Author: Daniel Overby Hansen

Disstinguished Product Manager for Cloud Migrations at Oracle. I help customers make the most out of Oracle Database.

XTTS: How to Migrate a Database Using Full Transportable Export Import and Incremental Backups

These steps will guide you through a migration of a database using Full Transportable Export/Import (FTEX) and incremental backups. I covered the concept in a previous blog post, which you should read to understand the basics. Remember Transportable Tablespaces and Full Transportable Export/Import requires Enterprise Edition.

My demo environment looks like this: Overview of demo environment for migrating using FTEX and incremental backups

I have an 12.1.0.2 database that I want to migrate to a PDB in a new CDB that runs 19c.

Check Prerequisites

Create a new PDB called SALES in the target CDB:

TARGET/CDB1 SQL> create pluggable database sales admin user admin identified by admin;
TARGET/CDB1 SQL> alter pluggable database sales open;
TARGET/CDB1 SQL> alter pluggable database sales save state;

Prepare the database to use TDE Tablespace Encryption:

TARGET/CDB1 SQL> alter session set container=sales;
TARGET/CDB1 SQL> administer key management set key force keystore identified by <keystore-pwd> with backup;

Verify SQL*Net connectivity from source host to target PDB:

[oracle@source]$ sqlplus system@<target ip>/<pdb-service-name>

Verify database character set and national character set are the same:

SOURCE/SALES SQL> select property_name, property_value from database_properties where property_name in ('NLS_CHARACTERSET', 'NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET');

TARGET/SALES SQL> select property_name, property_value from database_properties where property_name in ('NLS_CHARACTERSET', 'NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET');

Ensure the source database is in ARCHIVELOG mode:

SOURCE/SALES SQL> select log_mode from v$database;

Enable block change tracking on source database. Requires Enterprise Edition (on-prem), DBCS EE-EP (cloud) or Exadata. Although strictly speaking not required, it is strongly recommended:

SOURCE/SALES SQL> select status, filename from v$block_change_tracking;
SOURCE/SALES SQL> alter database enable block change tracking;

Ensure that you can connect from the source to the target host as oracle:

[oracle@source]$ ssh <target ip> date

Identify Tablespaces And External Data

Identify all the tablespaces that you will migrate. With FTEX you should transport all the tablespaces, except those that contain Oracle maintained data, like SYSTEM, SYSAUX, UNDO and so forth:

SOURCE/SALES SQL> select tablespace_name from dba_tablespaces;

Save the list of tablespaces for later. In my demo, I only have the tablespace SALES except the Oracle maintained ones.

Next, on the target database ensure that any of the existing tablespaces doesn’t conflict with the ones you are transporting:

TARGET/SALES SQL> select tablespace_name from dba_tablespaces;

If there is a conflict of names, you have to drop or rename the tablespaces in the target database.

Use DBMS_TDB to easily identify external stuff like directories, external tables and BFILEs. Any files stored in the file system outside the database must be manually transferred to the file system on the target host:

SOURCE/SALES SQL> SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
SOURCE/SALES SQL> DECLARE
      external BOOLEAN;
   BEGIN
      external := DBMS_TDB.CHECK_EXTERNAL;
   END;
/

Download and Configure Perl Scripts

Create a folder to hold the perl scripts, download the scripts from MOS doc ID 2471245.1, and unzip:

[oracle@source]$ rm -rf /home/oracle/xtts
[oracle@source]$ mkdir /home/oracle/xtts
[oracle@source]$ cd /home/oracle/xtts
[oracle@source]$ --Download file from MOS
[oracle@source]$ unzip rman_xttconvert_VER4.3.zip

Create a working directory (aka. scratch location) which will hold the backups. Ensure that you have enough space at this location at both source and target database.

[oracle@source]$ rm -rf /u01/app/oracle/xtts_scratch
[oracle@source]$ mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle/xtts_scratch

Create the same location on the target host:

[oracle@target]$ rm -rf /u01/app/oracle/xtts_scratch
[oracle@target]$ mkdir -p /u01/app/oracle/xtts_scratch

Configure your migration in xtt.properties. In this demo the file looks like this:

tablespaces=SALES
platformid=13
src_scratch_location=/u01/app/oracle/xtts_scratch
dest_scratch_location=/u01/app/oracle/xtts_scratch
dest_datafile_location=+DATA
asm_home=/u01/app/19.0.0.0/grid
asm_sid=+ASM1
parallel=4
rollparallel=4
getfileparallel=4
metatransfer=1
dest_user=oracle
dest_host=<target_ip>
desttmpdir=/u01/app/oracle/xtts_scratch
srcconnstr=sys/<password>@sales
destconnstr=sys/<password>@newsales
usermantransport=1

A little explanation:

  • platformid is set to 13 because this is a Linux migration. You can get the number by querying v$transportable_platform.
  • Adjust the parallel options according to the capabilities of the source and target system.
  • When you are using ASM disk group in dest_datafile_location you must also set asm_home and asm_sid.

