUTI

ONS





7.X.X

8.0.X

8 i

9 i

RMAN INTEGRATION

APIS

CLI

COMMAND FILES

DBMS_PIPE

EXTERNAL SCRIPTS

GUI





RMAN



AUDIT REPORTS


DEDUPLICATION

REPLICATION

SNAPSHOTS

CLONING

BARE METAL RESTORE


BLOCK CHANGE

COLD/OFFLINE

HOT/ONLINE

DISK IMAGE

FULL

INCREMENTAL



LAN-FREE

RAW PARTITION

SERVERLESS


ORACLE COLD

ORACLE HOT (Ful l )





RMAN PROXY COPY

DBVERIFY

EXPORT

IMPORT

DATA PUMP

FAST RECOVERY AREA

ORACLE VM




ORACLE INTEGRATION

ORACLE RAC

ORACLE CLUSTERWARE

ORACLE DATA GUARD

ORACLE GOLDENGATE

ORACLE STREAMS



Commvault® Simpana® 9

73.9 Total Score 57.7 General Oracle Backup 16.2 Oracle IntegrationRecommended Best-in-Class Excellent



O

RACLE BACKUP

BUYER’SGUIDE

SOFTWARE SOLUTI

ONS





7.X.X

8.0.X

8 i

9 i

ENCRYPTION OPTIONS

RMAN ENCRYPTION


RMAN INTEGRATION

APIS

CLI

COMMAND FILES

DBMS_PIPE

EXTERNAL SCRIPTS

GUI


MEDIA TYPES

DISK

TAPE

VTL

CLOUD




RMAN



AUDIT REPORTS


DEDUPLICATION

REPLICATION

SNAPSHOTS

CLONING

BARE METAL RESTORE


BLOCK CHANGE

COLD/OFFLINE

HOT/ONLINE

DISK IMAGE

FULL

INCREMENTAL



LAN-FREE

RAW PARTITION

SERVERLESS


ORACLE COLD

ORACLE HOT (Ful l )





RMAN PROXY COPY

DBVERIFY

EXPORT

IMPORT

DATA PUMP

FAST RECOVERY AREA

ORACLE VM




ORACLE INTEGRATION

ORACLE RAC

ORACLE CLUSTERWARE

ORACLE DATA GUARD

ORACLE GOLDENGATE

ORACLE STREAMS



EMC Avamar 6.0

30.5 Total Score 24.6 General Oracle Backup 5.9 Oracle IntegrationBasic Basic Basic

DBVERIFY

EXPORT

IMPORT

DATA PUMP

MEDIA TYPES

DISK

TAPE

VTL


RMAN ENCRYPTION




O

RACLE BACKUP

BUYER’SGUIDE

SOFTWARE SOLUTI

ONS





7.X.X

8.0.X

8 i

9 i

RMAN INTEGRATION

APIS

CLI

COMMAND FILES

DBMS_PIPE

EXTERNAL SCRIPTS

GUI





RMAN



AUDIT REPORTS


DEDUPLICATION

REPLICATION

SNAPSHOTS

CLONING

BARE METAL RESTORE


BLOCK CHANGE

COLD/OFFLINE

HOT/ONLINE

DISK IMAGE

FULL

INCREMENTAL



LAN-FREE

RAW PARTITION

SERVERLESS


ORACLE COLD

ORACLE HOT (Ful l )





RMAN PROXY COPY

FAST RECOVERY AREA

ORACLE VM




ORACLE INTEGRATION

ORACLE RAC

ORACLE CLUSTERWARE

ORACLE DATA GUARD

ORACLE GOLDENGATE

ORACLE STREAMS



EMC Networker 7.6 SP2

67.0 Total Score 56.7 General Oracle Backup 10.3 Oracle IntegrationExcellent Recommended Good

ENCRYPTION OPTIONS

RMAN ENCRYPTION




O

RACLE BACKUP

BUYER’SGUIDE

SOFTWARE SOLUTI

ONS





7.X.X

8.0.X

8 i

9 i

RMAN INTEGRATION

APIS

CLI

COMMAND FILES

DBMS_PIPE

EXTERNAL SCRIPTS

GUI


MEDIA TYPES

DISK

TAPE

VTL

CLOUD




RMAN



AUDIT REPORTS


DEDUPLICATION

REPLICATION

SNAPSHOTS

CLONING

BARE METAL RESTORE


BLOCK CHANGE

COLD/OFFLINE

HOT/ONLINE

DISK IMAGE

FULL

INCREMENTAL



LAN-FREE

RAW PARTITION

SERVERLESS


ORACLE COLD

ORACLE HOT (Ful l )





RMAN PROXY COPY

DBVERIFY

EXPORT

IMPORT

DATA PUMP

FAST RECOVERY AREA

ORACLE VM




ORACLE INTEGRATION

ORACLE RAC

ORACLE CLUSTERWARE

ORACLE DATA GUARD

ORACLE GOLDENGATE

ORACLE STREAMS



HP Data Protector 6.2

60.5 Total Score 51.5 General Oracle Backup 9.0 Oracle IntegrationExcellent Recommended Good

DBVERIFY

EXPORT

IMPORT

DATA PUMP




RMAN



AUDIT REPORTS


ENCRYPTION OPTIONS

RMAN ENCRYPTION




O

RACLE BACKUP

BUYER’SGUIDE

SOFTWARE SOLUTI

ONS





7.X.X

8.0.X

8 i

9 i

RMAN INTEGRATION

APIS

CLI

COMMAND FILES

DBMS_PIPE

EXTERNAL SCRIPTS

GUI


MEDIA TYPES

DISK

TAPE

VTL

CLOUD

DEDUPLICATION

REPLICATION

SNAPSHOTS

CLONING

BARE METAL RESTORE


BLOCK CHANGE

COLD/OFFLINE

HOT/ONLINE

DISK IMAGE

FULL

INCREMENTAL



LAN-FREE

RAW PARTITION

SERVERLESS


ORACLE COLD

ORACLE HOT (Ful l )





RMAN PROXY COPY

FAST RECOVERY AREA

ORACLE VM




ORACLE INTEGRATION

ORACLE RAC

ORACLE CLUSTERWARE

ORACLE DATA GUARD

ORACLE GOLDENGATE

ORACLE STREAMS



Innovation FDR/UPSTREAM client and UPSTREAM Reservoir client v 3.6.3

38.1 Total Score 32.7 General Oracle Backup 5.4 Oracle IntegrationBasic Good Basic

DBVERIFY

EXPORT

IMPORT

DATA PUMP



O

RACLE BACKUP

BUYER’SGUIDE

SOFTWARE SOLUTI

ONS





7.X.X

8.0.X

8 i

9 i

RMAN INTEGRATION

APIS

CLI

COMMAND FILES

DBMS_PIPE

EXTERNAL SCRIPTS

GUI


MEDIA TYPES

DISK

TAPE

VTL


RMAN ENCRYPTION





RMAN



AUDIT REPORTS


DEDUPLICATION

REPLICATION

SNAPSHOTS

CLONING

BARE METAL RESTORE


BLOCK CHANGE

COLD/OFFLINE

HOT/ONLINE

DISK IMAGE

FULL

INCREMENTAL



LAN-FREE

RAW PARTITION

SERVERLESS


ORACLE COLD

ORACLE HOT (Ful l )





RMAN PROXY COPY

FAST RECOVERY AREA

ORACLE VM




ORACLE INTEGRATION

ORACLE RAC

ORACLE CLUSTERWARE

ORACLE DATA GUARD

ORACLE GOLDENGATE

ORACLE STREAMS



NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup

44.4 Total Score 38.9 General Oracle Backup 5.5 Oracle IntegrationBasic Good Basic

DBVERIFY

EXPORT

IMPORT

DATA PUMP



O

RACLE BACKUP

BUYER’SGUIDE

SOFTWARE SOLUTI

ONS





7.X.X

8.0.X

8 i

9 i

ENCRYPTION OPTIONS

RMAN ENCRYPTION


RMAN INTEGRATION

APIS

CLI

COMMAND FILES

DBMS_PIPE

EXTERNAL SCRIPTS

GUI


MEDIA TYPES

DISK

TAPE

VTL

CLOUD




RMAN



AUDIT REPORTS


DEDUPLICATION

REPLICATION

SNAPSHOTS

CLONING

BARE METAL RESTORE


BLOCK CHANGE

COLD/OFFLINE

HOT/ONLINE

DISK IMAGE

FULL

INCREMENTAL



LAN-FREE

RAW PARTITION

SERVERLESS


ORACLE COLD

ORACLE HOT (Ful l )





