NetApp rolls out Oracle back-up tool

Network Appliance this week is expected to introduce software that automatically backs up Oracle databases, thus dispensing with complicated, error-prone manual processes.

SnapManager for Oracle automates the backup and recovery of Oracle databases running on Network Appliance file servers. The software takes a snapshot of the Oracle environment and isolates individual databases and their related code to back them up.

Ordinarily, in backing up Oracle databases, IT or database administrators write complex scripts that back up data in multiple Oracle volumes and data sets.

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Network Appliance this week is expected to introduce software that automatically backs up Oracle databases, thus dispensing with complicated, error-prone manual processes.

SnapManager for Oracle automates the backup and recovery of Oracle databases running on Network Appliance file servers. The software takes a snapshot of the Oracle environment and isolates individual databases and their related code to back them up.

Ordinarily, in backing up Oracle databases, IT or database administrators write complex scripts that back up data in multiple Oracle volumes and data sets.

Rich Cappellano, global head of infrastructure for Susquehanna International Group in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., is testing SnapManager for Oracle.

"Before using SnapManager, we'd use [Remote Monitoring] and a lot of custom scripting," Cappellano says. "It was a pain in the neck, because when you wanted to restore something, you'd have to go back and get the whole environment - the log files, the database - and you'd have to remember which one goes with which one."

Cappellano has 12 Oracle databases spread across 27 Network Appliance file servers.

"SnapManager for Oracle has all the intelligence to automatically do what we had to do manually before," Cappellano says, adding that he has been able to reduce back-up time by as much as 50%.

Click to see: Oracle snapshots

"Offerings such as Oracle Snap Manager also reduce the complexity of integrating data protection functionality with the database," says Stephanie Balouras, senior analyst with The Yankee Group.

The software also allows cloning with Network Appliance's FlexClone technology. Cloning is a writable snapshot of a database that creates a copy of the database to run queries against, test the database or upgrade the environment.

"Cloning is very common with large databases, especially to reduce long back-up windows," Balouras says.

The SnapManager for Oracle Backup Wizard allows database administrators or storage administrators to create a template for backing up Oracle databases. This wizard also allows IT to create rules regarding the retention of backups.

SnapManager for Oracle is in beta and will cost between $5,000 and $50,000, depending on the size of a company's Network Appliance file servers.

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