Finally, copy the scripts (and the configuration) to your target system:

[oracle@source]$ scp -r /home/oracle/xtts/ <target_ip>:/home/oracle/

Initial Backup and Restore

Now, you can start the first initial backup of the database. You take it while the source database is up and running, so it doesn’t matter if the backup/restore cycle take hours or days to complete:

[oracle@source]$ export TMPDIR=/home/oracle/xtts
[oracle@source]$ cd /home/oracle/xtts
[oracle@source]$ $ORACLE_HOME/perl/bin/perl xttdriver.pl --backup

The perl script has been configured in such a way that it automatically transfers the backups to the target system. In addition to that, a small text file must be transferred as well:

[oracle@source]$ scp res.txt oracle@<target_ip>:/home/oracle/xtts

Now, on the target system, you can restore the backup that was just taken. If needed, the data files are automatically converted to the proper endian format. If conversion is needed, you need space for a copy of all the data files:

[oracle@target]$ export TMPDIR=/home/oracle/xtts
[oracle@target]$ cd /home/oracle/xtts
[oracle@target]$ $ORACLE_HOME/perl/bin/perl xttdriver.pl --restore

Incremental Backup and Restore

You can – and should – run the incremental backup and restores as many times as possible. The more frequent you run them, the faster they will run because there will be fewer changes. At least, close to the migration downtime window starts you should run them often, to minimize the time it will take to perform the final backup and restore:

[oracle@source]$ export TMPDIR=/home/oracle/xtts
[oracle@source]$ cd /home/oracle/xtts
[oracle@source]$ $ORACLE_HOME/perl/bin/perl xttdriver.pl --backup

Transfer res.txt:

[oracle@source]$ scp res.txt oracle@<target_ip>:/home/oracle/xtts

And restore on the target system:

[oracle@target]$ export TMPDIR=/home/oracle/xtts
[oracle@target]$ cd /home/oracle/xtts
[oracle@target]$ $ORACLE_HOME/perl/bin/perl xttdriver.pl --restore

Final Incremental Backup and Restore

Gather dictionary statistics to ensure the Data Pump export runs as fast as possible:

SOURCE/SALES SQL> exec dbms_stats.gather_dictionary_stats;

Now downtime starts! Set the tablespaces read-only:

SOURCE/SALES SQL> alter tablespace SALES read only;

Perform the final incremental backup:

[oracle@source]$ export TMPDIR=/home/oracle/xtts
[oracle@source]$ cd /home/oracle/xtts
[oracle@source]$ $ORACLE_HOME/perl/bin/perl xttdriver.pl --backup

You will receive an error because the tablespace is read-only. This is ignorable: This error is ignorable because the tablespace was set read-only on purpose

Transfer res.txt:

[oracle@source]$ scp res.txt oracle@<target_ip>:/home/oracle/xtts

And restore on the target system:

[oracle@target]$ export TMPDIR=/home/oracle/xtts
[oracle@target]$ cd /home/oracle/xtts
[oracle@target]$ $ORACLE_HOME/perl/bin/perl xttdriver.pl --restore

Import Metadata Using FTEX

Create a directory object that points to the xtts folder:

TARGET/SALES SQL> create directory LOGDIR as '/home/oracle/xtts';

Next, create a database link to the source database that can be used to import the metadata. If the source database is already a PDB, ensure that the database link points directly into the PDB:

TARGET/SALES SQL> create public database link SRCLNK connect to system identified by <password> using '//<source_ip>:1521/<service_name>';

Test that it works:

TARGET/SALES SQL> select * from dual@srclnk;

Next, create a par file (sales_imp.par) that you can use for the Data Pump import (see appendix below for explanation):

network_link=SRCLNK
full=y
transportable=always
metrics=y
logtime=all
exclude=TABLE_STATISTICS,INDEX_STATISTICS
exclude=SYS_USER
exclude=TABLESPACE:"IN('TEMP')"
exclude=SCHEMA:"IN('SPATIAL_CSW_ADMIN_USR','SPATIAL_WFS_ADMIN_USR')"
directory=logdir
logfile=sales_imp.log
transport_datafiles='+DATA/CDB1_FRA2VD/B2D617FCB79B0684E053AF01000A6DCE/DATAFILE/SALES.281.105552609'

Start Data Pump and perform the import. newsales is a TNS alias that points into the SALES PDB in the target CDB. If you have encrypted tablespaces, you should use the option encryption_pwd_prompt. It allows you to input the TDE password. It can be omitted if there are no encrypted tablespaces.

$ impdp system@newsales parfile=sales_imp.par encryption_pwd_prompt=yes

Once the import has completed, you should examine the Data Pump log file for any critical errors. Check the appendix (see below) for ignorable errors:

[oracle@target]$ vi /home/oracle/xtts/sales_imp.log

That’s it! Your data has been migrated. Now would be a good time to:

  • Check data files for corruption using RMAN VALIDATE command

    Although not mandatory, it is recommended if time allows. It is a read-only check that you can run while other stuff is happening in the database. See step 6.1 in MOS doc ID 2471245.1.

  • Gather dictionary statistics

  • Test your application

  • Start a backup

  • Gather statistics – they were excluded from the export

  • Drop the database link that points to the source database

  • Cleanup the file system:

    • /home/oracle/xtts
    • /u01/app/oracle/xtts_scratch

Conclusion

Even huge, TB-sized, databases can be migrated with very little downtime by using incremental backups. By using the perl script from My Oracle Support and combined with Full Transportable Export/Import it is a simple process. In addition, you can even migrate to a new endian format, to a higher release and into a PDB in one operation. It requires Enterprise Edition and you must have plenty of disk space – potentially twice the size of your database.

There is a video on our YouTube channel that you can watch. It demos the entire process. I suggest that you subscribe to our channel and get notified whenever there are new videos.

Thanks to my good colleague, Robert Pastijn, for supplying a runbook that was used as inspiration.

Further Reading

Other Blog Posts in This Series

Appendix

If Source Database Is in OCI and Automatic Backup Is Enabled

If the source database is running in OCI and you have enabled automatic backup, you must make a few changes.