RMAN PROXY COPY

FAST RECOVERY AREA

ORACLE VM




ORACLE INTEGRATION

ORACLE RAC

ORACLE CLUSTERWARE

ORACLE DATA GUARD

ORACLE GOLDENGATE

ORACLE STREAMS



Quest Software NetVault Backup 8.5.3

76.2 Total Score 55.8 General Oracle Backup 20.4 Oracle IntegrationBest-in-Class Recommended Best-in-Class

ENCRYPTION OPTIONS

RMAN ENCRYPTION




O

RACLE BACKUP

BUYER’SGUIDE

SOFTWARE SOLUTI

ONS





7.X.X

8.0.X

8 i

9 i

RMAN INTEGRATION

APIS

CLI

COMMAND FILES

DBMS_PIPE

EXTERNAL SCRIPTS

GUI


MEDIA TYPES

DISK

TAPE

VTL

CLOUD




RMAN



AUDIT REPORTS


DEDUPLICATION

REPLICATION

SNAPSHOTS

CLONING

BARE METAL RESTORE


BLOCK CHANGE

COLD/OFFLINE

HOT/ONLINE

DISK IMAGE

FULL

INCREMENTAL



LAN-FREE

RAW PARTITION

SERVERLESS


ORACLE COLD

ORACLE HOT (Ful l )





RMAN PROXY COPY

DBVERIFY

EXPORT

IMPORT

DATA PUMP

FAST RECOVERY AREA

ORACLE VM




ORACLE INTEGRATION

ORACLE RAC

ORACLE CLUSTERWARE

ORACLE DATA GUARD

ORACLE GOLDENGATE

ORACLE STREAMS



Quest Software LiteSpeed® Engine for Oracle 2.1

39.1 Total Score 25.3 General Oracle Backup 13.8 Oracle IntegrationBasic Basic Excellent



Product Rankings Dashboard

Arkeia Network BackupBest-in-Class

RecommendedExcellentGood Basic

HP Data Protector 6.2

Asigra Cloud BackupBest-in-Class


Innovation FDR/UPSTREAM client andUPSTREAM Reservoir client v 3.6.3

Atempo Time Navigator 4.2 SP6 OracleModule

Best-in-Class


NetApp SyncSort Integrated Backup

CA ARCserve r15Best-in-Class


EMC Networker 7.6 SP2

Commvault Simpana 9Best-in-Class


Quest Software NetVault Backup 8.5.3

EMC Avamar 6.0Best-in-Class


Quest Software LiteSpeed Engine for Oracle 2.1

TOTAL SCORE

TOTAL SCORE

GENERALORACLE BACKUP

GENERALORACLE BACKUP

ORACLE INTEGRATION

ORACLE INTEGRATION

© 2011 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. A-1


Appendix A—Definitions, Explanations and Terminology

Archive Log Mode

Using ARCHIVE Log Mode the archiving of the redo log is enabled. These logs are a record of all changes to the database since the last backup point. Archiving has these advantages: A database backup, together with online and archived redo log files, guarantees that you can recover all committed transactions in the event of an operating system or disk failure. If you keep an archived log, you can use a backup taken while the database is open and in normal system use. You can keep a standby database current with its original database by continuously applying the original archived redo logs to the standby.

Automatic Storage Management (ASM)

ASM simplifies administration of Oracle related files by allowing the administrator to reference disk groups rather than individual disks and files, which are managed by ASM. The ASM functionality is an extension of the Oracle Managed Files (OMF) functionality that also includes striping and mirroring to provide balanced and secure storage. The ASM functionality is controlled by an ASM instance. This is not a full database instance, just the memory structures.

Bare Metal Restore

Bare Metal Restore backs up data in a format that allows a database to be restored to a server from “bare metal”, i.e. with-out any requirements as to previously installed software or oper-ating system. This means that a new server without the same LUN or volume setup as the old server can do the restore. This feature is most helpful when there is a hardware failure as without a Bare Metal Restore, the LUNs or volumes must first match the original to successfully restore the database.

