Database administrator workshop: Differences in default RMAN configuration settings between 12c and 11g

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Differences in default RMAN configuration settings between 12c and 11g

I wanted to write a post on configuring the RMAN environment using the SHOW and CONFIGURE commands in Oracle Database 12c, but after few commands I decided to investigate about the differences on default RMAN settings between the versions 10g, 11g and 12c.

Here are part of my results: the second part will be written in the next post.

Comparing the output of the SHOW ALL command while connected to a container database...

[oracle@vsi08devpom ~]$ export ORACLE_SID=CDB001
[oracle@vsi08devpom admin]$ sqlplus system/oracle@CDB001

SQL*Plus: Release 12.1.0.1.0 Production on Thu Sep 26 09:10:50 2013

Copyright (c) 1982, 2013, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Last Successful login time: Tue Jul 16 2013 13:43:48 +02:00

Connected to:
Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.1.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Advanced Analytics and Real Application Testing options

SQL> show con_name

CON_NAME
------------------------------
CDB$ROOT

[oracle@vsi08devpom ~]$ rman target /

Recovery Manager: Release 12.1.0.1.0 - Production on Thu Sep 26 09:12:42 2013

Copyright (c) 1982, 2013, Oracle and/or its affiliates.  All rights reserved.

connected to target database: CDB001 (DBID=4134963396)

RMAN> show all;

using target database control file instead of recovery catalog
RMAN configuration parameters for database with db_unique_name CDB001 are:
CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 1; # default
CONFIGURE BACKUP OPTIMIZATION OFF; # default
CONFIGURE DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE TO DISK; # default
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP ON; # default
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO '%F'; # default
CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE DISK PARALLELISM 1 BACKUP TYPE TO BACKUPSET; # default
CONFIGURE DATAFILE BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default
CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default
CONFIGURE MAXSETSIZE TO UNLIMITED; # default
CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION FOR DATABASE OFF; # default
CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION ALGORITHM 'AES128'; # default
CONFIGURE COMPRESSION ALGORITHM 'BASIC' AS OF RELEASE 'DEFAULT' OPTIMIZE FOR LOAD TRUE ; # default
CONFIGURE RMAN OUTPUT TO KEEP FOR 7 DAYS; # default
CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG DELETION POLICY TO NONE; # default
CONFIGURE SNAPSHOT CONTROLFILE NAME TO '/opt/app/oracle/product/12.1.0/db_1/dbs/snapcf_CDB001.f'; # default

... with that one executed on a 11g database...

[oracle@localhost orcl]$ rman target /

Recovery Manager: Release 11.2.0.2.0 - Production on Wed Sep 25 08:12:17 2013

Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle and/or its affiliates.  All rights reserved.

connected to target database: ORCL (DBID=1229390655)

RMAN> show all;

using target database control file instead of recovery catalog
RMAN configuration parameters for database with db_unique_name ORCL are:
CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 1; # default
CONFIGURE BACKUP OPTIMIZATION OFF; # default
CONFIGURE DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE TO DISK; # default
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP OFF; # default
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO '%F'; # default
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE SBT_TAPE TO '%F'; # default
CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE DISK PARALLELISM 1 BACKUP TYPE TO BACKUPSET; # default
CONFIGURE DATAFILE BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default
CONFIGURE DATAFILE BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE SBT_TAPE TO 1; # default
CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default
CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE SBT_TAPE TO 1; # default
CONFIGURE MAXSETSIZE TO UNLIMITED; # default
CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION FOR DATABASE OFF; # default
CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION ALGORITHM 'AES128'; # default
CONFIGURE COMPRESSION ALGORITHM 'BASIC' AS OF RELEASE 'DEFAULT' OPTIMIZE FOR LOAD TRUE ; # default
CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG DELETION POLICY TO NONE; # default
CONFIGURE SNAPSHOT CONTROLFILE NAME TO '/home/oracle/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/dbhome_2/dbs/snapcf_orcl.f'; # default

... I can notice there are two main differences.

CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP ON; # default
CONFIGURE RMAN OUTPUT TO KEEP FOR 7 DAYS; # default

On 12c the CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP is by default turned on, so at the end of every RMAN backup or after structural changes for databases in ARCHIVELOG mode (eventually creating a single controlfile autobackup encompassing the latest structural changes performed in a short period of time), RMAN automatically backs up the controlfile.
Since Oracle Database 10g release Oracle recommends you enable the control file autobackup feature, but in 10g and 11g the default option of the CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP feature is OFF.

I've so tried to execute the SHOW ALL command on a 12c Non-Container database and here is the output:

[oracle@vsi08devpom ~]$ export ORACLE_SID=ORCL

[oracle@vsi08devpom admin]$ sqlplus system/oracle@orcl

SQL*Plus: Release 12.1.0.1.0 Production on Thu Sep 26 09:00:16 2013

Copyright (c) 1982, 2013, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Last Successful login time: Thu Aug 08 2013 12:16:46 +02:00

Connected to:
Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.1.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
With the Partitioning, OLAP, Advanced Analytics and Real Application Testing options

SQL@ORCL> show con_name

CON_NAME
------------------------------
Non Consolidated

[oracle@vsi08devpom ~]$ rman target /

Recovery Manager: Release 12.1.0.1.0 - Production on Thu Sep 26 09:02:14 2013

Copyright (c) 1982, 2013, Oracle and/or its affiliates.  All rights reserved.

connected to target database: ORCL (DBID=1350603571)

RMAN> show all;

using target database control file instead of recovery catalog
RMAN configuration parameters for database with db_unique_name ORCL are:
CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 1; # default
CONFIGURE BACKUP OPTIMIZATION OFF; # default
CONFIGURE DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE TO DISK; # default
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP OFF; # default
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO '%F'; # default
CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE DISK PARALLELISM 1 BACKUP TYPE TO BACKUPSET; # default
CONFIGURE DATAFILE BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default
CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default
CONFIGURE MAXSETSIZE TO UNLIMITED; # default
CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION FOR DATABASE OFF; # default
CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION ALGORITHM 'AES128'; # default
CONFIGURE COMPRESSION ALGORITHM 'BASIC' AS OF RELEASE 'DEFAULT' OPTIMIZE FOR LOAD TRUE ; # default
CONFIGURE RMAN OUTPUT TO KEEP FOR 7 DAYS; # default
CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG DELETION POLICY TO NONE; # default
CONFIGURE SNAPSHOT CONTROLFILE NAME TO '/opt/app/oracle/product/12.1.0/db_1/dbs/snapcf_ORCL.f'; # default

I then took a look at the "Backup and Recovery Reference 12c Release 1 (12.1)" guide and it confirms that:
"By default, control file autobackups are turned on for CDBs and turned off for non-CDBs."

The second difference is the new RMAN OUTPUT TO KEEP FOR integer DAYS command.

From the same documentation guide "...When you configure output logging to integer days, any logging entry that is older than integer days is deleted from both the RC_RMAN_OUTPUT and V$RMAN_OUTPUT views."

According to what I have observed today I can conclude:
on page 88 of the "Backup and Recovery User's Guide 12c Release 1 (12.1) E17630-13", the example 5-1 SHOW ALL Command is the same of the "Backup and Recovery User's Guide 11g Release 2 (11.2) E10642-06" on page 82 and that output is related to a Oracle Database 11g version (the 10g doesn't print the first line "RMAN configuration parameters for database with db_unique_name PROD1 are:").

I'm going to write a post on the related Oracle forum.

That's all.