HyperBac for Oracle - Product FAQs

What is HyperBac for Oracle?

HyperBac for Oracle is enterprise disk based database backup accelerator. HyperBac uses integrated, high performance lossless compression to reduce the amount of disk I/O and DASD storage requirements by up to 90%.

HyperBac backups are faster and result in increased transaction throughput and system performance. In contrast, other methods which can be used to produce compressed backup sets typically incorporate aggressive compression routines which yield a high rate of data compression but introduce a CPU bottleneck.

HyperBac uses native backup and export technologies such as RMAN, EXP/IMP and EXPDP/IMPDP and as such supports all types and options for backups, restores and ETL operations including hot, cold, offline, online, physical, logical and all others.

In addition archive files created by HyperBac can be converted to native backup files (physical or logical) at any time on any system, offering peace of mind for customers as well as a viable alternative recovery path should the restore or import occur on a system which does not have HyperBac installed.

The diagram below summarizes the architecture for HyperBac for Oracle:



Aside from compression, what technical benefit does HyperBac deliver?

Transaction throughput is the key to HyperBac for Oracle.

HyperBac for Oracle results in an improvement in transaction throughput by up to 10 times during the backup process in contrast to comparable conventional backup operations. This is due to the substantial reduction in write disk I/O during the HyperBac backup process.

Other methods used to produce compressed backup sets in Oracle typically use more aggressive compression routines, while reducing disk write I/O, these routines generally result in excessive CPU utilization introducing a different system bottleneck. As a result, these methods may adversely impact transaction throughput and system usability and responsiveness.

Can I integrate HyperBac for Oracle with my existing backup jobs and scripts?

Yes. In fact HyperBac is designed to work with your native Oracle command set.

Nothing changes to the way you had previously performed native backups. HyperBac is invoked simply by changing the file extension of the backup file(s) to .HBC (or another user configured file extension) before executing the RMAN, EXP or EXPDP operations.

Example

Native Backup Command – Without HyperBac:

BACKUP DATABASE FORMAT 'E:\Backup\%U';

Native Backup Command – With HyperBac:

BACKUP DATABASE FORMAT 'E:\Backup\%U.HBC';

Will HyperBac cause me to change my disaster recovery policies or procedures?

No. But it will give you options that you previously didn't have.

1.     By reducing your backup size you can keep more backups online. That gives your flexibility and options during recovery.

2.     Save time during recovery, because you won't have to rely on fetching tapes from off site locations.

3.     As importantly you can almost eliminate the inherent risk associated with failed tape media.

You'll also reduce risk. Why? Because you'll have more backup sets online and on your site, which can be validated at greater frequency. This is not always possible or feasible with off-site archives.

Can I backup specific objects such as individual tables, tablespaces or datafiles?
Yes.

Because HyperBac integrates with your native Oracle command set, all options and operations available within those commands will always be available.

This includes all backup options such as parallelism, incremental, differential, image copies and all other options. All recovery operations are supported including point-in-time and flashback are fully supported.

Can I still perform native Oracle backups?

Yes.

You are able to perform native or HyperBac backups on the same system, to perform a native backup or export you would simply use an output file extension which was not associated with HyperBac, for instance .BAK or no extension.

What if HyperBac fails?

You will get an uncompressed backup. But!! You’re backup operation will still execute.

This is because HyperBac does not have any hooks or links into your Oracle instance. In fact, HyperBac is working at the file system layer and not within the Oracle process.

That means that should the HyperBac daemon or service not be functioning, then Oracle will continue to perform its backup without interruption. You only thing you won’t get is the associated compression and/or encryption.

How does HyperBac ensure the integrity of my Oracle backup sets?

HyperBac for Oracle leverages native Oracle backup/recovery and export/import tools, including RMAN, EXP/IMP and the Oracle Data Pump (Release 10g). All interactions with the Oracle instance and database are performed through these standard interfaces, ensuring data integrity and consistency.

In addition, all of the recovery catalogue, job and script metadata is retained by Oracle and can be queried or reported on.

As HyperBac integrates with all of the standard Oracle backup, recovery and ETL tools and commands, all of the functionality available in these tools is always available.

This means that your standard backup and recovery procedures and methods can be maintained while attaining optimal speed, transaction throughput and storage savings and the validity of the output devices is uncompromised by the process.

What returns should I expect from HyperBac for Oracle?

Your returns will be tangible and immediate.

1.     Immediate saving on tape media

2.     Immediate reduction in the complexity of tape rotations

3.     Immediate savings in offsite storage costs

4.     Immediate reduction in bandwidth contention

5.     Immediate reduction in end user contention for resources

You will also be able to reduce risk and improve DR strategy execution

1.     Hold more online recovery points within the same infrastructure space

2.     Recover more rapidly form online archives

3.     Buy time to perform backup validation at the time of backup execution

4.     Eliminate the risks associated with tape media failure.

HyperBac is prices to deliver a payback to you within months of deployment.

Where does HyperBac for Oracle Install?

The HyperBac control service installs on the Oracle database server, this adds no additional overhead to the system.

What versions of Operating Systems and Oracle Databases are supported?

HyperBac for Oracle is supported on the following operating systems:

1.     Windows Server 2008

2.     Windows Server 2003

3.     Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 4 and above

4.     Solaris (8, 9 and 10)

5.     Linux operating systems (all distributions, kernel 2.6 and above)

6.     HPUX 11i v2 and 11i v3.

HyperBac for Oracle supports Oracle database versions 9i, 10g and 11g (all releases) for all of the aforementioned supported operating system platforms.

Does HyperBac for Oracle support backups direct to tape?

Not at present. HyperBac for Oracle currently supports disk based backup devices only. Disk based backups provide database administrators with fast, reliable recovery online points.

HyperBac's compression is superior to the hardware compression which is common on many tape devices, so a disk to tape backup strategy will generally yield a 50% reduction in tape storage costs as well as a 75-90% reduction in DASD, NAS or SAN requirements.

As importantly, hardware compression is more time consuming, whereas HyperBac’s compression out performs native Oracle uncompressed backup performance.

My company uses NAS or SAN for our backups, am I still able to use HyperBac for Oracle?

Yes.

HyperBac for Oracle can backup or export to any logical disk device. NAS, SAN, and any other appliance based storage devices are fully supported as well as local DASD and shared network devices.

Backups and exports to all output logical disk devices are seamless and transparent to the administrator.

Does HyperBac for Oracle work in a RAC or Data Guard environment?

Yes. In an Oracle RAC environment, HyperBac for Oracle should be installed on each physical node in the RAC configuration.

This will allow for all types of physical, logical, hot and cold backup operations on any node and would provide complete flexibility for disaster recovery, duplication or ETL operations.

However if you wish to perform all backup operations from one node, you would license and install HyperBac on this particular node only.

In an Oracle Data Guard configuration, HyperBac can be installed on the primary or standby node or both depending upon which system is used to perform the backups or exports.

How do I restore a HyperBac backup without having HyperBac installed?

HyperBac for Oracle ships with the extractor utility that allows you take input a HyperBac backup and it will inflate it accordingly. The result is a native Oracle backup that can be restored without HyperBac.