D Dataset Language

This appendix describes the language used in dataset files. A dataset file is a text file that describes the data that Oracle Secure Backup should back up.

This chapter contains the following topics:

Overview of the Dataset Language
Dataset Statements
Dataset File Examples

Overview of the Dataset Language

The Oracle Secure Backup dataset language provides a simple, text-based means to define file system data that you want Oracle Secure Backup to back up. The language has the following characteristics:

Comments can appear anywhere following a pound sign (#).
Dataset statements use the following syntax:
```
statement-name [ statement-argument ]
```
The statement-name placeholder represents a dataset statement. These statements are described in "Dataset Statements".
Some statements can begin a nested block. Statements within the block apply only to the statement that began the block. Nested block statements have the following form:
```
statement-name [ statement-argument ] {
      statement-name [ statement-argument ]
      ...
}
```
An escape character, which is represented by a backslash (\), can appear anywhere to remove the special meaning of the character following it.
Blank lines are ignored.

Example D-1 is a sample dataset file that describes a backup of directories on brhost2.

Example D-1 Sample Dataset

#
# A sample dataset file
#  
exclude name *.backup                    # never back up directories or files 
exclude name *~                          # matching *.backup and *~
 
include host brhost2 {                   # back up host brhost2
    include path /usr1/home {            # back up /usr1/home on brhost2,
        exclude path /usr1/home/peter    # but skip directories peter and dinesh
        exclude path /usr1/home/dinesh
    }
    include path /usr2/home              # also back up /usr2/home, including
}                                        # peter and dinesh if they exist

Dataset Statements

A dataset description can contain the following types of statements:

after backup
before backup
cross all mountpoints
cross local mountpoints
cross remote mountpoints
exclude name
exclude oracle database files
exclude path
include dataset
include host
include path

after backup

Use the after backup statement to direct Oracle Secure Backup to run a machine executable or interpreted program after completing a backup. By using the before backup statement, you can also execute the same or a different program before the backup begins. These statements are useful, for example, when you want to shut down and restart a database server or inform users that a backup has started or completed.

By default, Oracle Secure Backup stops the backup job and considers it failed if the specified executable does not exist or fails, that is, returns a nonzero exit code.

Syntax

after backup::=

after backup [ optional ] pathname

The pathname placeholder represents the name of the program to be executed on a client host. For backups using an NDMP data service, Oracle Secure Backup executes the program on the administrative server.

The optional keyword specifies that Oracle Secure Backup should ignore the status returned from the invoked program and also the inability to invoke this program.

Example

Example D-2 directs Oracle Secure Backup to pass the argument /usr2 is being saved to program /etc/local/nfy on host brhost2 after backing up directory /usr2.

Example D-2 after backup Statement

include host fserver {
      include path /usr2
      after backup "/etc/local/nfy '/usr2 backup complete'"
}

Oracle Secure Backup automatically appends the following arguments to any that you specify:

The token after
The name of the client
The name of the directory or file being backed up

Thus, in Example D-2 Oracle Secure Backup executes the nfy program on brhost2 as if you entered:

/usr/local/nfy '/usr2 is being saved' after brhost2 /usr2

before backup

Use the before backup statement to direct Oracle Secure Backup to run a machine executable or interpreted program before beginning a backup. This statement is parallel to the after backup statement.

By default, Oracle Secure Backup does not begin the backup job and considers it failed if the specified executable does not exist or fails, that is, returns a nonzero exit code.

Syntax

before backup::=

before backup [ optional ] pathname

The optional keyword specifies that Oracle Secure Backup should ignore the status returned from the invoked program and also the inability to invoke this program.

Example

Example D-3 directs Oracle Secure Backup to pass the argument /usr2 is being saved to program /etc/local/nfy on host brhost2 before backing up directory /usr2.

