Oracle credential considerations

Credentials are required to perform Oracle backup and restore operations. In general, credentials can be set at the instance level or client level in the Unitrends system:

     Client-level credentials are set on the Add Client page. These credentials are optional for Windows clients, but are not used for Linux and Solaris. (See Client trust credentials for details.) For Oracle on Windows, you can opt to set credentials at the client level. The default user on Windows is NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM if you do not specify a user. The client-level credentials user must be a member of the ora_dba group if these credentials are to be used for Oracle protection.

Note: If the default Windows user, NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM, is a member of the ora_dba group, credentials are not needed.

     Database-level credentials are required to access certain application instances, including Oracle Database. For Oracle on Linux and Oracle on Solaris, you must set database-level credentials.

     To ensure sufficient privileges, the Oracle credential user must be a member of the ora_dba group.

     For Oracle on Windows, if both database-level and client-level credentials have been set, the system uses database-level credentials for Oracle backups and restores. If database-level credentials are incorrect, the backup will fail without attempting to use any client-level credential.

     If no credentials are available, or if credentials are incorrect, the backup fails with a TNS permission denied error.

Follow these guidelines when creating Oracle credentials:

Oracle platform

Guidelines and requirements

Oracle on Linux

Add instance-level credentials for each instance you will be protecting, as described in To create a new credential for an Oracle database. The credential user must be a member of the ora_dba group.

Oracle on Solaris

Add instance-level credentials for each instance you will be protecting, as described in To create a new credential for an Oracle database. The credential user must be a member of the ora_dba group.

Oracle on Windows

Choose one of the following strategies:

     If the Windows NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM user is a member of the ora_dba group, you do not need to add Oracle credentials. Oracle backups and restores are performed using the NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM account.

     If you will be using the push feature to install and update the Windows agent, you must set administrative credentials at the client level (on the Add Client page) to enable push installations. If this Windows credential user is a member of the ora_dba group, the system can use this client-level credential for Oracle protection as well. If not, you must also add instance-level credentials for each Oracle instance you wish to protect.

     If you are not using the Windows agent push feature, add instance-level credentials for each Oracle instance you wish to protect.

The credential user must be a member of the ora_dba group. For details on adding instance-level credentials, see To create a new credential for an Oracle database.