Lab Validation Report - InfoStor

Lab Validation Report NetApp SnapManager for Oracle

Simple, Automated, Oracle Protection

By Ginny Roth and Tony Palmer

September 2010 © 2010, Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Lab Validation: NetApp SnapManager for Oracle 2

© 2010, Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Background ............................................................................................................................................................... 3 Product Page ............................................................................................................................................................. 3

ESG Lab Validation ........................................................................................................................................ 4 Getting Started ......................................................................................................................................................... 5 Automated, Replicated Backups .............................................................................................................................. 9 Quick and Reliable Restores ................................................................................................................................... 12 Accelerating Clones For Testing and Development ................................................................................................ 15

ESG Lab Validation Highlights ..................................................................................................................... 19

Issues to Consider ....................................................................................................................................... 19

The Bigger Truth ......................................................................................................................................... 20

Appendix ..................................................................................................................................................... 21

All trademark names are property of their respective companies. Information contained in this publication has been obtained by sources The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) considers to be reliable but is not warranted by ESG. This publication may contain opinions of ESG, which are subject to change from time to time. This publication is copyrighted by The Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. Any reproduction or redistribution of this publication, in whole or in part, whether in hard-copy format, electronically, or otherwise to persons not authorized to receive it, without the express consent of the Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc., is in violation of U.S. Copyright law and will be subject to an action for civil damages and, if applicable, criminal prosecution. Should you have any questions, please contact ESG Client Relations at (508) 482.0188.

ESG Lab Reports

The goal of ESG Lab reports is to educate IT professionals about emerging technologies and products in the storage, data management and information security industries. ESG Lab reports are not meant to replace the evaluation process that should be conducted before making purchasing decisions, but rather to provide insight into these emerging technologies. Our objective is to go over some of the more valuable feature/functions of products, show how they can be used to solve real customer problems and identify any areas needing improvement. ESG Lab's expert third-party perspective is based on our own hands-on testing as well as on interviews with customers who use these products in production environments. This ESG Lab report was sponsored by NetApp.



Introduction

IT organizations are managing increasingly large and complex storage environments. Providing effective disaster recovery and data protection for databases in these environments can be cumbersome, adding to the burden placed on administrators already asked to do more with less. This ESG Lab Validation report examines how NetApp SnapManager for Oracle provides access to automated backup, restore, and cloning functions for Oracle administrators, allowing them the flexibility to protect their data quickly and easily in a complex storage environment.

Background

ESG asked IT decision makers to identify their organization’s current data protection challenges. As shown in Figure 1, no single concern dominates when users are considering data protection; accelerating backups and restores, simplifying management, increasing scalability, and improving reliability all have significant mindshare with users.1

Figure 1. Data Protection Challenges

Source: Enterprise Strategy Group, 2010.

Of course, data protection challenges are also very much a function of the business applications that end-users are attempting to protect. In the same survey, improving application-specific backup was third on the list of areas in which organizations expect to invest in 2010. While there was a wide range of end-user responses, the number one priority application reported by organizations was databases, cited by 46% of respondents.

1 Source: ESG Research Report, 2010 Data Protection Trends, April 2010.

45%

47%

48%

48%

49%

54%

54%

55%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Need to improve backup and recovery reliability

Remote site backup

Backup software costs

Management

Desktop/laptop/end-point backup

Keeping pace with capacity of data to protect

Backup hardware costs

Need to reduce backup and recovery times

Which of the following would you characterize as challenges with your organization’s current data protection processes and technologies? Which would you characterize as

the primary challenge for your organization? (Percent of respondents, N=510)

http://www.netapp.com/

http://www.enterprisestrategygroup.com/2010/04/2010-data-protection-trends/



NetApp SnapManager for Oracle

NetApp SnapManager 3.0.3 for Oracle is designed to provide Oracle administrators with a simple automated tool to manage data protection, disaster recovery, and cloning for production Oracle databases. It leverages data protection policies set up by storage administrators that use native NetApp tools to simplify, standardize, and automate data protection. DBAs (database administrators) can increase backup frequency and reduce the time to recovery without impacting performance, regardless of database size.

Figure 2. NetApp SnapManager for Oracle

SnapManager organizes information into profiles in a repository. The profiles hold information about the database being managed, including its credentials, backups, and clones. The repository also holds data about operations performed on the databases.

NetApp SnapManager for Oracle is designed to drive down storage costs and improve database availability using the following features:

Innate storage intelligence: Simplifies data protection for the Oracle administrator. No knowledge of storage subsystems or software is required to start immediately protecting an Oracle database.

Snapshots: Allow capacity-efficient, pointer-based backups to be created quickly and easily. FlexClone: Provides rapid cloning of databases for test and development environments. Capacity is

consumed only as changes are made to the original copy, creating significant savings in storage costs. SnapRestore: Enables full or granular restores from online storage in minutes instead of hours. Integration with NetApp Protection Manager: Provides policy-based data protection. Oracle

administrators can choose a pre-defined policy to provide the levels of data protection and replication required.

This report examines NetApp’s SnapManager 3.0.3 for Oracle with focus on simplicity, reliability, and performance in an Oracle environment.



ESG Lab Validation

ESG Lab performed hands-on evaluation and testing of SnapManager for Oracle at NetApp’s facilities in Sunnyvale, CA. Testing was designed to demonstrate the simplicity and automation of maintaining backups, restores, and clones in an Oracle environment. The test bed, shown in Figure 3, included a primary FAS 6070 with a mix of Fibre Channel and SATA drives. The servers hosting the Oracle databases were attached to the primary storage via Fibre Channel. SnapManager for Oracle was hosted on a separate server attached to the network. An additional FAS 3170 served as secondary storage for testing replicating backups and clones.

Figure 3. SnapManager for Oracle Test Bed

Getting Started

ESG Lab explored the ease of use and simplicity of the SnapManager interface. The strength of NetApp’s SnapManager is the tight integration with Oracle’s backup APIs, providing fine-grained backup and restore options down to the object level. The interface is designed so the Oracle administrator only needs to be concerned about configuring and scheduling backup jobs. The processes and design of the storage system are hidden from the DBA. All storage functions and volume manipulations are maintained by the storage administrator. This separation of duties allows the DBA control of data protection for the Oracle environment without requiring training in storage configuration and functions.

SnapManager organizes information into profiles and repositories. Profiles contain information about the database being managed, such as its credentials, backups, and clones. SnapManager stores metadata for backups, clones, and other operations performed on the profiles in the repository.

ESG Lab Testing

ESG Lab tested the ease of use and functionality of NetApp’s SnapManager interface. The GUI for managing an Oracle backup environment is java-based and ESG Lab was able to access the interface by clicking on a link from a Web page on the SnapManager server. The interface was simple and intuitive, with a left navigation pane that provided access to backup, restore, and cloning functions.

Only a few simple tasks are required to set up an Oracle data protection environment. ESG Lab was able to start with a two-step wizard that defined the repository for SnapManager. ESG Lab entered the connection information



for the database, shown in Figure 4. Once the connection was established, the wizard created the tables needed to store the metadata in the database.

Figure 4. Create Repository

Once the repository is created, a profile is required to define and hold information about the Oracle database that will be protected. ESG Lab accessed the task by right-clicking on the repository and choosing “Create Profile” from the call out menu. A seven-step wizard guided ESG Lab through all the elements required to create a new profile. Since the Oracle database resides on a host, one of the first steps is to define the location of the host and the account used to access the host. As show in Figure 5, ESG Lab was able to associate a host to the protected database. The next step in the wizard allowed ESG Lab to define the account and password to use for the host.

Figure 5. Define Database Host Settings



Also included in the profile creation wizard are policy settings that define which retention and protection policies are to be used for the profile. The retention policy describes how long backups remain on primary storage. Protection policies are pre-defined by the storage/backup administrator using Protection Manager and determine how backups are to be retained by secondary storage. As show in Figure 6, ESG Lab chose the default retention policy and then selected the standard backup policy for the new profile.