In xttprep.tmpl around line 319 change:

cp('backup for transport allow inconsistent ' ||

to

cp('set encryption off for all tablespaces;set compression algorithm "basic";backup for transport allow inconsistent ' ||

In xttdriver.pl around line 4268 change:

my $rman_str1 = "set nocfau;";

to

my $rman_str1 = "set nocfau;".
                "set encryption off for all tablespaces ;".
                "set compression algorithm 'basic' ;" ;

ORA-02085

If you get ORA-02085 when querying over the database link:

TARGET/SALES SQL> alter system set global_names=false;

ORA-39032

If you are exporting from 11.2.0.4, you must add the VERSION parameter:

expdp ... version=12

ORA-39187, ORA-39921 And ORA-39922

If the Data Pump job aborts and complain about object named CLI_SWPXXXXXXXX or SYS_ILYYYYYYYYY:

ORA-39123: Data Pump transportable tablespace job aborted
ORA-39187: The transportable set is not self-contained, violation list is
ORA-39921: Default Partition (Table) Tablespace SYSAUX for CLI_SWPXXXXXXXX not contained in transportable set.
ORA-39922: Default Partition (Index) Tablespace SYSAUX for SYS_ILYYYYYYYYY not contained in transportable set.
Job "SYS"."SYS_EXPORT_FULL_01" stopped due to fatal error at Wed Jul 18 13:51:01 2018 elapsed 0 00:05:55

You should have a look at MOS note ORA-39187 & ORA-39921 for CLI_SWP$ tables while performing Full Transportable Tablespace export (Doc ID 2426177.1). The objects are related to Unified Auditing.

Data Pump Parameters

Use network_link to specify the name of the database link that points back to the source database.

full=y and transportable=always instructs Data Pump to perform a full transportable export/import.

exclude=TABLE_STATISTICS,INDEX_STATISTICS exclude statistics from the import. It is better and faster to gather new, fresh statistics on the target database. If you insist on importing your statistics, you should use DBMS_STATS.

exclude=SYS_USER excludes the import of the SYS user. In a PDB that is not even allowed, and most likely you are not interested in importing the definition of the SYS user.

exclude=TABLESPACE:"IN('TEMP')" excludes the temporary tablespace from the import. Most likely there is already a temporary tablespace in the new, target PDB. It is faster to create a TEMP tablespace in advance – and name it the same as in the source database.

A change was made to Spatial in 19c and some Spatial admin users are removed. To avoid errors/noise in the log file you can safely exclude them from the import by specifying exclude=SCHEMA:"IN('SPATIAL_CSW_ADMIN_USR','SPATIAL_WFS_ADMIN_USR')".

transport_datafiles is used to specify the data files that make you the tablespace you are transporting. Specify the parameter multiple times to specify more data files. You can use asmcmd to get the data file paths and names.

Data Pump Ignorable Errors

Multimedia desupported in 19c, but code is still there. You can safely disregard this error:

Processing object type DATABASE_EXPORT/NORMAL_OPTIONS/TABLE
ORA-39342: Internal error - failed to import internal objects tagged with ORDIM due to ORA-00955: name is already used by an existing object.

Package is removed in 12.2. See ORA-39083 And ORA-04042 Errors On DBMS_DEFER_SYS When Importing Into 12.2 Database (Doc ID 2335846.1):

Processing object type DATABASE_EXPORT/SYSTEM_PROCOBJACT/POST_SYSTEM_ACTIONS/PROCACT_SYSTEM
ORA-39083: Object type PROCACT_SYSTEM failed to create with error:ORA-04042: procedure, function, package, or package body does not exist

Failing sql is:
BEGIN
SYS.DBMS_UTILITY.EXEC_DDL_STATEMENT('GRANT EXECUTE ON DBMS_DEFER_SYS TO "DBA"');COMMIT; END;

Upgrade & Plug In: With ASM, Data Guard, TDE and no Keystore Password

I was helping a customer the other day together with Mike. They were upgrading from 18c to 19c and had to convert the database to a PDB as well. At first glance, it seemed pretty straightforward, but things got complicated because:

  • They have standby databases and want the Data Guard setup to survive the plug-in operation.
  • They are using ASM.
  • They are using TDE Tablespace Encryption and have also encrypted their SYSTEM and SYSAUX tablespace.
  • The DBA that will carry out the upgrade and plug-in is not allowed to have the TDE Keystore password. They have separation of duties, so only the security admins have the keystore password.

Can you do that? Yes, you can! Let me tell you how.

Upgrade

First, upgrade the database. You can easily maintain the Data Guard setup during an upgrade. I wrote a blog post about a little while ago. In addition, to upgrade a database with encrypted tablespaces you don’t need the keystore password. You must configure the database to use an auto login keystore, and that’s it. If you are concerned about the use of an auto-login keystore, you can simply remove it again after the upgrade.

External Store for a Keystore Password

The plug-in operation will require the keystore password. But the DBA doesn’t know it – so we need to find a solution for that. The solution is to store the keystore password in an external store. I also wrote a blog post about that a while ago. When you have it configured you can exchange the commands that require a keystore password, like:

SQL> ADMINISTER KEY MANAGEMENT ... KEYSTORE IDENTIFIED BY "S3c3tPassw0rd";

With this:

SQL> ADMINISTER KEY MANAGEMENT ... KEYSTORE IDENTIFIED BY EXTERNAL STORE;

The database will get the keystore password from an external store, which is basically a file in the file system which is encrypted with a password that only the database know.

