RMAN Database Cloning Process

For the sake of clarity, this document will refer to the database being cloned as the target (source), and the cloning target will be referred to as the auxiliary (target).

Same Server

Ensure that there is enough space in the database filesystems for a cloned copy of the database.

Create new locations for the target datafiles to ensure that the current datafiles are not overwritten.
Create a new init.ora file for the cloned database. Use a copy of the current init.ora parameter file and change DB_NAME. CONTROL_FILES, and other destinations for the cloned database. Ensure that the database’s initialization parameter remote_login_passwordfile is set to EXCLUSIVE or SHARED.
Create an Oracle password file for the auxiliary database with the orapwd command and modify the listener.ora and tnsnames.ora files to create a new listener and connect string for the cloned database.
Connect to the target database and execute “alter database backup controlfile to trace resetlogs;”.
Execute the following query:

select'set newname for datafile '||file_id||' to '||''''||file_name||''''||';'

from dba_data_files

orderby file_id;

The results:

set newname for datafile 1 to '/u04/oradata/oemtest/system01.dbf';

set newname for datafile 2 to '/u02/oradata/oemtest/undotbs01.dbf';

set newname for datafile 3 to '/u04/oradata/oemtest/sysaux01.dbf';

set newname for datafile 4 to '/u01/oradata/oemtest/undotbs01.dbf';

set newname for datafile 5 to '/u01/oradata/oemtest/data01.dbf';

set newname for datafile 6 to '/u02/oradata/oemtest/data02.dbf';

set newname for datafile 7 to '/u03/oradata/oemtest/data03.dbf';

set newname for datafile 8 to '/u04/oradata/oemtest/data04.dbf';

set newname for datafile 9 to '/u01/oradata/oemtest/index01.dbf';

set newname for datafile 10 to '/u02/oradata/oemtest/index02.dbf';

set newname for datafile 11 to '/u03/oradata/oemtest/index03.dbf';

set newname for datafile 12 to '/u04/oradata/oemtest/index04.dbf';

Copy these results to a text editor session.

Go to the udump location and open the latest trace file. Copy the entire logfile clause to the same text editor session where you put the query results from the last step. The logfile section will look like this:

LOGFILE

GROUP 1 (

'/u01/oradata/oemclone/redo01.log',

'/u04/oradata/oemclone/redo02.log'

) SIZE 100M,

GROUP 2 (

'/u02/oradata/oemclone/redo03.log',

'/u03/oradata/oemclone/redo04.log'

) SIZE 100M,

GROUP 3 (

'/u03/oradata/oemclone/redo05.log',

'/u02/oradata/oemclone/redo06.log'

) SIZE 100M,

GROUP 4 (

'/u04/oradata/oemclone/redo07.log',

'/u01/oradata/oemclone/redo08.log'

) SIZE 100M

Edit the information in the text editor session so that the paths for the new data and logfiles are correct and the result looks like this (pay attention to the areas in bold text):

run

{

set newname for datafile 1 to '/u04/oradata/oemclone/system01.dbf';

set newname for datafile 2 to '/u02/oradata/oemclone/undotbs01.dbf';

set newname for datafile 3 to '/u04/oradata/oemclone/sysaux01.dbf';

set newname for datafile 4 to '/u01/oradata/oemclone/undotbs01.dbf';

set newname for datafile 5 to '/u01/oradata/oemclone/data01.dbf';

set newname for datafile 6 to '/u02/oradata/oemclone/data02.dbf';

set newname for datafile 7 to '/u03/oradata/oemclone/data03.dbf';

set newname for datafile 8 to '/u04/oradata/oemclone/data04.dbf';

set newname for datafile 9 to '/u01/oradata/oemclone/index01.dbf';

set newname for datafile 10 to '/u02/oradata/oemclone/index02.dbf';

set newname for datafile 11 to '/u03/oradata/oemclone/index03.dbf';

set newname for datafile 12 to '/u04/oradata/oemclone/index04.dbf';

duplicate target database to <cloned DB sid

LOGFILE

GROUP 1 (

'/u01/oradata/oemclone/redo01.log',

'/u04/oradata/oemclone/redo02.log'

) SIZE 100M,

GROUP 2 (

'/u02/oradata/oemclone/redo03.log',

'/u03/oradata/oemclone/redo04.log'

) SIZE 100M,

GROUP 3 (

'/u03/oradata/oemclone/redo05.log',

'/u02/oradata/oemclone/redo06.log'

) SIZE 100M,

GROUP 4 (

'/u04/oradata/oemclone/redo07.log',

'/u01/oradata/oemclone/redo08.log'

) SIZE 100M;

}

Set the ORACLE_SID environment variable to the cloned database SID and start an SQL*Plus session.
Start the cloned instance in nomount mode.

startup nomount pfile=$ORACLE_HOME/dbs/init<sid>.ora

Start an RMAN session and execute the following commands:
Connect target sys/<password>@<current DB>
Connect rcvcat rcvcat/rcvcat@OEMPROD
Connect auxiliary /
Copy and paste the duplicate command from the text editor into the RMAN session. If there are too many lines (datafiles), you can create a Unix shell script with the following format:

#!/bin/ksh
#rman_archivelog_backup.ksh

. $HOME/.profile

rman <!

connect target /;
sys/<password>@<auxiliary>

put cloning commands here

Once the process is complete, the new cloned database is ready to use.

Different Servers (Refresh)

The Tivoli backup software and IBM Data Protection for Oracle needs to be installed and configured on the auxiliary server. See the “RMAN – Tivoli configuration.doc” document for the steps to accomplish this. Perform steps 1 through 6 only.
On the auxiliary server, edit the /usr/tivoli/tsm/client/oracle/bin64/tdpo.opt file and change the value of TDPO_NODE to the name of the server where the target database will be cloned from.
Ask the Tivoli admin to create a password file on the auxiliary server based on the change to the tdpo.opt file in the last step.
Create the necessary link on the auxiliary server by performing step 9 of the “RMAN – Tivoli configuration.doc” document.
Ensure that the auxiliaryserver has enough space in the database filesystems for a copy of the target database. You can run the following query to find out how much space is allocated in the source database:

select to_char(sum(a.bytes + b.bytes + nvl(c.bytes,0)),

'999,999,999,999,999,990') "DB Total Size (Bytes)"

from (select sum(bytes) bytes

from dba_data_files) a,

(select (sum(bytes*members)) bytes

from v$log) b,

(select sum(bytes) bytes

from v$tempfile) c;

On the auxiliary server, create locations for the target datafiles if they do not already exist. Note – If the datafile names and locations are to be identical between the two servers, you MUST use the NOFILENAMECHECK option of the database duplicate command. See the command is step 12 for details.
On the auxiliary server, create a new init.ora file for the cloned database. Use a copy of the target init.ora parameter file and change the CONTROL_FILES location (if necessary), and other destinations for the new database. LEAVE THE DB_NAME PARAMETER UNCHANGED. Ensure that the parameter remote_login_passwordfile is set to EXCLUSIVE.
On the auxiliary server, create an Oracle password file for the new database with the orapwd command (i.e orapwd file=orapw<SID> password=<password> )
On the auxiliary server, modify the listener.ora and tnsnames.ora files to create a new listener and connect string for the new database.
On the target server, connect to the current database and execute “alter database backup controlfile to trace resetlogs;”.
Execute the following query: