Enabling Automatic Instance Discovery for Oracle Databases

Use the Enable Instance Discovery option to automatically discover databases.

CommCell instances are created for Oracle databases under the following conditions:

• Discovery is initiated every 168 hours. Change this interval by Setting the Automatic Discovery Frequency.
• When the Communications Service (GxCVD) is restarted (for example after a computer reboot).

Enabling Automatic instance discovery ensures that newly added Oracle databases are regularly accounted for backups.

The SnapProtect software only discovers instances defined in the Oracle oratab file, which is created by Oracle at installation and acts as a database registry file. On Solaris systems, this file is normally located in the /var/opt/oracle directory and on Linux/UNIX systems, it is located in the /etc directory.

You can configure the software to automatically update the Oracle home directory after an Oracle upgrade. For information on how to configure this option, see Updating the ORACLE_HOME in SnapProtect after an Oracle Upgrade.

About This Task

By default, when you discover or create an Oracle instance, the SnapProtect software automatically creates an archive log subclient. You can disable this feature by setting an additional setting. For more information, see Disabling Automatic Archive Log Subclient Creation.

You can configure the data and log storage policies when you manually or automatically discover instances (Agent Properties dialog box, Data Storage Policy list, Log Storage  Policy list, General tab). The SnapProtect software assigns these storage policies to all instances and default subclients that you discover.

By default, the command line storage policy is set to the agent data storage policy.

The log storage policy is assigned to the Oracle instance.

The SnapProtect software assigns the data storage policy to the default subclients by looking at the following configured items:

1. The storage policy configured for the Oracle Agent (Data Storage Policy list, Log Storage Policy list, General tab)
2. The storage policies that are configured for a previously discovered Oracle instance (Instance Properties dialog box, Storage Device tab, Log Backup tab, Storage Policy used for all archive log backup list)
3. The storage policy for the File System Agent default agent for the default backup set (Subclient Properties dialog box, Storage Device tab, Data Storage Policy tab, Storage Policy list)

When you add or discover an Oracle instance, the software sets the default block size to 1MB. You can change the Oracle block size. For more information, see Configuring the Oracle Block Size.

Procedure

1. From the CommCell Browser, expand Client Computers.
2. Right-click client, and click Properties. The Client Properties dialog box is displayed.
3. On the General tab:
   1. Check the Enable Automatic Instance Discovery check box.
   2. Optional: Configure the default data and log storage policies for all discovered instances.

      Policy	Option
      Data Storage Policy	Select a policy from the Data Storage Policy list.
      Log Storage Policy	Select a policy from the Log Storage Policy list.

4. Set the default data storage policy for the instance's default subclient when it has not been set. See Setting the Data Storage Policy on the Default Subclient after Discovering Oracle Instances.
5. Set the default command line backup and log backup storage policies when they have not been set. See Setting the Log Backup and Command Line Backup Storage Policies after Discovering Oracle Instances.
6. Optional:
   • The Oracle connect string for a discover instance is set to '/' by default. You can change the Oracle connect string. For more information, see Modifying the Oracle Connect String.
   • Set the environment variables for the Oracle application directory and the Oracle Net Services configuration file. For more information, see Changing the Oracle Configuration Directories after Discovering Instances.
   • Set up an operating system account and an Oracle user account. For more information, see Configuring User Accounts for Access to the Oracle Application and Database.
   • Include the Oracle RMAN recovery catalogs in backups. For more information, see Enabling the Oracle RMAN Recovery Catalog.
   • Disable the Oracle CROSSCHECK operation during data aging. For more information, see Disabling the Oracle RMAN Crosscheck.
   • Include all control files for backups of this instance. For more information, see Enabling Automatic Backup of Control Files for All Oracle Subclients.
   • Refresh the instance properties to ensure all subclient properties are available. For more information, see Subclients for CommCell Console Auto Discovered Instances May Have Unavailable Properties.
7. Click OK.