Figure 6. Create Profile Policy Settings

ESG Lab was able to create a new policy in about three minutes with the provided wizard. Once the profile was created, SnapManager automatically created a dataset in Protection Manager. Protection Manager is a tool used by storage administrators to apply resource pools to the datasets created by SnapManager. ESG Lab started a session of Protection Manager to see the new dataset and was able to assign a storage pool to it in three easy steps. Figure 7 shows the details of the dataset after a resource pool had been assigned.

Figure 7. Data Set Pool Assignment with Storage Protection Manager



ESG lab was able to create a repository and a profile defining the protected resource, and assign the dataset to a storage resource pool in approximately 10 minutes.

Why This Matters

Backup and restore functions are crucial to protect critical applications and databases. Oracle administrators need to protect their Oracle environment without the added burden of managing a storage system. Since storage functions are hidden from the Oracle administrator, SnapManager for Oracle allows administrators to quickly automate Oracle backups without requiring access to the storage system, reducing management costs and training requirements.

ESG Lab used SnapManager for Oracle to configure protection for a running Oracle database rapidly and with minimal effort.



Automated, Replicated Backups

Once profiles are created to define a protected database, the Oracle administrator can begin immediately creating backups to primary storage. Using snapshot technology which copies pointers to the data only, backups take minutes instead of hours. Leveraging the policy integration provided by Protection Manager, backups can be replicated to secondary storage easily using SnapVault and SnapMirror technology, as shown in Figure 8. Once the schedules for backups and retention are created, data protection is automatic.

Figure 8. Using SnapVault and SnapMirror for Backups

ESG Lab Testing

ESG Lab tested a backup to primary storage and examined the effectiveness of the policy created in the profile to replicate the backup to secondary storage. ESG Lab chose a scheduled backup by right-clicking on the HR profile in SnapManager. A five-step wizard guided ESG Lab through the creation of a backup schedule. As Figure 9 shows, two options are available for backups: full and partial. Partial backups allow administrators to select specific tablespaces and datafiles for more granular backups. ESG Lab chose to perform a full backup and enable data protection for the backup. Enabling data protection initiates the integration with Protection Manager to replicate the database backups to secondary storage.



Figure 9. Full Backup Option

After full backup is selected, a schedule for backups can be created. ESG Lab examined the options available for schedules and chose a daily backup that would be performed at 8 PM, as shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10. Schedule Backup

After the scheduled backup job was configured, ESG Lab monitored a backup job that was scheduled to perform hourly. The database size was 15 GB and backup was configured to be a full backup. ESG Lab verified that the entire backup, including stopping and starting the database, took about two minutes to complete.

Since ESG Lab configured the backup to be protected and the retention level to be hourly, Protection Manager replicated the backup from primary to secondary storage according to policy. Figure 11 shows logs of hourly copies of backups to secondary storage.



Figure 11. Backup Replication in NetApp Protection Manager

ESG Lab was able to schedule and initiate a backup in a matter of minutes using SnapManager for Oracle. Integration with Protection Manager made retention policies automatic. ESG Lab never needed to configure the policy for retention since it already existed and is maintained in Protection Manager by the storage administrator.

Why This Matters

When tasked with protecting a production database environment, key considerations are the amount of time it takes to make the backup, and in the case of disk based backups, the space consumed. An ESG survey of IT administrators indicated that nearly one out of every six (17%) of attempted backups fail to complete in the allotted backup window.

NetApp’s SnapManager for Oracle creates near-instant, automated backups of Oracle databases, leveraging NetApp’s data protection capabilities. NetApp’s Snapshot technology enables multiple capacity-efficient copies of backups to be retained while integration with Protection Manager allows copies to be automatically moved from primary to secondary storage based on user defined policies.

ESG Lab was able to create on-demand and scheduled backups of multiple Oracle databases in minutes with SnapManager for Oracle performing all storage related tasks automatically and flawlessly.



Quick and Reliable Restores

SnapManager for Oracle leverages SnapRestore technology to offer fast and reliable restores for quick recovery of data. Databases of any size can be restored in minutes instead of hours and administrators can recover quickly from a data failure.

