Re: [PLUG] rsync and Oracle?

[Beldon Dominello <beldon@speakeasy.net>]

On Thursday 09 October 2003 18:02, gabriel rosenkoetter wrote:
> Assuming that you're using raw partitions (or direct I/O files
> within something like VXFS), this probably won't work. rsync makes
> no claims about doing the right thing with sparse files; best to
> assume it does the wrong thing. (Or just test it.

Yeah, that's what I thought.  Thanks.

> You can't use rsync to synchronize Oracle DBs without shutting down
> the DB first. The Oracle DB on the other end will refuse to use the
> DB files; they'll be out of sync with each other and out of sync
> with the control file.
>
> Unless you've got archive log mode on in your DB, you MUST stop the
> DB in order to have a useable backup.

Actually, my plan (assuming I wasn't using raw devices, that is) was to have 
the backup database server shut down unless it was needed, so it might have 
worked if, as I said, the devices were of the cooked sort.

> If you've got archive log mode on and are talking about rsync'ing
> the dumps out of that... I guess you could, but why not just do it
> over dblink? It'll probably be faster.

Because we want the system volumes in sync as well so that, in case any 
changes have been made to system configuration or binaries updated, those 
changes would already be in place on the new server.  Sure, I could do it 
manually, but I'm a lazy sort, and we only have 2 DBAs (and a consultant) to 
work with.

> EMC-style BCVs would, obviously, also be good for this. I think
> Hitachi can also do this in hardware, and Veritas can do it in
> software. (There is a Veritas for Linux, but it claims to be
> RH-specific.) All of those mean some complication on your networking
> concerns, though, and I do hope you don't plan on running anything
> *but* the synchronization across that gig line.

Actually, I've managed to find another software solution which looks ideal.  
It's called SteelEye (http://www.steeleye.com) and does OS and data 
replication, backup and restore, and failover and is about 1/10th the price 
of Veritas, ans supports SuSE, RH, and UnitedLinux.  Once of the nice things 
about them is that they have specific modules for database monitoring and 
backup/recovery on DB2, Oracle, mySQL, Apache, etc.

Thanks very much for your input!

	-Beldon

-- 
A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats.
		-- Ben Franklin

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