The security admins would need to do this in the CDB that will receive the non-CDB database. They can do it in advance, so they can relax while the DBA carries out the operation in a maintenance window. If the TDE keystore is already configured using the WALLET_ROOT parameter, you can use the feature right away. Otherwise, you need a database restart to configure it.

Like with the auto-login keystore, if you are concerned about the security, you can simply disable it again after the operation.

Plug In

Now things get complicated. When you plug in your non-CDB database the manifest file contains information on where the data files are located – but only on the primary database. This is an extract of a manifest file (the one you create with DBMS_PDB.DESCRIBE):

<PDB>
  ...
  <tablespace>
    <name>SYSTEM</name>
    ...
	<file>
      <path>+DATA/SALES1/DATAFILE/system.311.1058127529</path>

After plug-in, the CDB can start to use the data files right away. It reads from the manifest files where the data files are located. But there is no information on where files are located on the standby database. To overcome this you must create aliases in the ASM instance on the standby host. The aliases will point back to the original data files (used by the standby database). So, when the plug-in happens and redo start to flow to the standby database, it will know which data files to recover. If you are storing data files in a regular file system, you could use soft links to serve the same purpose.

The procedure is already very well described:

I won’t repeat the procedure as the above articles are really good. But these articles don’t consider the situation where your SYSTEM and/or SYSAUX tablespace is encrypted.

If that is the case, you must import your encryption keys into CDB$ROOT before you execute the CREATE PLUGGABLE DATABASE command. In Reusing the Source Standby Database Files When Plugging a non-CDB as a PDB into the Primary Database of a Data Guard Configuration (Doc ID 2273304.1) it should happen right before step 17.2.2:

SQL> alter session set container=CDB$ROOT;
SQL> administer key management import keys ... keystore identified by external store ... ;
SQL> --Continue with step 17.2.2
SQL> create pluggable database .... ;

Dots and Underscores

When you follow the MOS notes you might wonder why the dots in the ASM aliases are replaced with underscores. At first glance, I had no idea, but it worked. I later learned the following:

The format for an ASM filename is [filetype|tablespacename].[ASM file number].[file incarnation], but basically it is three pieces of name separated by periods. We can’t create any filename or alias that mimics that format. So the scripts change those periods to underscores (‘_’). That is allowed.

ORA-15032 and ORA-15046

Most likely you get this error because there are already existing aliases on the ASM file. Only one alias is allowed per file.

  1. You can verify that by using the ls command in ASMCMD. If it is an alias the Name column will look similar to this alias1 => +DATA/......
  2. Ensure the database is not using the alias. If it does, rename the file in the database.
  3. Remove the alias from ASM. It is strongly recommended to use rmalias. Although also possible with rm I consider it much safer to use rmalias.

Conclusion

You can upgrade and convert your database to a PDB without comprising your standby database. In addition to that, you can configure your database in such a way that you don’t even need to type in the TDE keystore password.

How to Upgrade with Data Guard

This is a deprecated blog post. It is kept for reference only. Please visit the updated blog post series.

You can upgrade your database to a new release, and keep the data guard setup intact. The standby database(s) can be upgraded implicitly via the redo from the primary database, and there is no need to rebuild the standby database after upgrade.

The process: Overview of upgrade with a data guard

In the following I will be using this setup: Overview of the environment that is used for this procedure

In advance, you should install the new Oracle Home on both primary and standby host. The two Oracle Homes should have the same patches applied, and I recommend that you always apply the latest Release Update.

Before Upgrade

The procedure starts right before you run the preupgrade fixups. Downtime has started and users are no logged connected to the database.

Disable Data Guard Broker

If you don’t use Data Guard Broker, you can skip this chapter and go to the chapter Stop Data Guard. Connect to the broker and disable Fast Start Failover:

DGMGRL SYS@PROD1> disable fast_start failover

Next, you disable the broker configuration:

DGMGRL SYS@PROD1> disable configuration

Then, you can shut down the broker in the primary. Make a copy of the broker configuration files. Use the below SQL to generate commands to copy the files. Remember to execute the commands generated:

PROD1 SQL> alter system set dg_broker_start=false scope=both;
PROD1 SQL> select 'host cp ' || value || ' /tmp' as cmd from v$parameter where name like 'dg_broker_config_file%';
PROD1 SQL> --Now, execute the commands
PROD1 SQL> host ls /tmp/dr*.dat

Finally, you do the same for the standby database:

PROD2 SQL> alter system set dg_broker_start=false scope=both;
PROD2 SQL> select 'host cp ' || value || ' /tmp' as cmd from v$parameter where name like 'dg_broker_config_file%';
PROD1 SQL> --Now, execute the commands
PROD2 SQL> host ls /tmp/dr*.dat

Stop Data Guard

On the primary database, defer the redo log transport to the standby database. Strictly speaking, this is not necessary, but I do it from a "better-safe-than-sorry" aspect. Be sure to verify that log_archive_dest_state_2 is the actual archive destination for your standby database:

PROD1 SQL> show parameter log_archive_dest_2
PROD1 SQL> alter system set log_archive_dest_state_2='defer' scope=both;

Next, you cancel redo apply on the standby database:

PROD2 SQL> alter database recover managed standby database cancel;

Finally, you shut down the database:

PROD2 SQL> shutdown immediate

If you are using Grid Infrastructure (GI) to manage the database, you should stop and disable the database. Disabling the database is strictly speaking not necessary, but again a "better-safe-than-sorry" approach:

[oracle@bm2]$ $ORACLE_HOME/bin/srvctl stop database -d PROD2
[oracle@bm2]$ $ORACLE_HOME/bin/srvctl disable database -d PROD2

Upgrade

Now you can upgrade the primary database using the method you prefer. Complete all the post-upgrade tasks and perform the necessary tests to validate the new database release.

If something happens during upgrade and you want to revert, you can flash back the database (or restore on Standard Edition) and simply undo the before upgrade steps (start by enabling database, starting database, starting redo apply and so forth).

Remember that the standby databases was left behind before we started touching anything, so if all other fails, simply restart the standby database, and connect your users to it.

After Upgrade

Restart Data Guard

When you are happy with the upgrade, and your tests validate the new database release, you can proceed.

Update the listener on the standby host. Be sure to update the Oracle Home information in the listener.ora entry. Note, that your listener.ora might be stored in a non-default location, so use lsnrctl status to get the location. Finally, reload the listener:

[grid@bm2]$ $GRID_HOME/bin/lsnrctl status
[grid@bm2]$ vi $GRID_HOME/network/admin/listener.ora
[grid@bm2]$ $GRID_HOME/bin/lsnrctl reload

For the next commands, I will be used the same prompt, and I will need the following environment variables:

[oracle@bm2]$ export OLD_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/18.0.0.0/dbhome_1
[oracle@bm2]$ export NEW_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/19.0.0.0/dbhome_1
[oracle@bm2]$ export ORACLE_HOME=$NEW_HOME
[oracle@bm2]$ export ORACLE_SID=PROD
[oracle@bm2]$ #Set ORACLE_UNQNAME to DB_UNIQUE_NAME
[oracle@bm2]$ export ORACLE_UNQNAME=PROD2

Next, if the standby database is using TNS_ADMIN in the default location ($ORACLE_HOME/network/admin), then be sure to copy the relevant TNS aliases into the new tnsnames.ora. There should be TNS aliases to the primary and standby database. Or, if there are no other databases in the same Oracle Home, you can simply copy the files:

[oracle@bm2]$ #Back up files
[oracle@bm2]$ cp $NEW_HOME/network/admin/sqlnet.ora $NEW_HOME/network/admin/sqlnet.ora.backup
[oracle@bm2]$ cp $NEW_HOME/network/admin/tnsnames.ora $NEW_HOME/network/admin/tnsnames.ora.backup
[oracle@bm2]$ #Copy from old to new home
[oracle@bm2]$ cp $OLD_HOME/network/admin/sqlnet.ora $NEW_HOME/network/admin
[oracle@bm2]$ cp $OLD_HOME/network/admin/tnsnames.ora $NEW_HOME/network/admin

Now, you can edit /etc/oratab and update the information about the Oracle Home to match the new Oracle Home:

[oracle@bm2]$ vi /etc/oratab

Copy SPFile and password file to the new Oracle Home:

[oracle@bm2]$ cp $OLD_HOME/dbs/orapw$ORACLE_SID $ORACLE_HOME/dbs
[oracle@bm2]$ cp $OLD_HOME/dbs/spfile$ORACLE_SID.ora $ORACLE_HOME/dbs

If you are using GI to manage the database, you must upgrade the database, meaning updating the Oracle Home information, so GI will start the database in the correct Oracle Home. Next, re-enable and start the database:

[oracle@bm2]$ $ORACLE_HOME/bin/srvctl upgrade database -db $ORACLE_UNQNAME -oraclehome $ORACLE_HOME
[oracle@bm2]$ $ORACLE_HOME/bin/srvctl modify database -db $ORACLE_UNQNAME -startoption MOUNT -role PHYSICAL_STANDBY
[oracle@bm2]$ $ORACLE_HOME/bin/srvctl enable database -d $ORACLE_UNQNAME
[oracle@bm2]$ $ORACLE_HOME/bin/srvctl start database -d $ORACLE_UNQNAME

Or, if you are not using GI, simply start the database:

PROD2 SQL> startup mount

Re-enable Redo Log Transport and Apply

On the primary database re-enable redo log transport to standby database:

PROD1 SQL> alter system set log_archive_dest_state_2='enable' scope=both;

On the standby database restart redo apply

PROD2 SQL> alter database recover managed standby database disconnect from session;

Re-enable Data Guard Broker

First, we need to copy the broker config files into the new Oracle Home. If you store your broker config files outside of the Oracle Home this might not be necessary to you:

[oracle@bm1]$ export ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/19.0.0.0/dbhome_1
[oracle@bm1]$ export ORACLE_UNQNAME=PROD1
[oracle@bm1]$ cp /tmp/dr1$ORACLE_UNQNAME.dat $ORACLE_HOME/dbs
[oracle@bm1]$ cp /tmp/dr2$ORACLE_UNQNAME.dat $ORACLE_HOME/dbs

Do the same on the standby database host:

[oracle@bm2]$ export ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/19.0.0.0/dbhome_1
[oracle@bm2]$ export ORACLE_UNQNAME=PROD2 
[oracle@bm2]$ cp /tmp/dr1$ORACLE_UNQNAME.dat $ORACLE_HOME/dbs
[oracle@bm2]$ cp /tmp/dr2$ORACLE_UNQNAME.dat $ORACLE_HOME/dbs

Now, you can restart the Data Guard Broker on both primary and standby database:

PROD1 SQL> alter system set dg_broker_start=true scope=both;

PROD2 SQL> alter system set dg_broker_start=true scope=both;

Finally, enable the broker configuration and fast start failover:

DGMGRL SYS@PROD1> show configuration
DGMGRL SYS@PROD1> enable configuration
DGMGRL SYS@PROD1> enable fast_start failover

Test

Use the broker to ensure everything is fine:

DGMGRL SYS@PROD1> show configuration
DGMGRL SYS@PROD1> show database prod1
DGMGRL SYS@PROD1> show database prod2

You should have SUCCESS listed for both databases Use Data Guard Broker to verify data guard setup after upgrade

Let’s try to make a switchover:

DGMGRL SYS@PROD1> switchover to prod2

If you don’t use Data Guard Broker, you use regular SQLs and SQLPlus to verify the data guard environment.