ESG Lab Testing

ESG Lab first examined the configuration and performance of the restore of a backup created in the HR profile. Since ESG Lab was able to choose a specific completed backup to perform the restore, a backup was intentionally chosen that was located on primary storage. A five-step wizard was used to set the restore options. As shown in Figure 12, ESG Lab chose a complete restore, rather than selecting specific tablespaces or datafiles. ESG Lab also chose the option to allow a shutdown of the database if needed.

Figure 12. Restore Database Options

ESG Lab also had the option to attempt a volume restore, if possible, or a file-based restore. If more than one database resides on the same volume the administrator can select other options for the restore as shown in Figure 13 . If a volume restore cannot be performed, there are additional failback options to choose. ESG Lab chose the volume restore with a failback to file restore if necessary.



Figure 13. Volume Restore Configuration

ESG Lab started a restore and monitored the results. The complete restore of the 15 GB database from primary storage finished in approximately three minutes. As a test that the restore was successful, ESG lab deleted a record from the original database. After the restore completed, ESG Lab accessed the restored database and saw the deleted record.

ESG Lab also tested a restore from secondary storage. A backup from the sales profile was used that no longer existed on primary storage. As expected, when the restore wizard noticed no copy of the backup on primary storage, an additional step was presented, allowing ESG Lab to select the option to restore from secondary as shown in Figure 14.

Figure 14. Restore From Secondary Storage



ESG Lab finished the configuration of the restore using the same options as the HR restore. Monitoring the results, ESG Lab noticed a completed restore of a 15 GB database in four minutes. Figure 15 shows the results of the completed restore.

Figure 15. Restore From Secondary Storage

ESG Lab used the same test to determine if the restore was effective. One record was deleted from the original database. ESG Lab connected to the restored database and verified the deleted record had been restored.

Why This Matters

In order to successfully execute a database recovery, organizations need more than just highly available hardware and replication software. The array software and the database must be configured carefully to ensure that recovery tasks are executed correctly and in the proper order. This is usually achieved with custom scripts and a high degree of manual intervention at various points in the process. NetApp SnapManager for Oracle bridges the gap between backend storage replication and database protection and recovery. This translates into lower complexity, easier management and higher database availability.

SnapManager for Oracle leverages proven SnapRestore technology to provide granular recoverability of Oracle databases.

ESG Lab was able to recover databases from Snapshots residing on both primary and secondary storage in minutes.



Accelerating Clones for Testing and Development

Cloning allows Oracle administrators to provision copies of production databases for development and testing. This allows multiple copies of the same database to be used without impacting the production copy. It also allows copies to be provisioned on secondary storage, providing complete isolation from production.

ESG Lab Testing

ESG Lab tested the creation of clones for both large and small databases. The large database was approximately 860 GB, while the small database came to roughly 15 GB. ESG Lab started by creating a clone of the small database from a backup created in the HR profile. When starting the clone wizard, the option to create a clone on secondary storage is shown if the database exists on secondary storage, as shown in Figure 16. A new SID can be created for the cloned database, along with a unique label. In addition, the clone can be hosted on the same host as the source or a different one. After assigning a new SID and Label for the database clone, ESG Lab chose a different host for the clone and chose secondary storage as the backup source.

Figure 16. Small Database Clone from Secondary Storage

As shown in Figure 17, when cloning a database, administrators can change DB parameters and passwords, run scripts before or after the cloning process, and execute SQL statements after the cloning operation is complete. ESG Lab chose the default parameters for the clone.



Figure 17. Database Parameters for Clone

ESG Lab started the cloning process of the small database on secondary storage and monitored the results. As shown in Figure 18, the entire cloning procedure took a little over two minutes to complete. ESG Lab tested successful creation of the clone by creating a SQL connection to the database and running a SQL command to examine the first few records. In addition, ESG Lab compared the size of the original database to the clone and found the sizes to be the same.

Figure 18. Completed Clone of Small Database from Secondary Storage



ESG Lab cloned a large database to observe the performance and storage space savings achieved for large databases. Figure 19 shows the clone initialization screen: since there is not yet a copy of the backup on secondary storage, primary storage is the only option for the backup source. ESG Lab chose the default to the same host for the cloned database.

Figure 19. Create Clone Initialization of Large Database on Primary Storage

ESG Lab examined the results of the clone of the large database, as shown in Figure 20. As expected, the process took just over two minutes—roughly the same amount of time as the small database clone. As with the small database, ESG Lab tested a successful clone of the backup by using a SQL connection to examine the first few records of the database.



Figure 20. Complete Clone for Large Database

Why This Matters

Creating development and testing environments for databases has always been a challenge. Creating and presenting multiple copies of production databases is time-consuming and costly, requiring multiple, manual steps and custom scripting of changes required for those copies. In addition, provisioning the storage space required for multiple full copies of databases requires infrastructure equal to the production copies. SnapManager resolves these challenges using FlexClone technology that allows administrators to rapidly and efficiently deploy clones that consume additional disk space only as new data is written.

ESG Lab was able to create space-efficient clones of both small and large Oracle databases in minutes, using easy to follow wizards.



ESG Lab Validation Highlights

By integrating with Protection Manager, SnapManager provides policy-driven data protection that allows backups to be automatically replicated to secondary storage using SnapVault and SnapMirror functionality.

SnapManager works with Snapshot, SnapRestore and FlexClone technologies to shorten time for backup, restore, and cloning operations and saves space on primary and secondary storage systems.

Backups, restores, and clones are as easy to manage for large databases as small ones. SnapManager is an intuitive interface that hides storage and database functions from the database

administrator, making backups, restores, and clones easier to manage.

Issues to Consider

While NetApp’s FAS systems provide comprehensive alerts of critical issues like drive failures to storage administrators, alerts are not yet offered in SnapManager for Oracle. Alerting DBA’s to critical errors or conditions would enhance their ability to coordinate recovery efforts with storage for an even more effective disaster recovery environment.

ESG observed in testing that multiple logins are required for access to the repository, database, and profiles. Although users can have SnapManager save the passwords so they are not prompted for it every time, NetApp recommends multiple logins for security purposes. ESG Lab believes a combination of reduced logins combined with strong authentication would provide a solid security model while enhancing ease of use.



The Bigger Truth

Applications critical to businesses run on enterprise databases such as Oracle. Nearly half of IT managers surveyed by ESG cited databases as their highest data protection priority. Clearly, database data protection is a key component of business continuity.

As enterprise applications built on databases grow and proliferate, the demand for storage to accommodate the increase in data increases as well. Managing data protection for databases is a task that has traditionally been left to storage administrators as the infrastructure is complex and often includes a mix of structured and unstructured data.

NetApp has integrated the powerful data protection elements of Data OnTap, such as Snapshot, SnapRestore, SnapMirror, SnapVault, and FlexClone with Oracle via APIs to create a data protection environment that enables Oracle DBAs to protect and restore their Oracle databases quickly and easily leveraging policies that are pre-defined by storage administrators.

Using SnapManager for Oracle, ESG Lab was able to rapidly implement a multi-site data protection solution and validate near instant recovery of Oracle databases, from both primary and secondary storage. Creating clones on primary or secondary storage was incredibly easy as well, leveraging NetApp Protection Manager.

Non-traditional backup technology adoption is increasing and, in some environments, replacing existing backup solutions. Advanced technologies such as snapshots and replication have made impressive strides since ESG started tracking the use of, and interest in these solutions. NetApp SnapManager for Oracle makes these functions easily accessible and usable by DBAs to increase database availability and reduce IT administrative workload.



Appendix

Table 1. ESG Lab Test Bed

Test Bed

Storage

NetApp FAS 6070 Data ONTAP 7.3.2

84x 146 GB 10k RPM FC Drives

NetApp FAS 3170 Data ONTAP 7.3.1

14x 500 GB 3.5” 7.2k SATA Drives

Database Hosts

IBM x346 One Dual Core 2.8Ghz Intel Xeon Processor

8 GB Memory

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.4 (Tikanga) Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release

11.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production


8 GB Memory




8 GB Memory



Software

SnapManager 3.0.3 for Oracle

SnapDrive 4.1.1 for UNIX Operations Manager/Protection Manager: 3.8.1

20 Asylum Street | Milford, MA 01757 | Tel:508.482.0188 Fax: 508.482.0218 | www.enterprisestrategygroup.com

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