Example D-3 before backup Statement

include host brhost2 {
      include path /usr2
      before backup "/etc/local/nfy '/usr2 is being saved'"
 }

Oracle Secure Backup automatically appends the following arguments to any that you specify:

The token before
The name of the client
The name of the directory or file being backed up

Thus, in Example D-3 Oracle Secure Backup executes the nfy program on brhost2 as if you entered:

/usr/local/nfy '/usr2 is being saved' before brhost2 /usr2

cross all mountpoints

Use the cross all mountpoints statement to cross local and remote mount points. A local mount point mounts a local file system; a remote mount point is a local mount of a file system accessed over the network. By default, file system backups do not cross mount points.

Suppose /home/usr1/loc_data mounts a local file system, while /home/usr1/rem_data is an NFS mount point for a file system on a network host. You can use cross all mountpoints to specify that a backup of /home/usr1 includes all files in this directory, whether local or mounted.

Syntax

cross all mountpoints::=

cross all mountpoints

Examples

Example D-4 crosses all local and remote mount points on hosts brhost1 and brhost2.

Example D-4 Global Host Inclusion

cross all mountpoints
include host brhost1 {
      include path /home/usr1
}
include host brhost2 {
      include path /home/usr2
}

Example D-5 crosses all local and remote mount points in the paths for host brhost1 but not brhost2.

Example D-5 Global Path Inclusion

include host brhost1 {
      cross all mountpoints
      include path /home/usr1
}
include host brhost2 {
      include path /home/usr2
}

Example D-6 crosses all local and remote mount points in the /home/usr1 path, but not in the /home/usr2 path, on brhost1.

Example D-6 Local Path Inclusion

include host brhost1 {
      include path /home/usr1 {
            cross all mountpoints
      }
      include path /home/usr2
}

cross local mountpoints

Use the cross local mountpoints statement to cross local (but not remote) mount points.

Suppose /home/usr1/loc_data mounts a local file system while /home/usr1/rem_data is an NFS mount point for a file system on a network host. You can use cross local mountpoints to specify that a backup of /home/usr1 includes files in /home/usr1/loc_data but not /home/usr1/rem_data.

Syntax

cross local mountpoints::=

cross local mountpoints

Examples

Example D-7 crosses only local mount points in the file systems for hosts brhost1 and brhost2.

Example D-7 Global Host Inclusion

cross local mountpoints
include host brhost1 {
      include path /home/usr1
}
include host brhost2 {
      include path /home/usr2
}

Example D-8 crosses local mount points in the /home/usr1 path on host brhost1, but does not cross mount points in the /home/usr2 path on brhost2.

Example D-8 Global Path Inclusion

include host brhost1 {
      cross local mountpoints
      include path /home/usr1
}
include host brhost2 {
      include path /home/usr2
}

Example D-9 crosses local mount points found in the /home/usr1 path, but no mount points in the /home/usr2 path, on brhost1.

Example D-9 Local Path Inclusion

include host brhost1 {
      include path /home/usr1 {
            cross local mountpoints
      }
      include path /home/usr2
}

cross remote mountpoints

Use the cross remote mountpoints statement to cross remote (but not local) mount points.

Suppose /home/usr1/loc_data is a mount point for a local file system, while /home/usr1/rem_data is an NFS mount point for a file system on a network host. You can use cross remote mountpoints to specify that a backup of /home/usr1 includes files in /home/usr1/rem_data but not /home/usr1/loc_data.

Syntax

cross remote mountpoints::=

cross remote mountpoints

Examples

Example D-10 crosses only remote mount points in the file systems on hosts brhost1 and brhost2.

Example D-10 Global Host Inclusion

cross remote mountpoints
include host brhost1 {
      include path /home/usr1
}
include host brhost2 {
      include path /home/usr2
}

Example D-11 crosses only remote mount points in the /home/usr1 path on brhost1.

Example D-11 Global Path Inclusion

include host brhost1 {
      cross remote mountpoints brhost3
      include path /home/usr1
}
include host brhost2 {
      include path /home/usr2
}

Example D-12 crosses only remote mount points in the /home/usr1 path and only local mount points in the /home/usr2 path.

Example D-12 Local Path Inclusion

include host brhost1 {
      include path /home/usr1 {
            cross remote mountpoints
      }
      include path /home/usr2 {
            cross local mountpoints
      }
}

exclude name

Use the exclude name statement to identify the right-most component name, which is called the leafname, of a file system object that you want to exclude from the backup.