Conclusion

It is actually not that complicated to upgrade your database, even if it is part of a data guard setup. A little extra legwork is needed to take care of the standby database. But the good thing is that your DR setup is maintained althroughout the process.

I made a video on YouTube that shows the procedure. And while you are there, I suggest that you subscribe to our channel.

Keep an eye out for coming versions of AutoUpgrade. At time of writing our developers are working on streamlining the process. We want upgrade with data guard to be 100 % automated (or as close to as possible).

Further Reading

Webinar: Upgrade Your Databases to 19c

Danish Oracle User Group - DOUG

Danish Oracle User Group is hosting a talk tomorrow on Upgrade Your Databases to 19c. I will be presenting and talk about:

Oracle Database 19c is the long term release and this talk is about how to get there. The emphasis is on the AutoUpgrade tool which is the new, recommended way for upgrades. There will be demos that describe how you can get started and the options, you have. In addition, we will cover upgrade best practices and deep insights into the process.

You need to upgrade to Oracle Database 19c and this talk will prepare you.

Time: 25 November 2020 15:00 CET/Copenhagen

The session is open to anyone, so if you are interested simply go their webpage and get the connection details. There is an English version of the text a little down the page. I will give the talk in English.

If you want to have a sneak peek on the slides, there are already published.

I hope to see you tomorrow.

XTTS: Introduction – Minimal Downtime Migration with Full Transportable Export Import and Incremental Backups

If you need to migrate a database to the cloud or anywhere else for that matter, you should consider using cross-platform transportable tablespaces and incremental backup (XTTS). Even for really large databases – 10s or 100s of TB – you can still migrate with minimal downtime. And it works across different endian formats. In fact, for the majority of cross-endian projects this method is used.

In addition to minimal downtime, XTTS has the following benefits:

  • You can implicitly upgrade the database by migrating directly into a higher release
  • You can migrate from a non-CDB and into a PDB
  • You can keep downtime at a minimum by using frequent incremental backups
  • You can migrate across endianness – e.g. from AIX or Solaris to Oracle Linux

Endian-what?

Endianness is determined by the operating system. Simplified, it determines in which order bytes are stored in memory:

  • Big endian: stores the most significant byte of a word at the smallest memory address.
  • Little endian: stores the least-significant byte at the smallest address.

Wikipedia has an article for the interested reader.

Which platform uses which endian format? There is a query for that:

SQL> select platform_name, endian_format from v$transportable_platform;

If your source and target platform does not use the same endian format, then you need a cross-endian migration.

How Does It Work

To concept is explained in this video on our YouTube Channel:

Basically, you need to migrate two things:

  • Data
  • Metadata

Data

The data itself is stored in data files and you will be using transportable tablespaces for this. Since the source and target platform are not the same, the data files must be converted to the new format. Only the data files that make up user tablespaces are transported. The system tablespaces, like SYSTEM and SYSAUX, are not transported.

If you have a big database, it will take a lot of time to copy the data files. Often this is a problem because the downtime window is short. To overcome this you can use a combination of RMAN full backups (backup set or image copies) and incremental backups.

There are a few ways to do this which is covered in the following MOS notes:

The first two methods are using version 3 of a Perl script (xttdriver.pl), whereas the last method uses version 4 of the same Perl script. Version 4 offers a much simplified method and I will use that version for this blog post series.

Version 4 of the Perl script has a list of requirements. If your project can’t meet these requirements, check if the previous version 3 can be used.

Metadata

Transferring the data files is just part of the project. Information on what is inside the data files, the metadata, is missing because the system tablespaces were not transferred. The metadata is needed by the target database, otherwise, the data files are useless. The Transportable Tablespace concept as a whole does not work for system tablespaces, but instead we can use Data Pump.

You can use either:

  • Traditional transportable tablespace
  • Or, the newer full transportable export/import (FTEX)

For this blog post series, I am only focusing on FTEX. But if you run into problems with FTEX, or if you can’t meet any of the FTEX requirements, you should look into the traditional transportable tablespace method.

Here are a few examples of metadata that Data Pump must transfer:

  • Users
  • Privileges
  • Packages, procedudes and functions
  • Table and index defintions (the actual rows and index blocks are in the data files)
  • Temporary tables
  • Views
  • Synonyms
  • Directories
  • Database links
  • And so forth

Conclusion

By using a combination of cross-platform transportable tablespaces and incremental backups, you can migrate even huge databases to the cloud. And it even works for cross-endian migrations, like AIX or Solaris to Oracle Linux.

You can watch our YouTube playlist and watch videos on cross-platform transportable tablespaces.

Further Reading

Other Blog Posts in This Series

How to Stop Hardcoding Your TDE Keystore Password

I was helping a customer the other day together with Mike. They were upgrading from 18c to 19c and had to convert the database to a PDB as well. At first glance, it seemed pretty straightforward, but things got complicated because:

  • They have standby databases and want the Data Guard setup to survive the plug-in operation.
  • They are using ASM.
  • They are using TDE Tablespace Encryption and have also encrypted their SYSTEM and SYSAUX tablespace.
  • The DBA that will carry out the upgrade and plug-in is not allowed to have the TDE Keystore password. They have separation of duties, so only the security admins have the keystore password.

