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1598594 - BR*Tools configuration for Oracle installation

using user "oracle"
Version 47 Type SAP Note
Language English Master Language German
Priority Recommendations / Additional Info Category Consulting
Release Status Released for Customer Released On 08.06.2017
Component BC-DB-ORA-DBA ( Database Administration with Oracle )

Please find the original document at https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/ 1598594

Symptom

Preliminary remark
The BR*Tools configuration described in this SAP Note became the standard configuration for all
installations (not only for ASM and RAC) as of Oracle 12c. This means that the configuration and
authorization concepts described here are generally valid for Oracle 12c.

Request reason
The following Oracle 11g white papers:

"Configuration of SAP NetWeaver for Oracle Grid Infrastructure 11.2 with Oracle Real Application
Clusters 11g Release 2 - A Best Practices Guide" [http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/ora -> Oracle Real
Application Clusters (RAC)]

"SAP Databases on Oracle Automatic Storage Management 11g Release 2"

[http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/ora -> Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM)]

"Using SAP NetWeaver with the Oracle Exadata Database Machine - A Best Practices Guide"
[http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/ora -> Oracle Exadata]

recommend that you install Oracle 11g software for RAC (Real Application Cluster) and/or ASM
(Automatic Storage Management) on UNIX systems; to do this, use the OS user "oracle" and the OS
group "oinstall".
This change affects the configuration of BR*Tools on the database server. You can no longer use
BR*Tools in the standard configuration (for example, BRBACKUP-Owner ora<dbname> + S-Bit) For
example, backup actions fail with authorization problems.

Important: With regard to the OS-specific information, this SAP Note only applies to UNIX
installations. With regard to ASM-specific information, this SAP Note applies to both UNIX and
Windows installations.

Other Terms

BR*Tools, Oracle 11g, Real Application Cluster, RAC, Automatic Storage Management, ASM, Exadata

Reason and Prerequisites

Installation information
For BR*Tools or RAC subjects that are not dealt with explicitly in this note, you must continue to
refer to the following notes:
131610, 905359, and 1033126.

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Solution

I. Common prerequisites and configuration of BR*Tools for Oracle installations using the UNIX user
"oracle" for non-ASM and ASM
1. Installing the Oracle software

The Oracle software installation corresponds to the requirements in the Oracle White Papers
mentioned above. Among other things, it is important that the Oracle database instance uses an
spfile to start up.
In addition, Oracle Instant Client 11g must be installed in the directory
/oracle/client/11x_64/instantclient.

2. Required version of BR*Tools

Only BR*Tools 7.20 patch level 14 or higher can be used in this environment without ASM. BR*Tools
7.20 patch level 18 includes full support for Oracle ASM (see Note 1627541).

3. Configuration of the BR executables

Comment:
In many of the examples listed below, PRD was set for <SAPSID>.

BR*Tools are installed in the "sap-exe" directory (default: /usr/sap/<SAPSID>/SYS/exe/run) and have
the following permissions (note the owner and S-Bits):

-rwsrwsr-- 1 oracle oinstall 7732338 May 31 16:30 brarchive

-rwsrwsr-- 1 oracle oinstall 7908129 May 31 16:30 brbackup
-rwsrwsr-- 1 oracle oinstall 9970354 May 31 16:30 brconnect
-rwsrwsr-- 1 oracle oinstall 8376747 May 31 16:31 brrecover
-rwsrwsr-- 1 oracle oinstall 2783544 May 31 16:31 brrestore
-rwsrwsr-- 1 oracle oinstall 10479944 May 31 16:31 brspace
-rwxr-xr-x 1 prdadm sapsys 4103679 May 31 16:31 brtools

You can use the "root" user to set these authorizations as follows; for example:
> su - root
> cd /usr/sap/PRD/SYS/exe/run
> chown oracle:oinstall brarchive brbackup brconnect brrecover brrestore brspace
> chmod 6774 brarchive brbackup brconnect brrecover brrestore brspace

You can achieve the same by calling the script "oraroot.sh" with the user "root" as follows:
> su - root
> cd /usr/sap/PRD/SYS/exe/run
> oraroot.sh PRD oracle

The "SAPEXE" environment variable points to this directory.

For example: SAPEXE = /usr/sap/PRD/SYS/exe/run

Caution 1:
For installations on IBM AIX 6.1 or higher, you must make the following settings for all BR
executables for AIX RBAC (Role Based Access Control); to do this, use the "root" user:

setsecattr -c accessauths=ALLOW_OWNER,ALLOW_GROUP innateprivs=PV_DAC_UID

secflags=FSF_EPS <path>/<brtool>

where:

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<path> - "sap-exe" directory (for example, /usr/sap/PRD/SYS/exe/run)
<brtool> - brarchive, brbackup, brconnect, brrecover, brrestore, brspace
You must then execute the following OS command under "root":
setkst

If you did not do this, the following error occurs in BR*Tools on AIX:
BR0251E Function setreuid() failed at location BrEnvProcess-111
BR0253E errno 1: Not owner

Caution 2:
Make sure that the file system that contains BR executables supports the s-bit. You are not allowed
to use the "nosuid" option for mounting. In particular, this affects Linux systems.