Syntax

exclude name::=

exclude name leafname

Oracle Secure Backup compares the component name of each file system object with the specified leafname and, if they match, does not back up the file system object; if it is a directory, then Oracle Secure Backup does not back up the directory contents.

Oracle Secure Backup interprets leafname as a UNIX-style wildcard expression if it contains any of the unescaped special characters *, ?, [, or ]. If leafname contains these characters, then Oracle Secure Backup performs a wildcard comparison rather than a string comparison to determine whether the names match.

Example

The dataset statements shown in Example D-13 exclude files named core and files whose names ends in .backup.

Example D-13 exclude name Statement

exclude name *.backup
exclude name core

exclude oracle database files

Use the exclude oracle database files statement to exclude all Oracle database-related files that would ordinarily be backed up by RMAN or files whose backup is not recommended. Oracle Secure Backup excludes the files regardless of whether the files being excluded are part of an existing RMAN backup strategy.

Oracle Secure Backup excludes the following types of files:

Datafiles (production files and image copies of those files)
Control files
Redo logs, both online and archived
Flashback logs
Change tracking file
Backup pieces
Tempfiles

Note:

You use the Oracle Enterprise Manager job scheduler to schedule database backups through RMAN and the Oracle Secure Backup job scheduler to schedule file system backups. Thus, to back up an Oracle database host with Oracle Secure Backup, you must set up two schedules in Enterprise Manager and Oracle Secure Backup. Use the exclude oracle files statement in the Oracle Secure Backup schedule so that the Oracle database-related files are not backed up twice.

Syntax

exclude oracle database files::=

exclude oracle database files

Example

The dataset file shown in Example D-14 excludes Oracle database-related files from the backup of host brhost2.

Example D-14 exclude oracle database files Statement

exclude name *.backup
exclude name *~
include host brhost2 {
      exclude oracle database files
      exclude path /usr1/home
}

exclude path

Use the exclude path statement to identify the path name of a file system object that you want to exclude from the backup.

Syntax

exclude path::=

exclude path pathname

Example

The dataset statements shown in Example D-15 specify a backup up the D:\Public directory on host brhost3, but skip two subdirectories.

Example D-15 exclude path Statement

include host brhost3 {
      include path D:\Public {
            exclude path D:\Public\TempJournals
            exclude path D:\Public\TempErrors
      }
}

include dataset

Use the include dataset statement to direct Oracle Secure Backup to read another dataset file and logically substitute its contents in place of the include dataset statement. This statement is analogous to include statements found in most programming languages.

Syntax

include dataset::=

include dataset dataset_file_name

The dataset_file_name placeholder represents the name of a dataset file or directory. If you supply the name of a dataset directory, then Oracle Secure Backup includes each member of the directory.

Example

Example D-16 includes all dataset files in the admin/default_rules directory.

Example D-16 include dataset Statement

include dataset admin/default_rules

include host

Use the include host statement to identify the name of a client host that you want to back up. An include host statement can be located anywhere in the dataset file.

A usable dataset file must have at least one host statement either within the dataset file or within an included dataset file.

Syntax

The include host statements takes either of the following forms.

Syntax 1

include host::=

include host hostname

Syntax 2

include host::=

include host hostname {
 statements_that_apply_to_hostname
}

The hostname placeholder represents the name of a client you defined earlier with the Web tool interface or the mkhost or renhost commands.

Example

The following sample statement includes host brhost2:

include host brhost2

include path

Use the include path statement to identify the name of a file system object that you want to back up.

Note:

Backup paths cannot exceed the maximum path length of the file system being backed up and in any case cannot exceed 1023 characters.

Syntax

include path::=

include path absolute-pathname

The absolute-pathname placeholder represents the path name of the file system object to back up, starting at the file system root. Surround path names containing spaces within single or double quotes.

Examples

Example D-17 shows an include path statement on a Windows system. The path contains spaces, so it is surrounded by double quotes.