Can you do that? Yes, you can! Let me tell you how.

Upgrade

First, upgrade the database. You can easily maintain the Data Guard setup during an upgrade. I wrote a blog post about a little while ago. In addition, to upgrade a database with encrypted tablespaces you don’t need the keystore password. You must configure the database to use an auto login keystore, and that’s it. If you are concerned about the use of an auto-login keystore, you can simply remove it again after the upgrade.

External Store for a Keystore Password

The plug-in operation will require the keystore password. But the DBA doesn’t know it – so we need to find a solution for that. The solution is to store the keystore password in an external store. I also wrote a blog post about that a while ago. When you have it configured you can exchange the commands that require a keystore password, like:

SQL> ADMINISTER KEY MANAGEMENT ... KEYSTORE IDENTIFIED BY "S3c3tPassw0rd";

With this:

SQL> ADMINISTER KEY MANAGEMENT ... KEYSTORE IDENTIFIED BY EXTERNAL STORE;

The database will get the keystore password from an external store, which is basically a file in the file system which is encrypted with a password that only the database know.

The security admins would need to do this in the CDB that will receive the non-CDB database. They can do it in advance, so they can relax while the DBA carries out the operation in a maintenance window. If the TDE keystore is already configured using the WALLET_ROOT parameter, you can use the feature right away. Otherwise, you need a database restart to configure it.

Like with the auto-login keystore, if you are concerned about the security, you can simply disable it again after the operation.

Plug In

Now things get complicated. When you plug in your non-CDB database the manifest file contains information on where the data files are located – but only on the primary database. This is an extract of a manifest file (the one you create with DBMS_PDB.DESCRIBE):

<PDB>
  ...
  <tablespace>
    <name>SYSTEM</name>
    ...
	<file>
      <path>+DATA/SALES1/DATAFILE/system.311.1058127529</path>

After plug-in, the CDB can start to use the data files right away. It reads from the manifest files where the data files are located. But there is no information on where files are located on the standby database. To overcome this you must create aliases in the ASM instance on the standby host. The aliases will point back to the original data files (used by the standby database). So, when the plug-in happens and redo start to flow to the standby database, it will know which data files to recover. If you are storing data files in a regular file system, you could use soft links to serve the same purpose.

The procedure is already very well described:

I won’t repeat the procedure as the above articles are really good. But these articles don’t consider the situation where your SYSTEM and/or SYSAUX tablespace is encrypted.

If that is the case, you must import your encryption keys into CDB$ROOT before you execute the CREATE PLUGGABLE DATABASE command. In Reusing the Source Standby Database Files When Plugging a non-CDB as a PDB into the Primary Database of a Data Guard Configuration (Doc ID 2273304.1) it should happen right before step 17.2.2:

SQL> alter session set container=CDB$ROOT;
SQL> administer key management import keys ... keystore identified by external store ... ;
SQL> --Continue with step 17.2.2
SQL> create pluggable database .... ;

Dots and Underscores

When you follow the MOS notes you might wonder why the dots in the ASM aliases are replaced with underscores. At first glance, I had no idea, but it worked. I later learned the following:

The format for an ASM filename is [filetype|tablespacename].[ASM file number].[file incarnation], but basically it is three pieces of name separated by periods. We can’t create any filename or alias that mimics that format. So the scripts change those periods to underscores (‘_’). That is allowed.

ORA-15032 and ORA-15046

Most likely you get this error because there are already existing aliases on the ASM file. Only one alias is allowed per file.

  1. You can verify that by using the ls command in ASMCMD. If it is an alias the Name column will look similar to this alias1 => +DATA/......
  2. Ensure the database is not using the alias. If it does, rename the file in the database.
  3. Remove the alias from ASM. It is strongly recommended to use rmalias. Although also possible with rm I consider it much safer to use rmalias.

Conclusion

You can upgrade and convert your database to a PDB without comprising your standby database. In addition to that, you can configure your database in such a way that you don’t even need to type in the TDE keystore password.

Enabling Local Undo With AutoUpgrade

If you have databases that run in shared undo mode you should switch to local undo mode. Starting from 12.2 this is the default and recommended undo mode, and it offers a lot of cool functionality. Obviously, at the expense of having multiple undo tablespaces. There are already many good blog posts out there that the benefits of local undo and how to enable it.

AutoUpgrade To The Rescue

If you are planning an upgrade with AutoUpgrade, you can also enable local undo during the upgrade. You should simply just configure it in the config file:

upg1.enable_local_undo=YES

And AutoUpgrade will take care of the rest for you. It will even create undo tablespaces in PDB$SEED and all of the PDBs. Once again AutoUpgrade can make your life easier.

What Happens

Before creating the new undo tablespaces, the database will determine the attributes of the tablespace. By default, it will use a ratio of 30% compared to CDB$ROOT:

  • Initial data file size (calculated from current file size)
  • Maximum data files size (MAXBYTES)
  • Grow by (INCREMENT_BY)

Example (default ration 30 %):

Attribute CDB$ROOT PDB
Initial data file size current file size, 500M 150M
Maximum data file size 32G 9.6G
Grow by 5M 1.5M

You can control the ratio using the parameter _seed_root_undo_ratio in CDB$ROOT. To set the percentage to 10% use the following command before the upgrade:

ALTER SYSTEM SET "_seed_root_undo_ratio"=10 SCOPE=SPFILE;

With this knowledge you can now calculate the space you need for all those extra undo tablespaces. Thus, you can avoid to run out of disk space, or have the tablespace set at undesirable size.