4. Sapdata home directory

The Sapdata home directory (default: /oracle/<DBNAME>) contains the Oracle home directory and
the BR*Tools log directories (note the permissions) among other things.

lrwxrwxrwx 7 oracle oinstall 4096 May 31 14:56 112 -> 11202

drwxr-xr-x 7 oracle oinstall 4096 May 31 14:56 11202
drwxrwxr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 May 31 17:07 saparch
drwxrwxr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 May 31 17:14 sapbackup
drwxrwxr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 May 31 17:07 sapcheck
drwxrwxr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 May 31 17:12 sapprof
drwxrwxr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 May 31 17:12 sapreorg
drwxrwxr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 May 31 17:12 saptrace

Important: See point II.2 for permissions for sapdataX directories for the non-ASM scenario.

The "SAPDATA_HOME" environment variable points to this directory.

For example: SAPDATA_HOME=/oracle/PRD

5. "sapprof" directory

The new "sapprof" directory in Sapdata home contains the BR*Tools profile and a "transparent" copy
of the Oracle profile (note the permissions):

-rw-rw-r-- 1 oracle oinstall 1274 May 31 17:30 init<DBSID>.ora

-rw-rw-r-- 1 oracle oinstall 26534 May 31 17:30 init<DBSID>.sap

Copy these files from the $ORACLE_HOME/dbs directory to the "sapprof" directory. The init<DBSID>
.ora is replaced in the $ORACLE_HOME/dbs directory with a profile that contains only the "spfile"
parameter. The init<DBSID>.sap is deleted there. For non-ASM installations, the Spfile remains in the
directory $ORACLE_HOME/dbs by default; in ASM installations, it is located on an ASM disk.

Caution: If $ORACLE_HOME/dbs already contains an init<DBSID>.ora that contains only the

parameter "spfile", create an empty init<DBSID>.ora in sapprof with the relevant authorizations.

6. Runtime environment of BR*Tools

All BR*Tools programs can be used with the OS user <sapsid>adm and the OS user ora<dbsid>. By
default, they are started with the user <sapsid>adm. For both OS users, the DB instance is uniquely
defined via the environment variables ORACLE_SID and ORACLE_HOME (plus ORACLE_BASE if
appropriate).
The BR*Tools programs should not be used with the OS user "oracle". However, to start the BR*Tools
programs with the user "oracle" in exceptional circumstances, you must set the corresponding
Oracle environment variables (ORACLE_SID, ORACLE_HOME) and the BR*Tools-specific environment
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2018-05-28 1598594 Page 4/7
variables (such as SAPDATA_HOME, SAPEXE) beforehand. For more information, see SAP Note
1554661.

Important: In the ASM/RAC environment, you must use the OS user <sapsid>adm to start BR*Tools
if several RAC database instances are located on one node and if BRBACKUP or BRARCHIVE are to
be started without a password (see Note 914174, page 4.). In this configuration, BR*Tools execute
internal actions on the remote nodes. These actions would then fail under the "oracle" user due to
an incorrect environment.

7. OPS$ORACLE database user

If the user OPS$ORACLE does not exist, create it in the database as follows:
SQL> connect / as sysdba
SQL> create user ops$oracle identified externally;
SQL> grant sapdba to ops$oracle;

II. Additional prerequisites and configuration of BR*Tools for Oracle installations using the UNIX user
"oracle" for non-ASM
1. Group assignment of<sapsid>adm OS user

In addition to the standard groups (such as sapsys, dba, oper, sapinst), <sapsid>adm also belongs to
the OS group "oinstall".

2. Sapdata home directory

In the case of non-ASM, the Sapdata home directory (standard: /oracle/<DBNAME>) also contains
sapdataX, redo log and archive log directories (note the permissions).

drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 May 31 17:07 mirrlogA

drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 May 31 17:07 mirrlogB
drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 May 31 17:07 oraarch
drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 May 31 17:07 origlogA
drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 May 31 17:07 origlogB
drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 May 31 17:07 sapdata1
drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 May 31 17:07 sapdata2
drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 May 31 17:07 sapdata3
drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 May 31 17:07 sapdata4

3. SAPSWITCH environment variable

If you use the BACKINT interface (backup_dev_type = util_file | util_file_online | util_vol |
util_vol_online) for database backups, set the following environment variable permanently:
SAPSWITCH = /oracle/<DBNAME>/sapbackup
It determines for the directory where switch files (.switch.sem, .switch.lis, .switch.log) that are used
for communication between BRBACKUP and the BACKINT interface program are stored.

III. Additional prerequisites and configuration of BR*Tools for Oracle installations using the UNIX
user "oracle" for ASM

1. 1. Group assignment of<sapsid>adm OS user

In addition to the standard groups (such as sapsys, dba, oper, sapinst), <sapsid>adm also belongs to
the OS groups "asmdba", "asmoper", and "oinstall".