Block Change Backup

This feature records the modified blocks since the last backup and stores the log of it in a block change track-ing file. During backups RMAN uses the log file to identify the specific blocks that must be backed up. This improves RMAN’s performance as it does not have to scan whole data files to detect changed blocks.

Definitions, Explanations and TerminologyThis section contains brief definitions and/or explanations of some of the terms used and assumptions made when developing the data sheets found in this Oracle Backup Software Solution Buyer’s Guide.

CLI

A command-line interface (CLI) is a mechanism for inter-acting with a computer operating system or software by typing commands to perform specific tasks. This text-only interface contrasts with the use of a mouse pointer with a graphical user interface (GUI) to click on options, or menus on a text user interface to select options.

Compressed Backups

Compression reduces the amount of space needed by a backup. There are several ways of doing this. Some programs have support for compression built in. The gzip (-z) option for GNU tar pipes the whole backup through the gzip compression program before writing it to the backup medium. Unfortunately, compressed backups are problem-atic. Due to the nature of how compression works, if a single bit is wrong, all the rest of the compressed data will be unus-able. Some backup programs have some built in error correc-tion, but no method can handle a large number of errors. This means that if the backup is compressed the way GNU tar does it with the whole output compressed as a unit, a single error makes all the rest of the backup unusable.

Cross Platform Transportable Table space

When using RMAN, transporting table spaces between databases where the endian format is different between source and destination platforms, the endian format of the data files must be converted to match the destination plat-form. This conversion can be performed in two ways: Using the “RMAN CONVERT TABLESPACE” command (convert-ing on the source host) or using the “RMAN CONVERT DATAFILE” command (converting on the destination host).

Cumulative Incremental Backup

The backup software creates copies of all the files, or parts of files that have changed since previous backups of any type (full, differential or incremental) with each backup building on the previous backup. To restore the data, you will need the the last full backup and all the backups since that full backup.




Data Pump

The Oracle Data Pump provides two utilities: Data Pump Export and Data Pump Import. This product replaces the pre-Oracle 10g import and export utilities (imp and exp). Data Pump Export (expdp) and Data Pump Import (impdp) are server-based rather than client-based as is the case for the original export (exp) and import (imp).

DBMS_PIPE

The DBMS_PIPE package lets two or more sessions in the same instance communicate. Oracle pipes are similar in concept to the pipes used in UNIX, but Oracle pipes are not implemented using the operating system pipe mecha-nisms. Information sent through Oracle pipes is buffered in the system global area (SGA).

DBVERIFY

DBVERIFY is an external command-line utility that performs a physical data structure integrity check on an offline data-base. It can be used against backup files and online files (or pieces of files). DBVERIFY is primarily used to ensure that a backup database (or data file) is valid before it is restored or as a diagnostic aid when a data corruption problem is encountered.

Deduplication

Deduplication is a specialized data compression technique for eliminating coarse-grained redundant data to improve storage utilization. There are various kinds of deduplication. Source-based deduplication means that you first dedupli-cate data and then backup the deduplicated data. This is less taxing on the networking as less data is sent to the backup media. Using target-based deduplication, data is first backed up by sending all of the data over the network, and then deduplicating it at the backup target.

Differential Incremental Backup

The backup software looks at which files have changed since the last full backup and then creates copies of all the files that are different from the ones in the full backup. If more than one differential backup is done, it will copy all the files, or parts of files that have changed since the last full backup, even if you already have identical copies of those files in a previous differential backup. To restore all the data, only the last full backup and differential backups are needed.

Disk Image Backup

This is when a copy of the database is made to any type of storage device (tape, disk, or CD). All data is backed up includ-ing free blocks with no data which can make this method of backup very slow and result in a very large backup.

Duplexing Backup Sets

RMAN can write duplexed backup sets that create up to four identical copies of each backup piece in a backup set to different destinations. Duplexing provides an extra layer of protection against disaster, media damage and human error. RMAN can duplex backup to either disk or tape but cannot duplex to disk and tape at the same time. Backup duplexing is not applicable to disk image backups.

Fast Recovery Area

Fast Recovery Area minimizes the need to manually manage disk space for backup-related files and balance the use of space among the different types of files. In this way, a fast recovery area simplifies the ongoing administration of your database.

Full Backup

A complete backup of an entire database.

Hot Backup

A Hot Backup is performed while software accessing that database is running. Traditional or cold backups require systems to be taken offline before backups are done.

Legacy Oracle Database Versions

These are older releases of Oracle databases that are no longer formally supported by Oracle under normal mainte-nance and support contracts.

Non-Archive Log Mode

Using Non-Archive Log Mode the archiving of the redo log is not enabled. In this mode, offline redo logs can (and will) be overwritten without first making sure they are saved. If the database fails you may lose everything since the last backup.

Oracle Clusterware

Oracle Clusterware is the cluster software required to run the Real Application Clusters (RAC) option for the Oracle database. It provides the basic clustering services that enable Oracle software to run in clustering mode.




Oracle Data Guard

Oracle Data Guard supports both physical standby and logi-cal standby databases. It can be setup to facilitate failovers or switchovers to alternative hosts in the same or alterna-tive locations. The most common use of this feature is for Disaster Recovery Databases which are located off-site.

Oracle Flashback Technologies

Oracle Flashback Technologies are data recovery solutions that enable reversing errors by selectively and efficiently undoing the effects of a mistake. Before Flashback, an incorrect transaction that only took seconds to create could take hours to reverse. Using Flashback correcting an error takes about as long to reverse as it took to make it. In addition, the time required to recover from this error is not dependent on the database size. Flashback supports recovery at all levels including the row, transaction, and table levels, as well as the entire database.

Oracle GoldenGate

GoldenGate enables real-time data integration and continu-ous data availability by capturing and delivering updates to continuous data synchronization across heterogeneous envi-ronments. The most common application is to gain improved business intelligence across the enterprise by using more accurate and timely data and increased performance. Other uses include query offloading; zero-downtime upgrades and migrations; disaster recovery; and active-active databases for data distribution, data synchronization and high availability.

Oracle RAC

Oracle Real Applications Clusters (RAC) is a cluster data-base with a shared cache architecture that provides a highly scalable and available database solution. In an Oracle RAC environment, an instance has more than one identical data-base. This allows an application or user to connect to the instance and have access to a single set of data. If one of the RAC nodes fails, the other node seamlessly continues to operate without any loss of data or use of the system.

Oracle Secure Backup

Oracle Secure Backup provides centralized tape backup management for an integrated, easy-to-use solution that encrypts data to tape to safeguard against the misuse of sensitive data in the event that backup tapes are lost or stolen.

Oracle Streams

Oracle Streams helps propagate information within and between databases. It provides tools to capture, process (‘stage’) and manage database events via Advanced Queuing queues. Oracle Streams can be setup in homogeneous (all Oracle data-bases) or heterogeneous (non-Oracle and Oracle databases) environments. It uses database objects to share data and messages. Applications for the Oracle Streams toolset include data distribution, data warehousing and data replication.

Oracle Virtualization (VM)

Oracle VM is server virtualization software that fully supports both Oracle and non-Oracle applications and delivers more efficient performance. Oracle VM has the following features: server clustering and server virtualization technologies, integrated clustering, virtualization, storage, and management for grid computing.

Raw Partition Backup

This is related to disk imaging and is when a copy is made of the Database for backup purposes. All data is backed up including free blocks with no data which can result in backups that are both very slow and very large.

RMAN

Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) is a tool that allows for efficiently backing up and recovering an Oracle database. RMAN is designed to provide block-level corruption detection during backup and restore. RMAN optimizes performance and space consumption during backup with file multiplexing and backup-set compression, and integrates with Oracle Secure Backup and third-party media-management products for tape backup. RMAN provides a common interface for backup tasks across different host operating-systems, parallelization of backup/recovery data streams, backup-files retention policy, and detailed history of all backups.

RMAN Data Recovery Advisor

RMAN Data Recovery Advisor automates the diagnosis of database failures and corruptions, advises the recovery steps and performs automatic recoveries of the database failure.

RMAN Recovery Catalog

An RMAN Recovery Catalog is a schema stored in a database that tracks backups and stores scripts for use in RMAN backup and recovery situations.




VALIDATE

The VALIDATE command is used to check for corrupt blocks and missing files, or to determine whether a backup set can be restored. If VALIDATE detects a problem during validation, then RMAN displays it and triggers execution of a failure assessment. This gives the user a better idea if a backed up database is restorable.