After the upgrade, I would advice you to review the undo tablespace size per PDB. Different workload requires different amount of undo. And especially the increment_by attribute can become so low that it will lead to too frequent data file grow operations.

If your database is already in local undo mode then the parameter _seed_root_undo_ratio has no effect at all. The database will not start a grow or shrink operation to meet the ratio defined by the parameter. Once you have switched to local undo mode, you are in full control yourself.

Conclusion

Be sure to enable local undo for all CDBs databases when you upgrade to 12.2 or later releases. If you have many PDBs and you use AutoUpgrade to enable it, be aware of disk space needed for all those tablespaces. And review the settings afterwards.

Mike Dietrich wrote about a similar situation when you create CDBs using DBCA.

Resources

Move to the Cloud – Webinar

Yesterday, Mike Dietrich and I gave the final webinar in the Oracle Database 19c Upgrade Virtual Classroom series. It was about Move to the Cloud – not only for techies. Now, I say final – but we all know you should never, say never. And in this case, it applies to final as well. We are already talking about subjects for a seventh webinar. If you have any interesting topic, that you think we should cover, get in touch with me.

Oracle Database 19c Upgrade Virtual Classroom

Unfortunately, due to a technical glitch we skipped the part about migrating using transportable tablespaces and full transportable export/import. We uploaded the missing part to YouTube, so you can watch it.

For those interested, you can now download the slides. We had really much information to share, so browse through the deck to find a lot of hidden slides. Typically, there are references and links to more information about a specific topic.

Within a week it should be possible to watch a recording of the webinar.

The Demos and Videos

This presentation we gave, was a brand new one. We used as many demos and videos as we could – or rather had time to prepare. We will post them on our YouTube channel as soon as possible. I suggest that you subscribe to it, so you can receive word as soon as new contents arrives. Further, we want to enhance the presentation even more, so we will be putting in more videos and demos. Let me know, if there was a topic, that could improve with a video or demo.

Thank You

Thanks to everyone that participated yesterday. Happy migrating!

Migration Strategies

Mike Dietrich and I gave a presentation on Migration Strategies – Tips and Tricks and Insights and Secrets today. The webinar is part of the Oracle Database 19c Upgrade Virtual Classroom series.

Oracle Database 19c Upgrade Virtual Classroom

The slide deck contains more information than we presented at the webinar. We had hidden a lot of slides that contain additional information and useful links. The slide deck is ready to download.

Soon you will be able to watch a recording as well.

Move to the Cloud (for techies)

If you want to know even more about migrations, you should register for the next webinar. It’s all about cloud migrations.
Date: Thursday 15 October 2020
Start Time: 13:00 GST – 12:00 EEST – 11:00 CEST – 10:00 BST
Duration: 120 mins

Whether you have databases in a cloud environment, or you plan to lift databases soon, this webinar is for you. We won’t cover cloud solution benefits but will show you how you can migrate your database(s) into the Oracle Cloud. We’ll start with Autonomous and also cover migration into VMs, Bare Metal, OCI, ExaCS and ExaCC. And we’ll look at minimizing downtime strategy, where ZDM can help. This two-hour webinar is not strictly for technical geeks ‒ but our focus will be on practical migration approaches.

Thank You

Thanks to everyone that participated today. We had a lot of fun and look forward to seeing you on Thursday. Happy migrating!

Debut on the Big Stage

Mike Dietrich and I will give two webinars in mid-October on database migrations. One of them will focus solely on migration to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. The webinars are part of the Oracle Database 19c Upgrade Virtual Classroom series. If you are interested, you have to register.

Oracle Database 19c Upgrade Virtual Classroom

Migration Strategies: Insights, Tips and Secrets
Date: Tuesday 13 October 2020
Start Time: 13:00 GST – 12:00 EEST – 11:00 CEST – 10:00 BST
Duration: 120 mins

Now it’s time for us to dig deeper. We’d like to offer you further insights and a deep dive from a technical point of view, starting with Data Pump and Transportable Tablespaces, then Full Transportable Export Import, and adding RMAN Incremental Backups to decrease the downtime. Best practices and real-world experience will round up this two-hour webinar.

Move to the Cloud (for techies)
Date: Thursday 15 October 2020
Start Time: 13:00 GST – 12:00 EEST – 11:00 CEST – 10:00 BST
Duration: 120 mins

Whether you have databases in a cloud environment, or you plan to lift databases soon, this webinar is for you. We won’t cover cloud solution benefits but will show you how you can migrate your database(s) into the Oracle Cloud. We’ll start with Autonomous and also cover migration into VMs, Bare Metal, OCI, ExaCS and ExaCC. And we’ll look at minimizing downtime strategy, where ZDM can help. This two-hour webinar is not strictly for technical geeks ‒ but our focus will be on practical migration approaches.

Debut on the Big Stage

These two webinars will be my debut on the big stage. The previous webinars had a huge interest and, unfortunately, some people couldn’t join because the webinar had reached its maximum number of attendees. If you register, I recommend to join early to get your seat.

I have been presenting in person and virtually for some years now. Also, since I joined Oracle in January, I have been doing quite a few presentations. However, this is my first time for such big crowd. I am excited and look forward to it – but also a little intimidated. Luckily, I have super-star Mike Dietrich there to (virtually) hold my hand.

And, finally, I promise you: No marketing slides – just demos and details.

I hope to see you there!