2. Parameters for ASM installations

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For ASM installations, set the following parameters in the init<DBSID>.sap profile (adjust the
entries):

# Oracle system id of ASM instance

# default: +ASM
asm_ora_sid = +ASM

# Oracle home of ASM instance

# no default
asm_ora_home = /oracle/GRID/11202

# Oracle ASM root directory name

# default: ASM
asm_root_dir = ASM

For ASM/RAC installations, asm_ora_sid and asm_ora_home can be defined for each instance:

asm_ora_sid = (<db_inst1>:<asm_inst1>, <db_inst2>:<asm_inst2>, ...)

asm_ora_home = (<db_inst1>:<asm_home1>, <db_inst2>:<asm_home2>, ...)

For example:

asm_ora_sid = (RAC001:+ASM1, RAC002:+ASM2, RAC003:+ASM3, RAC004:+ASM4)

asm_ora_home = (RAC001:/oracle/GRID/11203, RAC002:/oracle/GRID/11203,
RAC003:/oracle/GRID/11202, RAC004:/oracle/GRID/11202)

3. Location of ASM files on ASM disk groups

All of the ASM files that belong to a database must be on the used ASM disk groups below the
relevant database root directories. The name of the database root directory corresponds to the
database name (Oracle parameter "db_name" or "db_unique_name").
If PRD is the database name, for example, the following files meet the condition:

+DATA/PRD/DATAFILE/system.334.761302249
+DATA/PRD/DATAFILE/sysaux.296.761302097
+DATA/PRD/TEMPFILE/psaptemp.344.761302309
+OLOG/PRD/ONLINELOG/group_1.329.761302067

and the following do not:

+DATA/PRT/DATAFILE/psapstabd.289.761302205
+DATA/PRT/DATAFILE/psapstabi.307.761302239
+DATA/PRT/DATAFILE/psapbtabd.305.761302169
+DATA/PRT/DATAFILE/psapbtabi.303.761302181

Important: ASM files are not case-sensitive.

The naming conventions for naming ASM disk groups are specified in the Oracle White Papers
mentioned above.

4. Using the ASM aliases

ASM aliases are obligatory for Spfile and control files and they have the following default names:
<asm_disk_group>/<db_name>/spfile<db_name>.ora
<asm_disk_group>/<db_name>/cntrl<db_name>.dbf

For example:

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+DATA/PRD/spfilePRD.ora
+DATA/PRD/cntrlPRD.dbf
+ARCH/PRD/cntrlPRD.dbf
+RECO/PRD/cntrlPRD.dbf

We strongly recommend that you explicitly specify an ASM directory in a separate ASM disk group
for the value of the archive log destination:
<asm_disk_group>/<db_name>/oraarch
In the case of ASM/RAC installations, this is even mandatory.
This setting ensures that the archive log files are created as ASM alias by Oracle.
For example:
log_archive_dest_1 = "LOCATION=+ARCH/PRD/oraarch"
Create the directories manually (if they do not already exist):
SQL> connect / as sysdba
SQL> alter diskgroup ARCH add directory '+ARCH/PRD';
SQL> alter diskgroup ARCH add directory '+ARCH/PRD/oraarch';

Other database files (data files, redo log files) are created as Oracle-managed files (OMF) by default
and therefore do not have alias names.
However, the use of alias names is allowed.
Important:
BR*Tools provide only limited support for ASM alias in the case of data files and redo log files. This
means that not all BR*Tools functions or actions are available for ASM alias or that they are not
completely available.

5. Location of RMAN snapshot control file on ASM disk group

In the case of ASM/RAC installations, the RMAN snapshot control file should be located in an ASM
disk group (in the "+<disk_group>/<db_name>" directory). You can set this permanently using the
RMAN CONFIGURE command, for example:
> rman nocatalog target /
RMAN> configure snapshot controlfile name to '+DATA/SID/snapcfSID.dbf';

This document refers to

SAP Note/KBA Title

905359 Using BR*Tools for Oracle RAC databases

527843 Oracle RAC support in the SAP environment

1693680 Running SAP Software on Oracle SuperCluster

1627541 BR*Tools support for Oracle ASM and Exadata/ODA

1590515 SAP Software and Oracle Exadata

1554661 Configuration of environment for user "oracle"

1550133 Using Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM) with SAP NetWeaver based Products

131610 Database logon using standby/backup host or with Real Application Cluster (RAC)

© 2018 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved

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113747 Owners and authorizations of BR*Tools

1033126 BR*Tools support for Oracle 10g RAC

This document is referenced by

SAP Note/KBA Title

2525676 During migration SWPM reports ORA-01017

1693680 Running SAP Software on Oracle SuperCluster

1590515 SAP Software and Oracle Exadata

527843 Oracle RAC support in the SAP environment

113747 Owners and authorizations of BR*Tools

1550133 Using Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM) with SAP NetWeaver based Products

2290084 SAP Software and Oracle Database Appliance Version 12.1

905359 Using BR*Tools for Oracle RAC databases

1760737 SAP Software and Oracle Database Appliance 2.x

1627541 BR*Tools support for Oracle ASM and Exadata/ODA

131610 Database logon using standby/backup host or with Real Application Cluster (RAC)

1554661 Configuration of environment for user "oracle"

1033126 BR*Tools support for Oracle 10g RAC

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