VTL

A virtual tape library (VTL) is a data storage virtualization technology used for backup and recovery purposes. A VTL is usually a hard disk storage device which presents itself as a physical tape library to backup software.

© 2011 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. B-1


Appendix B—Oracle Backup Software Provider Contact Information

Arkeia Software. 1808 Aston AvenueCarlsbad, CA 92008

O F F I C E (760) 431.1399W E B http://www.arkeia.com

Y E A R F O U N D E D 1996

P R O D U C T Arkeia Network Backup 9

Arkeia had a very good overall score but lacked some of the features of higher rated products. For instance, Arkeia lacked support for Oracle features like Data Guard as well as newer features like Automatic Storage Management (ASM), Flashback Technologies, and Fast Recovery Areas.

Oracle RAC is supported but Arkeia does not recognize a RAC node failure and is therefore unable to backup surviving nodes should such a failure occur. Further, Arkeia does not run audit reports of failed backups so there would be no notification of a RAC node failure.

Arkeia had an average score on RMAN integration as it does not use the following RMAN commands: RMAN LIST, RMAN REPORT, RMAN SHOW ALL and it does not manage the RMAN Catalog. However Arkeia does use the VALIDATE command to verify backups which is important as it ensures that backups are readable and restorable.

Asigra Inc.1120 Finch Avenue West, Suite 400Toronto, ON M3J 3H7

O F F I C E (416) 736.8111W E B http://www.asigra.com

F O U N D E D 1986

P R O D U C T Asigra Cloud Backup

Asigra Cloud Backup supports both RMAN and non-RMAN backup of Oracle databases. Users should note that it does support features like Data Guard, DBVERIFY, Export, Import, and Data Pump.

However Asigra lacked support for standard features like Automatic Storage Management (ASM), Data Guard, Clusterware, Fast Recovery Areas, Flashback Technologies, GoldenGate, Oracle Streams and Oracle. It also does not support Snapshots, Cloning, and cannot backup to tape.

Asigra had an average score on RMAN integration and lacked many of the standard features of higher rated products. It does not use the following RMAN commands: VALIDATE, RMAN LIST, RMAN REPORT, RMAN SHOW ALL and does not manage the RMAN

Catalog. However Asigra does use the VALIDATE command to verify backups to ensure Oracle backups are readable and restorable.

Atempo, Inc.2465 E. Bayshore RoadPalo Alto, CA 94303

O F F I C E (650) 494.2600W E B http://www.atempo.com

F O U N D E D 1992

P R O D U C T Atempo Time Navigator 4.2 SP6

Time Navigator scored very well in its ability to protect Oracle databases using non-RMAN features and also offers very good support for protecting older, unsupported versions of Oracle databases to include 7.x, 8.x, and 9i.

Atempo lacked support for standard Oracle features like Automatic Storage Management (ASM), Oracle VM, Clusterware, GoldenGate, and Oracle Streams. However, it does support Oracle’s newer Flashback Technologies and Fast Recovery Areas.

Atempo does not use the following RMAN commands: RMAN LIST, RMAN REPORT, RMAN SHOW ALL and does not manage the RMAN Catalog. However Atempo does make use of the RMAN Proxy Copy and VALIDATE commands to ensure backups are readable and restorable.

CA TechnologiesOne CA PlazaIslandia, NY 11749

O F F I C E (800) 225.5224W E B http://arcserve.com

F O U N D E D 1976

P R O D U C T CA ARCserve r15

ARCserve’s ability to perform non-RMAN backups was quite high and was equal to the highest scoring products.

Its main drawbacks had to do with its lack of support for features like Data Guard, Automatic Storage Management (ASM), Flashback Technologies, and Fast Recovery Areas. Users should also note that it does not support features like DBVERIFY, Export, Import, Data Pump, Replication, Snapshots, and Cloning.

Oracle RAC is supported but ARCserve cannot recognize a RAC node failure so it cannot backup surviving nodes. ARCserve also does

Oracle Backup Software Provider Contact Information

http://www.arkeia.com/

http://www.asigra.com

http://www.atempo.com

http://arcserve.com




not run audit reports of failed backups so there are no notifications of a RAC node failure. Also, ARCserve does not send alerts based upon backup results which means that DBAs have to check the system when backups occur rather than be notified by email.

ARCserve also does not use the following RMAN commands: RMAN REPORT, RMAN SHOW ALL nor does it use the VALIDATE command to verify backups.

CommVault Systems, Inc.2 Crescent Place P.O Box 900Oceanport, NJ 07757

O F F I C E (888) 746.3849W E B http://www.commvault.com

F O U N D E D 1996

P R O D U C T Commvault Simpana 9

Simpana 9 handles Oracle-specific backup features very well, especially its RMAN integration and native use of RMAN Recovery Catalog. Simpana’s non-RMAN integration is average though it does supports audit reports of failures and the use of the VALIDATE command to ensure data is readable and restorable.

Simpana’s capability to manage both Oracle’s RAC and Data Guard functions were among the features we found most impressive as well as its native deduplication offering.

CommVault natively employs older Oracle Export and Import features as well as Oracle’s newer Data Pump feature. In environments that have many DBAs Simpana uses security roles to grant specific personnel access to different databases. This functionality may be required for auditing purposes or because DBAs are in physically different locations or departments.

Users should also note that Simpana supports features like Oracle VM, RMAN backup encryption, and Automatic Storage Management (ASM) as well as protection for Oracle 9i databases.

EMC Corporation176 South StreetHopkinton, MA 01748

O F F I C E (508) 435.1000W E B http://www.emc.com

F O U N D E D 1979

P R O D U C T EMC Avamar 6.0

EMC Avamar does integrate with RMAN though it does not work with non-RMAN backups.

Our main cautions with EMC Avamar center on its lack of support for Data Guard and Oracle RAC. Data Guard is fast becoming a standard feature and Oracle RAC is used extensively in the protection of Oracle

databases enterprise environments. It is the lack of support for these features that contributed to its relatively low rating.

Also of note is that EMC Avamar does not run audit reports of failed backups nor does it support Oracle database features like Automatic Storage Management (ASM,) Cloning, Data Pump, DBVERIFY, Export, Flashback Technologies, Fast Recovery Areas, Import, Replication and Snapshots.

P R O D U C T EMC NetWorker 7.6 SP2

EMC NetWorker only supports Oracle backup with RMAN so it may be a good fit in those shops that have an all RMAN backup strategy. Users should note that EMC NetWorker does not support features like Data Pump, DBVERIFY, Export, and Import nor does it support non-RMAN backups particularly well.

The capability to manage both Oracle’s RAC and Data Guard functions with among the EMC NetWorker features we did find impressive and are key to many organizations. EMC NetWorker also supports Oracle features like Automatic Storage Management (ASM), Clusterware, Fast Recovery Areas, GoldenGate, Oracle Secure Backup, Oracle Streams and Oracle VM.

Users should be aware that EMC NetWorker does not use the VALIDATE command to verify Oracle backups. Other RMAN commands that it does not use are the following: RMAN LIST, RMAN REPORT, and RMAN SHOW ALL.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.3000 Hanover StreetPalo Alto, CA 94304

P H O N E (650) 857.1501W E B http://www.hp.com

F O U N D E D 1939

P R O D U C T HP Data Protector 6.2

HP Data Protector supports both RMAN and non-RMAN backup of Oracle databases though with fewer options than higher rated systems and Data Protector’s non-RMAN support is very limited.

HP handles specific Oracle database features including Automatic Storage Management (ASM), Clusterware, Fast Recovery Areas and Oracle VM. However it does not support features like Data Pump, DBVERIFY, Flashback Technologies, GoldenGate, Import, and Oracle Streams. While it does support the Export feature without the Import function this option is of marginal value.

Data Protector has the capability to manage both Oracle RAC and Data Guard and can run audit reports of failures. Data Protector does not use the VALIDATE command to verify backups nor does it support the following RMAN commands: RMAN LIST, RMAN REPORT, RMAN SHOW ALL.

http://www.commvault.com

http://www.emc.com

http://www.hp.com




Innovation Data Processing275 Paterson AvenueLittle Falls, NJ 07424

P H O N E (973)890.7300W E B http://www.fdr.com

P R O D U C T Innovation FDR/UPSTREAM client v 3.6.3

FDR/UPSTREAM had a good score for non-RMAN features when backing up an Oracle Database. It also supports old unsupported 7.x, 8.x, and 9i Oracle databases. However, it does not integrate with RMAN which is a key feature that most organizations now expect.

FDR/UPSTREAM did not support either Data Guard or Oracle RAC which contributed to its overall low rating as these are commonly used features in the production of Oracle production databases. Its ability to run audit reports of failed backups and lack of support for Oracle’s Flashback Technologies and Fast Recovery Areas features further contributed to its low score.

Syncsort50 Tice BoulevardWoodcliff Lake, New Jersey 07677

O F F I C E (201) 930-9700W E B http://www.syncsort.com

F O U N D E D 1968

NetApp495 East Java DriveSunnyvale, CA 94089

O F F I C E (408) 822-6000W E B http://www.netapp.com

P R O D U C T NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup

NetApp and Syncsort introduced a joint solution, aimed at the small-to-medium segment, at the end of August 2010. NetApp had many standard Oracle backup and recovery features but its integration with RMAN and ability to perform non-RMAN backups was minimal.

Oracle RAC is supported and the system does report when there is a node failure. The NetApp Synsort solution also offers very good support for protecting older, unsupported versions of Oracle databases to include 7.x, 8.x, and 9i.

However NetApp Syncsort lacks support for Data Guard and it does not use the VALIDATE command to verify backups. Users should also note that it does not support features like Clusterware, Data Pump, DBVERIFY, Fast Recovery Areas, Export, Flashback

Technologies, GoldenGate, Import, Oracle Streams and Oracle VM. It also does not use the following RMAN commands: RMAN LIST, RMAN REPORT, RMAN SHOW ALL.

Quest Software5 Polaris WayAliso Viejo, CA 92656

O F F I C E (949) 754.8000W E B http://www.quest.com

P R O D U C T Quest LiteSpeed® Engine for Oracle 2.0

LiteSpeed achieved a high score on RMAN integration and should be used primarily in that context. This system performs standard Oracle backup and recovery features but its ability to perform non-RMAN backups was minimal. Oracle RAC is supported and it reports on node failures.

LiteSpeed lacked support for Data Guard as well as for features like Clusterware, Data Pump, DBVERIFY, Fast Recovery Areas, Flashback Technologies, GoldenGate, Oracle Streams and Oracle VM.

P R O D U C T Quest Software NetVault Backup 8.5.3

NetVault Backup handles many Oracle specific features and works equally well with or without RMAN which contributes to its ability to do backups and recoveries of multiple types of Oracle databases. Its management of both Oracle’s RAC and Data Guard functions were among the features we found most impressive and contributed heavily toward it achieving the highest score in this Buyer’s Guide.

NetVault Backup’s ability to perform RMAN functions without RMAN is important for those organizations that do not use RMAN as it scored very well in this capacity as well.

NetVault’s RMAN integration that allows most RMAN features to be handled natively without scripting is where users will find a great deal of value in this product. It supports the audit reports of failures and the use of the VALIDATE command to ensure data is restorable.

NetVault allows for the long-term archival of the database and table spaces which is sometimes required by regulations, requirements, or audits. NetVault also makes use of the new Fast Recovery Areas and Flashback Recovery features that Oracle databases can now use. With this version, it can also backup older, unsupported 9i Oracle databases.

Specific features of note are its ability to natively use of the RMAN Recovery Catalog and perform extensive deduplication that helps clients with custom databases with these issues. However, deduplication is usually not an issue with packaged software databases. In these environments NetVault natively employs the older Oracle Export and Import features as well as Oracle’s newer Data Pump features. It does not support RMAN backup encryption, but does support Oracle Transparent Data Encryption (TDE).

http://www.fdr.com

http://www.syncsort.com

http://www.netapp.com

http://www.quest.com

© 2011 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. C-1


Appendix C—Author Contact Information

DCIG, LLC

7511 Madison StreetOmaha, NE 68127

CONTACT

Jerome [email protected]

WEBSITEwww.dcig.com

PHONE

+1.402.884.9594

Monument Data Solutions

1116 Great Plain AvenueNeedham, MA 02492

CONTACT

Carl [email protected]

WEBSITEwww.monumentdata.com

OFF ICE

+1.781.449.4828

Author Contact Information

mailto:jerome.wendt%40dciginc.com?subject=

mailto:Carl.rubin%40monumentdata.com%20?subject=

http://www.monumentdata.com

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