About Neverfail for Oracle Database Plug-in

Neverfail for Oracle Database Plug-in provides protection and proactively monitors the Oracle Database environment’s configuration data, services, and application data files.

What's new

The following new feature is available in this version of Oracle Database Plug-in:

• Oracle Flashback Database protection
  • Oracle Flashback Database protection available on plugin configuration

Supported Versions and Platforms

• Oracle Database 18c
  • on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 2016 (where compatible)
  • NTFS and ReFS File Systems
• Oracle Database 12c Release 1 and Release 2
  • on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 2016 (where compatible)
  • NTFS and ReFS File Systems

Supported Installations

• Oracle 18c Single instance database installed as:
  • multitenant container database (CDB)
  • standalone / non-multitenant container database (non-CDB)

• Oracle 12c Single instance database installed as:
  • multitenant container database (CDB)
  • standalone / non-multitenant container database (non-CDB)

Oracle Database Plug-in Configuration

Neverfail for Oracle Database Plug-in requires post-install configuration in order to assure a correct and complete protection of the Oracle Database files. As long as the required configuration is not completed, a warning is logged each time the File Filter Discovery task is executed.

To configure the Neverfail for Oracle Database Plug-in:

• in Engine Management Service go to Settings> select OracleDatabaseNFPlugin.dll> Edit
• in Advanced Management Client go to Applications> Plugins> select OracleDatabaseNFPlugin.dll> Edit Plug-in

then:

• [mandatory]: if protecting only CDB instances then it is required to configure a Container Database Login with an Oracle account [Username/Password] created as described below.
• [mandatory]: if protecting only non-CDB instances then it is required to configure a Non-Container Database Login with an Oracle account [Username/Password] created as described below.
• [mandatory]: if protecting both CDB and non-CDB instances then it is required to configure both Container Database Login and Non-Container Database Login with corresponding Oracle accounts [Username/Password] created as described below.
  • How to create an Oracle CDB user account login:
    • an unique/shared CDB user account with the minimal required permissions (as indicated in the following script) must be created on each one of the protected CDB Oracle instances. This account will be used by the plug-in to detect the Oracle instances datafiles: (replace <user_password> with the desired password)

      CREATE USER C##NEVERFAIL IDENTIFIED BY <user_password>; GRANT CONNECT TO C##NEVERFAIL; GRANT SELECT ON V_$DBFILE TO C##NEVERFAIL; GRANT SELECT ON V_$LOGFILE TO C##NEVERFAIL; GRANT SELECT ON V_$CONTROLFILE TO C##NEVERFAIL; GRANT SELECT ON V_$TEMPFILE TO C##NEVERFAIL; GRANT SELECT ON V_$DATABASE TO C##NEVERFAIL; GRANT SELECT ON V_$RECOVERY_FILE_DEST TO C##NEVERFAIL; GRANT SELECT ON V_$FLASHBACK_DATABASE_LOGFILE TO C##NEVERFAIL; GRANT SELECT ON V_$ARCHIVE_DEST TO C##NEVERFAIL; ALTER USER C##NEVERFAIL SET CONTAINER_DATA=ALL FOR V_$DBFILE CONTAINER=CURRENT; ALTER USER C##NEVERFAIL SET CONTAINER_DATA=ALL FOR V_$TEMPFILE CONTAINER=CURRENT;

  • How to create an Oracle non-CDB user account login:
    • an unique/shared non-CDB user account with the minimal required permissions (as indicated in the following script) must be created on each one of the protected non-CDB Oracle instances. This account will be used by the plug-in to detect the Oracle instances datafiles:(replace <input_password> with the desired password)

      CREATE USER NEVERFAIL IDENTIFIED BY <input-password!>; GRANT CONNECT TO NEVERFAIL; GRANT SELECT ON V_$DBFILE TO NEVERFAIL; GRANT SELECT ON V_$LOGFILE TO NEVERFAIL; GRANT SELECT ON V_$CONTROLFILE TO NEVERFAIL; GRANT SELECT ON V_$TEMPFILE TO NEVERFAIL; GRANT SELECT ON V_$DATABASE TO NEVERFAIL; GRANT SELECT ON V_$RECOVERY_FILE_DEST TO NEVERFAIL; GRANT SELECT ON V_$FLASHBACK_DATABASE_LOGFILE TO NEVERFAIL; GRANT SELECT ON V_$ARCHIVE_DEST TO NEVERFAIL;

