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FlashGrid Server (non-clustered) on Azure. Backup Best Practices

  • Updated
  • Products: FlashGrid Server on Azure

This article covers backup procedures that must be used for different types of data including:

  • OS and software on a FlashGrid server
  • Database files
  • Files on ACFS, if used

Backing up OS and software on a FlashGrid server

It is strongly recommended to back up the OS disk and software disk (LUN 0) after the initial FlashGrid server configuration and before and after applying any changes, such as patch installation or security settings changes. Using Azure Backup service is the recommended method for backing up the disks.

  1. Using Azure CLI configure the disk backup of the Azure VM:
  • Backing up LUN0 and OS disks:
az backup protection enable-for-vm --resource-group {resourcegroup}  --vault-name {vaultname} --vm {vmname} --policy-name {policyname} --disk-list-setting include --diskslist 0

The backup configured by the above script includes both LUN0 and OS disks, because the OS disk is by default added to the VM backup and can't be excluded.

  • Backing up only OS disk:
az backup protection enable-for-vm --resource-group {resourcegroup} --vault-name {vaultname} --vm {vmname} --policy-name {policyname} --exclude-all-data-disks
  1. Verify that the backup configuration contains only OS and LUN0 disks:

    Connect to the Azure portal -> Recovery Services vaults -> {vaultname} -> Protected items -> Backup items. Select Azure Virtual Machine then View details for the VM. Review the Included disk(s) section.
  1. Click Backup now from Azure portal, or use CLI to initiate the backup and wait until the job is successfully completed before applying any changes.

Backing up database files

Standard RMAN procedures should be used for backing up and restoring database files.

Three main options for backup destination are available:

  1. A disk attached to the FlashGrid server system
  2. Azure File Share
  3. Azure NetApp Files (ANF)

Configuring a disk attached to the FlashGrid server system for database backup

  • This option allows higher performance of the backups and does not consume network bandwidth.
  • The disk must be attached with a LUN number 50 through 64 (LUNs 1 through 49 are reserved for use by ASM).
  • The disk must be formatted with a local file system, such as XFS.
  • Disk snapshots can be used for exporting backup data to external locations (Make sure that RMAN backup is complete before you make a snapshot of the backup disk.)

Configuring Azure File Share for database backup

  • Create a Standard performance Storage Account and add a file share.

  • Install cifs-utils package:

    # yum install cifs-utils -y

  • Make sure port 445/TCP is not blocked:

    Azure Files uses SMB protocol, which communicates over TCP port 445. If you're having trouble mounting your Azure file share, make sure your firewall is not blocking TCP port 445.

  • Create a backup mount point:

    # mkdir /db_backup
# chown oracle:oinstall /db_backup 
# chmod 755 /db_backup

  • Create a persistent mount point for the Azure file share in /etc/fstab. Example:

    //mystorageaccount.file.core.windows.net/myfileshare  /db_backup cifs vers=3.0,username=mystorageaccount,password=c3N+JcWQk7bw0yTT/yAMBmDcEFcRa4AkPQp+zpaljj6e...,dir_mode=0755,file_mode=0755,gid=2000,uid=3001,nofail

    Where uid and gid options are Oracle software owner user and group IDs respectively. If you have a customized user, then you need to change these parameters accordingly.

  • Mount the backup folder:

    # mount /db_backup

Configuring Azure NetApp Files (ANF) for database backup

Please note, that ANF must be provisioned with sufficient capacity to have minimally acceptable throughput and avoid freezes due to throughput exhaustion.

  • Create a NetApp account, capacity pool, and NFS volume for ANF by following the Azure documentation.
  • Establish VNet peering between your server and the ANF VNet, following the guidance provided by Azure.
  • Adjust the network MTU for Azure NetApp Files (ANF) following the instructions provided here.

  • Create a directory for backup:

    # mkdir /db_backup 
# chown oracle:oinstall /db_backup 
# chmod 755 /db_backup

  • Create a persistent mount point for the ANF in /etc/fstab. Depending on the protocol type you choose while creating an ANF volume, you need to select the corresponding NFS mount options from the following table:

    NFS Version Mount Options
    NFSv3 rw,vers=3,rsize=262144,wsize=262144,hard,timeo=600,noatime,nofail
    NFSv4.1 rw,vers=4.1,rsize=262144,wsize=262144,hard,timeo=600,noatime,nofail


    Example of /etc/fstab entries for NFSv3:

    10.0.1.4:/mkvolume /db_backup nfs rw,vers=3,rsize=262144,wsize=262144,hard,timeo=600,noatime,nofail 0 0

    Where:
    10.0.1.4:/mkvolume - the mount path of the ANF volume
    /db_backup - a previously created directory for backup

  • If needed, execute systemctl daemon-reload

  • Mount the backup folder:

    # mount /db_backup

Backing up Grid Infrastructure configuration files

Please follow Backup Best Practices: Grid Infrastructure Configuration

Backing up files on ACFS

For backing up and restoring files on ACFS use the same tools and procedures that you would normally use for file-level backup and restore.