dbed_vmchecksnap - create and validate the snapplan used to create a clone database. The command can also be used to list, remove, and copy snapplans.

dbed_vmchecksnap -S ORACLE_SID -H ORACLE_HOME -f SNAPPLAN
-o setdefaults[ ,validate ] [ -p plex_tag ]
-t SECONDARY_HOST [ -m ]

dbed_vmchecksnap -S ORACLE_SID -H ORACLE_HOME -f SNAPPLAN
-o validate [ -n ]

dbed_vmchecksnap -S ORACLE_SID [ -f SNAPPLAN ] -o list

dbed_vmchecksnap -S ORACLE_SID -f SNAPPLAN -o copy

dbed_vmchecksnap -S ORACLE_SID -f SNAPPLAN -o remove

Storage Foundation. To determine whether this product is installed on the system, enter:

lslpp -L VRTSdbed

The dbed_vmchecksnap command creates a snapplan that dbed_vmsnap uses to create a snapshot of an Oracle database. The snapplan specifies snapshot scenarios (such as online, offline, or instant).

When you first run dbed_vmchecksnap with the -o setdefaults option, the command creates a snapplan template with a number of variables. Some of the variables are assigned default values. You may edit the snapplan file manually to set the variables for different snapshot scenarios.

Use the -o validate option to check that the snapplan is correct and copy it to the repository. When used in an Oracle RAC(*) database, the -o validate option can be run on the Veritas Cluster Volume Manager master node or slave node.

Snapshot plexes and their associated data change object (DCO) logs should be on different disks than the original plexes and must be configured correctly for creating snapshots by the system administrator. To verify that the plexes are configured correctly, run dbed_vmchecksnap with the -o validate option. For more information about snapshots and DCO logs, see the Symantec Storage Foundation Administrator’s Guide.

Use the -o list option to list all the snapplans associated with a specific ORACLE_SID.

Use the -o list -f SNAPPLAN options to get detailed information about the snapplan.

Use the -o copy option to copy the snapplan from the Symantec Storage Foundation for Oracle repository to your local directory.

Use the -o remove option to remove the snapplan from the repository.

You can use Database FlashSnap commands in a high availability (HA) environment.

The following options are supported:

-S ORACLE_SID	Specifies the name of the Oracle database for which a snapshot image will be created.
-H ORACLE_HOME	Specifies the ORACLE_HOME setting for the ORACLE_SID database.
-f SNAPPLAN	Specifies the local path or the full path of the snapplan for the ORACLE_SID database.
-o setdefaults[ ,validate ]	Creates a default snapplan. The -o setdefaults option can be used with the -o validate option to validate that the configuration is correct. The snapplan is flat file that gets created at the location specifed in -f, the snapplan gets copied to the repository only after a -o validate is performed.
-o validate	Validates each parameter in the snapplan, checks whether the snapshot volumes have been configured correctly for creating snapshots, and copies the snapplan to the repository.
-o list	Lists all the snapplans associated with a specific ORACLE_SID. The -o list option also proviides both snapshot status information and snapshot database status information for various stages of snapplan and snapshot procedures. For a complete list of status values, see the Storage Foundation: Storage and Availability Management for Oracle Databases Guide, Appendix C.
-o copy	The -o copy option copies the snapplan from the repository to your local directory.
-o remove	The -o remove option removes the snapplan from the repository and your local directory.
-t SECONDARY_HOST	Specifies the name of the host to which the snapshot image will be deported.
-p plex_tag	Specifies the snapshot plex tag. Use this variable to specify a tag for the plexes to be snapshot. The default plex tag is dbed_flashsnap.
-n	This option is ignored. It is retained for backwards compatibility.
-m	The -m option inserts DG:VOL= entries in the snapplan, where DG is the current Oracle Database diskgroup name and VOL is the current volume name. These entries are referred to as mapped mount points. The user can fill up the mount path location to the Right Hand Side of the DG:VOL= parameter. The mount path entered would be the location where the clone database would be mounted post a dbed_vmclonedb operation. If all mapped mountpoint entries are filled in the snapplan then the -r relocate_path option is not necessary to be used in the dbed_vmclonedb operation. The -m switch is to be used only with the -o setdefaults option.

In this example, a snapplan, snap2, is created with default values in a two-host configuration. The primary host is host1, the secondary host is host2.