Example D-17 include path Statement on Windows

include path "C:\Documents and Settings"

For Linux and Unix systems, the include path statements do not include drive designators or quotation marks. Example D-18 shows an include path statement on a Linux or UNIX system.

Example D-18 include path Statement on Linux/UNIX

include path /space        { # include the local root directory
    exclude name core        # but no core files (for UNIX)
    exclude name *~          # and no emacs backup files
}
include path /etc

You can nest an include path statement within an include host statement. Consider the dataset statements shown in Example D-19.

Example D-19 include host Statements

include host brhost2
include host brhost3
include path /home
include path /project

Oracle Secure Backup interprets each include path statement in the dataset file to apply to each include host statement. Thus, Oracle Secure Backup backs up the /home and /project directories on each host, brhost2 and brhost3.

The statements in Example D-19 are equivalent to the statements in Example D-20.

Example D-20 Dataset File with include host and include path Statements

include host brhost2 {
      include path /home
      include path /project
}
include host brhost3 {
      include path /home
      include path /project
}

Example D-21 backs up /home on host brhost2 and /project on host brhost3.

Example D-21 Dataset File with include host and include path Statements

include host brhost2 {
      include path /home
}
include host brhost3 {
      include path /project
}

You should only include multiple host or paths in a dataset file if you always back them up together. The Oracle Secure Backup scheduler and on-demand backup function use dataset file names, not path names, to define each backup job.

Dataset File Examples

This section presents examples of dataset files. This section contains the following topics:

Backing Up Multiple Paths on Multiple Hosts
Including Dataset Files Within Dataset Files
Defining the Scope of a Backup

Backing Up Multiple Paths on Multiple Hosts

Example D-22 shows a complex dataset file that describes four host systems to be backed up. It specifies that all files in the /home, /usr, and /usr2 directories and all files in subdirectories within these directories are to be backed up.

All files in the /usr/tmp directory are excluded from the dataset. Files that have the name core and files that have names ending in .bak, regardless of where they reside, are also excluded from the dataset.

Example D-22 Backing Up Multiple Paths on Multiple Hosts

include host brhost1
include host brhost2
include host brhost3
include host brhost4
 
include path /home
include path /usr
include path /usr/usr2
 
exclude path /usr/tmp
exclude name core
exclude name *.bak

Including Dataset Files Within Dataset Files

A dataset file can logically include the contents of another dataset file. The include dataset statement lets you include by reference the contents of another dataset file.

Consider the sample dataset file called common-exclusions.ds shown in Example D-23.

Example D-23 common-exclusions.ds

exclude name core
exclude name *~
exclude name *.tmp
exclude name *.temp

A dataset file can use these exclusions with the statement shown in Example D-24.

Example D-24 Including a Dataset File

include dataset common-exclusions.ds

To apply these exclusions to one path but not to another, specify the include dataset directive within braces as shown in Example D-25.

Example D-25 Applying Exclusions to a Path

include path /home/root            # do not exclude here
include path /home/frank {         # do exclude here
      include dataset common-exclusions.ds
}

Defining the Scope of a Backup

You can use braces with an include rule to define the scope of a backup. In Example D-26, Oracle Secure Backup backs up paths /usr1 and /usr2 on all servers and backs up /usr3 and /usr4 on brhost3 only. Note that the order in which the rules appear within the braces has no affect on the rules.

Example D-26 Using Braces to Limit Scope

# Common trees backed up on all servers:
include path /usr1
include path /usr2
 
# Servers to back up; on brhost3, we also back up usr3 & usr4, too:
include host brhost1
include host brhost2
include host brhost3 {
      include path /usr3
      include path /usr4
}

You can use additional braces to further refine the scope of rules. Example D-27 alters Example D-26 to exclude files ending with .junk from /usr4 on brhost3 only.

Example D-27 Refining the Scope of a Set of Rules

# Common trees backed up on all servers:
include path /usr1
include path /usr2
 
# Servers to back up; on brhost3, back up /usr3 and /usr4, but exclude *.junk 
# files in /usr4 only:
include host brhost1
include host brhost2
include host brhost3 {
      include path /usr3
      include path /usr4 {
            exclude name *.junk
      }
 }