What's new for Oracle

Learn about new features and enhancements in IBM® Storage Protect Snapshot.

New in IBM Storage Protect Snapshot 8.2.1

Support for IBM FlashSystem Safeguarded snapshots

Beginning with version 8.2.1, IBM Storage Protect Snapshot supports backup, restore, delete, and offload operations using Safeguarded snapshot feature of the IBM FlashSystem.

Following parameters are added under the SVCDTA device class section to support IBM FlashSystem Safeguarded snapshots:

SVC_SAFEGUARDED_SNAPSHOT specifies whether to take IBM FlashSystem Safeguarded snapshots. Set this parameter to YES or TRUE to enable safeguarded snapshots. Any other value indicates that Safeguarded snapshots are not taken.
SVC_SNAPSHOT_RETENTION_DAYS specifies, in days, how long a safeguarded snapshot is retained. The default value is 365 days.

Note: If you want to enable Safeguarded snapshots feature for IBM FlashSystem high availability snapshots, then specify parameters required for enabling high availability snapshots as well. For more information about the parameters, see What's new in 8.2.0 release.

New in IBM Storage Protect Snapshot 8.2.0

Support for IBM FlashSystem coordinated HA snapshots

Beginning with version 8.2.0, IBM Storage Protect Snapshot supports backup, restore, delete, and offload operations using Coordinated HA snapshot feature of Policy-Based High Availability (HA) topologies for the IBM FlashSystem.

Added the following new parameters under the SVCDTA device class section to support IBM FlashSystem coordinated high availability snapshots

SVC_HA_SITE_SERVERNAME specifies the second site of IBM FlashSystem in Policy-Based High Availability (HA) topology. Supported values for this parameter is the name of the second site as configured in the IBM FlashSystem. You can also specify the FQDN, but the first part should match the name of the second site as configured in IBM FlashSystem.
SVC_HA_SITE_USERNAME specifies the username for SVC_HA_SITE_SERVERNAME.
SVC_HA_SITE_SSHKEY_FULLPATH specifies the ssh full key path that can be used to perform operations on SVC_HA_SITE_SERVERNAME.

Note: For enabling coordinated high availability feature, you must configure COPYSERVICES_SERVERNAME, COPYSERVICES_USERNAME, SVC_SSHKEY_FULLPATH for one of the FlashSystem and above newly added parameters for another FlashSystem in a Policy Based High Availability setup.

Note:

IBM FlashSystem 2 Site HA configuration is supported.
IBM FlashSystem 3 Site HA DR configuration is not supported.

New in IBM Storage Protect Snapshot 8.1.24

Support for IBM FlashSystem volume group snapshots: Beginning with version 8.1.24, IBM Storage Protect Snapshot supports backup, in-place restore, delete, and offload operations from single site and Policy-Based High Availability (HA) topologies for the IBM FlashSystem volume group snapshots.

Added a new parameter under the SVCDTA device class section to enable IBM FlashSystem volume group snapshots

The SVCDTA device class section now contains an additional parameter named SVC_ENABLE_VOLUMEGROUP_SNAPSHOT that enables IBM FlashSystem volume group snapshots.
Supported values for this parameter are IGNORE_FLASHCOPY_MAPPINGS and ENFORCE_NO_FLASHCOPY_MAPPINGS.

For more information, see Configuring Storwize family and SAN Volume Controller dynamic target allocation (SVCDTA).

New in IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot version 8.1.11

Avail of a new level of data availability with IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot support for IBM HyperSwap technology, which enables mission-critical operations to continue without interruption during a complete site failure. HyperSwap systems support a dual-site, active-active solution that provides continuous availability of data during planned and unplanned outages.

For information on planning a HyperSwap system supported by IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot, see the planning topic about HyperSwap integration.

New in IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot 8.1.4

Use a single instance to protect multiple Oracle databases: With one IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot instance, you can now protect, clone, and manage multiple Oracle databases. Manage multiple Oracle databases on the same host by a single instance user with database administration rights. Using the new Configuration Wizard configure IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot for all databases that are protected or cloned. For more information about this feature, see Single Oracle user instance for multi-database protection.

Configuration Wizard: Use the Configuration Wizard to configure data protection and cloning for one or more Oracle databases. When you opt for the Oracle single user configuration, you can run the configuration of IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot
for all Oracle databases in a single host in one session. For more information about this feature, see Configuration Wizard.

Oracle Migration Tool: To migrate older instances of IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot for Oracle for multi-database management with a single user instance, use the Migration Tool. For more information about this tool, see Migrating Oracle instances.

Tip: To read all the information about the Configuration Wizard and the multiple Oracle database protection with a single IBM Storage Protect Snapshot instance, open this PDF.

Specify different backup version retention values: For all storage devices, you can specify different backup retention periods for each device class that is configured. During the configuration process, you can define different values for each device class with the MAX_VERSIONS parameter in the profile. For more information about this feature, see Backup version retention.

IBM SAN Volume Controller Dynamic Target Allocation (SVC DTA) incremental backups: Run incremental backups for SVCDTA with the FLASHCOPY_TYPE option INCR. After the initial FlashCopy backup, incremental FlashCopy backups are run to the same target volume. The ability to run incremental backups to the SVC, results in improvements in how long the backup takes and eases the load on the SVC. For more information about incremental flash copies, see Incremental backups and MAX_VERSIONS.

New and modified parameters or functions

The following parameters are new:

ORACLE_SID: In the CLONING and CLIENT sections of the profile, the ORACLE_SID parameter is added to identify a protected database. The value of this parameter is the same as the environment variable ORACLE_SID for the database. You must set the ORACLE_SID parameter in an Oracle single user configuration. For more information about this parameter, see CLIENT and CLONING.

ORACLE_HOME: When you are configuring IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot for Oracle, the ORACLE_HOME parameter is used to identify the Oracle database software location. This parameter is filled in automatically and is required when you are migrating an Oracle instance into a single user environment. In that case, it has a string like ORACLE_HOME /oracle/ora12cR2/app/product/12.2.0/dbhome_1. For more information about this parameter, see ORACLE.

OFFLOAD_SECTION_NAME: In the CLIENT section of the profile, the OFFLOAD_SECTION_NAME is added to identify the set of offload parameters for a specific ORACLE_SID. For more information about this parameter, see CLIENT.

ORACLE_SECTION_NAME: In the CLIENT and CLONING sections of the profile, the ORACLE_SECTION_NAME is added to identify the set of parameters that describe the Oracle database. For more information about this parameter, see CLIENT and CLONING.

The following parameters are modified for IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot 8.1.4:

MAX_VERSIONS for all device classes: Use this parameter in the CLIENT section of the profile for each DEVICE_CLASS to create incremental FlashCopies. When FLASHCOPY_TYPE is set to INCR, the incremental FlashCopy is refreshed depending on the MAX_VERSIONS value set. Specify the maximum number of snapshot backup versions to be kept before the oldest backup is deleted by using MAX_VERSIONS to specify the maximum. For SVCDTA, when the version-delete deletes the oldest snapshot backup with an incremental FlashCopy relation, it reuses the target volumes of the expired backup and refreshes the FlashCopy relationship instead of deleting it. For more information about MAX_VERSIONS, see CLIENT.