$ /opt/VRTS/bin/dbed_vmchecksnap -S sfaedb -H /ora_base/db_home -f snap2 -o setdefaults -t host2 Snapplan snap2 for sfaedb SNAPSHOT_VERSION=5.0 PRIMARY_HOST=host1 SECONDARY_HOST=host2 PRIMARY_DG=datadg ORACLE_SID=sfaedb ARCHIVELOG_DEST=/arch/sfaedb SNAPSHOT_ARCHIVE_LOG=yes SNAPSHOT_MODE=online SNAPSHOT_PLEX_TAG=dbed_flashsnap SNAPSHOT_DG_PREFIX=SNAP_ SNAPSHOT_VOL_PREFIX=SNAP_ SNAPSHOT_MIRROR=1

In the following example, the snapplan, snap2, is validated for a snapshot image in a two-host configuration:

$ /opt/VRTS/bin/dbed_vmchecksnap -S sfaedb -H /ora_base/db_home -f snap2 -o validate Validating database configuration for third-mirror-break-off snapshot: ORACLE_SID = sfaedb ORACLE_HOME = /ora_base/db_home APP_MODE = online ARCHIVELOG_DEST = /arch/sfaedb SNAPSHOT_ARCHIVE_LOG = yes Database validation successful. Validating database volume layout for third-mirror-break-off snapshot: Data volumes ready for snapshot: Volume/volume-set datavol of diskgroup datadg mounted on /data. Storage units to be used for snapshot from diskgroup datadg: disk_2 Archivelog volume ready for snapshot: Volume/volume-set archvol of diskgroup datadg mounted on /arch. Storage units to be used for snapshot from diskgroup datadg: disk_3 SNAPSHOT_VOL_PREFIX = SNAP_ SNAPSHOT_DG_PREFIX = SNAP_ Database volume layout validated successfully.

In this example, all available snapplans are listed for the database sfaedb:

$ /opt/VRTS/bin/dbed_vmchecksnap -S sfaedb -o list The following snapplan(s) are available for sfaedb: SNAP_PLAN SNAP_STATUS DB_STATUS SNAP_READY snap2 init_full - yes

For descriptions of the statuses that appear for SNAP_STATUS and DB_STATUS, see the Storage Foundation: Storage and Availability Management for Oracle Databases Guide.

In this example, the snapplan, snap2, is displayed:

$ /opt/VRTS/bin/dbed_vmchecksnap -S sfaedb -f snap2 -o list SNAPSHOT_VERSION=5.0 ORACLE_SID=sfaedb ORACLE_HOME=/ora_base/db_home SNAPSHOT_PLEX_TAG=dbed_flashsnap SNAPSHOT_DG_PREFIX=SNAP_ SNAPSHOT_VOL_PREFIX=SNAP_ SNAPSHOT_MIRROR=1 SNAPSHOT_MODE=online SNAPSHOT_ARCHIVE_LOG=yes

STORAGE_INFO disk_2 disk_3 SNAP_PLEX=datavol-02 datavol_dcl-02 archvol-02 archvol_dcl-02

STATUS_INFO SNAP_STATUS=init_full

* Real Application Clusters (RAC) Considerations

RAC is not supported on some SF products/configurations. For details please refer to the Storage Foundation: Storage and Availability Management for Oracle Databases Guide

dbed_vmchecksnap must be run as the Oracle DBA user in order to retrieve information from an Oracle database. Before the Oracle DBA user can use this command, however, the system administrator needs to enable Veritas Volume Manager persistent FastResync on the existing database volumes and assign disks for the snapshot volumes.

The dbed_vmchecksnap command runs without interaction from the user.

To take an online snapshot of the database, the database needs to be running in archive log mode, which is set in the Oracle initialization parameter file. To take an offline or instant snapshot, the primary and secondary hosts must be different.

It is recommended that you create a local working directory to store your snapplans in. If a snapplan is updated or modified, you must re-validate it.

dbed_vmclonedb(1M), dbed_vmsnap(1M), vxsfadm-oracle-flashsnap(1M)

Storage Foundation: Storage and Availability Management for Oracle Databases Guide

Storage Foundation Administrator’s Guide

Storage Foundation for Oracle RAC Installation and Configuration Guide