• [optional]: Home exclusions (names separated by semicolon) - this configuration is optional and should be used only for excluding Oracle HOME(s) and its installed instances. To exclude an oracle HOME (or multiple HOMEs) simply enumerate the Oracle Home name(s) in the edit box (e.g. configuration: OraDB12Home1;OraDB12Home2) - their services, configuration and application data files will be excluded from protection.
• [optional]: Instance exclusions (unique names separated by semicolon) - this configuration is optional and should be used only for excluding Oracle Instances . To exclude Oracle Instance(s) simply enumerate the Oracle Instance name(s) in the edit box (e.g. configuration: ORCL1;ORCL2) - their services, configuration and application data files will be excluded from protection.
  • Design consideration: All the Oracle services corresponding to an unprotected (or protection-excluded) Oracle HOME or INSTANCE must be either Automatic or Started on the Active server at the time the plugin is configured to (re)protect the formerly-unprotected HOME/INSTANCE. This will assure the successful addition of the HOME/INSTANCE services to the protection set. (EN-3704)
  • Note: When excluding an Oracle Instance from protection, it is recommended that its related services to be stopped on passive nodes (as they're not monitored anymore). This will avoid the possible out-of-sync events for the shared files at the home level. (EN-3705)

Monitoring

For Neverfail for Oracle Database Plug-in, monitoring consists of the following:

• Service Availability Monitoring
• Application Monitoring
• Performance and Application Health Monitoring

Service Availability Monitoring

Neverfail Engine monitors services specified by the plug-ins to ensure application availability. In the event that a specified service stops or fails, Neverfail Engine can take up to three pre-configured actions to remedy the issue.

When the plug-in is installed, all protected services will be set to manual unless otherwise stated.

This is the list of all services protected by this plug-in:

• For each protected Oracle home:
  • Listener Services
  • Recovery Services
• For each protected Oracle instance:
  
  • Database Service
  • Job Scheduler Service
  • VSS Writer Service

Application Monitoring

Tasks - The following 'Tasks' are installed by Neverfail for Oracle Database Plug-in:

• Periodic
  • Protected Services Discovery
  • File Filter Discovery
  • Registry Filter Discovery

To configure/modify Periodic 'Tasks', follow the steps below:

1. Using the Neverfail Advanced Management Client, click on Application -> Tasks .
2. Select the desired 'Task'.
3. Click on the Edit button at the top of the 'Tasks' pane.
4. Configure/modify the 'Interval' field.

Note: 'Interval' is the only field available for configuration/modification and is measured in seconds.

5. Click OK to save the changes.

Note: This dialog is also used to Enable/Disable the selected 'Task'.

Performance and Application Health Monitoring

Rules – The following 'Rules' are installed by Neverfail for Oracle Database Plug-in:

• Connection check
  • Tries to connect the database using configurable parameters: Host, Port, SID, Windows Authentication, Domain(only for Windows authentication), Username and Password. 
  • The rule returns "Connected" if the connection succeed, or the error message if it doesn't. When an error occurs, the rule triggers. 
  • The plugin contains Connection check rule for each discovered supported instance of Oracle, in the limit of 10 rules. The rules are disabled by default, waiting for user configuration. All the parameters, except Domain, have to be set, otherwise the rule is considered invalid and will be disabled.
  • Design note: Database connection check rule configured for a specific Oracle Instance remains enabled/executing when the Oracle Instance is excluded from protection. The rule should be manually Disabled if connection check is not needed anymore.  

Install/Uninstall the Neverfail for Oracle Database Plug-in Via the Neverfail Advanced Management Client

The Neverfail for Oracle Database Plug-in can be installed either via the Neverfail CE deployment process or by using Application -> Plugins in the Neverfail Advanced Management Client using the procedure below. Neverfail recommends that for initial deployments of Neverfail for Oracle Database Plug-in, installation should be performed using Engine Management Service.

To manually install the Neverfail for Oracle Database Plug-in, follow the steps below:

1. Unzip the Neverfail for Oracle Database Plug-in to the desired location.
2. Launch the Neverfail Advanced Management Client.
3. Navigate to Application -> Plugins .
4. Click on the Install button.
5. Click the Browse button and navigate to the location of the <plug-in name>.dll file.
6. Click OK to complete the installation.
7. Repeat this process for each individual plug-in.

To remove/uninstall the Neverfail for Oracle Database Plug-in, follow the steps below:

1. Launch the Neverfail Advanced Management Client.
2. Navigate to Application -> Plugins .
3. Select the desired plug-in to be removed/uninstalled.
4. Click on the Uninstall button in the 'Plugins' pane.
5. When the plug-in is uninstalled, the files are not removed. This is by design for future functionality and therefore the following workaround is provided:
   • Copy the contents of the r2\plugins\<sponsor>\<version> folder to a different location (e.g. C:\temp).
   • Delete the contents of the r2\plugins\<sponsor>\<version> folder.
   • To reinstall the plug-in, when prompted for the location of the plug-in files, navigate to the new folder location (e.g. C:\temp).

Note: As an alternative, re-installation can be accomplished by using the downloaded files from the original download location after removing the plug-in.

Applies To

Neverfail for Oracle Database Plug-in