This blog post is about some questions and answers plus feedback about suggestions.

This is to do with a technical article that I had written and which was published on the Oracle Technical Network (OTN) in January 2014. The article was “Back Up a Thousand Databases Using Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c” which you can see on the OTN here.

This detailed technical article explains the set up and scheduling of full and incremental RMAN Database backups for thousands of databases using Enterprise Manager Cloud Control (Enterprise Manager) 12c, and how this is done more easily and efficiently than the older, more time-consuming, manual method of performing Unix shell scripting, RMAN scripting, and cron jobs for each database to be backed up.

A reader read this article and asked “Is there a way to backup a thousand databases that belong to one group, and yet ensure that they the backups do not start all at once? So I need a sequential element to ensure all my databases are backed up, and a parallel element as I require a maximum number of backups to run at once.”

My reply was “Thanks for your question. One workaround could be to create multiple groups of databases specially meant for using in backup, and schedule these backups at different times in the night. That would take care of the sequential as well as parallel requirements.

“For example, if there are a thousand databases, create 20 groups with 50 databases each. Call them "DB Backup Group 1", "DB Backup Group 2", and so on. Schedule the backup of the first group at time t, then the second group at time t+10minutes, the third group at t_30 minutes, and so on.”

Another reader then wrote “I used the grouping technique mentioned by Porus in Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g, and now in Enterprise Manager 12c Cloud Control, and it works.”

That’s great to hear, mate. Thanks for the feedback.

About the Author

Porus Homi Havewala

Porus Homi Havewala is a Double Oracle Certified Master (OCM) in 11g and 10g. He was awarded the prestigious "Oracle ACE Director" title by Oracle USA in 2008. He worked as the Strategic Program Advisor at Oracle Corporation Singapore, and is a regional SME on Oracle Enterprise Manager technology, specifically concentrating on private/hybrid Database cloud capabilities on Oracle systems. Porus has worked prominently for a number of years at the largest telecommunications company Telstra in Australia, where he personally set up and managed the first production Enterprise Manager Grid Control 10g project in the world in the early 2000s, controlling thousands of Data Center targets with multiple Administrator teams around Australia. He has 26+ years of experience in the IT industry, and 18+ years of experience with Oracle Technology, including as an Oracle Developer and Oracle Senior DBA. He is the creator and manager of the Enterprise Manager blog with Oracle Press Credentials, the Clouds and Databases blog, and the "Oracle Senior DBA" group on LinkedIn.com with 61,000+ members. Porus is the author of thirteen published technical articles and three white papers on Enterprise Manager in the Oracle Technical Network (OTN), and has authored a number of Enterprise Manager Books. He started his technical writing with a book on Microsoft Foxpro as early as 1994. His recent Enterprise Manager books are as follows: Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c: Managing Data Center Chaos published by PACKT Publishing, and the latest book Oracle Database Cloud Cookbook with Oracle Enterprise Manager 13c Cloud Control published by Oracle Press. Dedication: I dedicate my pen and all its output to my beloved parents in heaven, they are the ones that have taught me the good values in life. Disclaimer: My writings in blog entries, articles or books express my views and opinions in my personal capacity and not that of Oracle Corporation.

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