What does the "Begin Backup" command do?

Backup and Recovery Tips

What exactly does the "begin backup" command do?

The command alter tablespace blah begin backup does two key things.

First, it effectively locks the SCN stored in the header of the Data Files associated with
that tablespace. Second, it starts the generation of block-level redo for every transaction.

Locking the SCN

How it actually achieves this is simple: first, a checkpoint is issued against the tablespace
so that any blocks in the Buffer Cache that come from that tablespace are flushed to disk,
and the CKPT process updates the SCN in the headers of that tablespace's Data Files.
Second, once the tablespace checkpoint is completed, a bit is set in the Control File to
prevent CKPT from making any future updates to the headers of that tablespace's Data
Files. We can see this happening in the following short demo:

SQL> SELECT T.NAME, H.FILE#, H.CHECKPOINT_CHANGE#

2 FROM V$TABLESPACE T, V$DATAFILE_HEADER H
3 WHERE T.TS#=H.TS#;
NAME FILE# CHECKPOINT_CHANGE#
------------------------------ ---------- ------------------
SYSTEM 1 121923
UNDOTBS 2 121923
INDX 3 121923
TOOLS 4 121923
USERS 5 121923

Note at this point how all tablespaces have the same checkpoint change number in their
headers (as selected from v$datafile_header).

SQL>ALTER TABLESPACE USERS BEGIN BACKUP;

SQL> SELECT T.NAME, H.FILE#, H.CHECKPOINT_CHANGE#
2 FROM V$TABLESPACE T, V$DATAFILE_HEADER H
3 WHERE T.TS#=H.TS#;
NAME FILE# CHECKPOINT_CHANGE#
------------------------------ ---------- ------------------
SYSTEM 1 121923
UNDOTBS 2 121923
INDX 3 121923
TOOLS 4 121923
USERS 5 121925

Now notice that by putting just one tablespace into hot backup mode, that tablespace's
checkpoint number has advanced, but the others' remain at the same checkpoint change
number as previously. Only the affected tablespace has been checkpointed, therefore.

Copyright © Howard Rogers 2001 24/10/2001 Page 1 of 7

What does the "Begin Backup" command do? Backup and Recovery Tips

Now we'll do some transactional activity on the database:

INSERT INTO SCOTT.EMP VALUES (1,'SMITH',500);

INSERT INTO SCOTT.EMP VALUES (2,'MOZART',1500);
INSERT INTO SCOTT.EMP VALUES (3,'BEETHOVEN',700);
.AND SO ON AND ON..
COMMIT;

COMMIT COMPLETE.

I've abbreviated this for simplicity's sake, but the point is that we've been doing some
insert activity on the database, and thus advancing the database's checkpoint number.

SQL> ALTER SYSTEM CHECKPOINT;

SYSTEM ALTERED.

This command is issued purely for demo purposes: it forces whatever checkpoint number
we've reached to be written to every Data File in the system...

SQL> SELECT T.NAME, H.FILE#, H.CHECKPOINT_CHANGE#

2 FROM V$TABLESPACE T, V$DATAFILE_HEADER H
3 WHERE T.TS#=H.TS#;
NAME FILE# CHECKPOINT_CHANGE#
------------------------------ ---------- ------------------
SYSTEM 1 121939
UNDOTBS 2 121939
INDX 3 121939
TOOLS 4 121939
USERS 5 121925

...except, as we see, for the one tablespace that was put into hot backup mode earlier,
which is still stubbornly pretending that its SCN is 121925, and not what the rest of the
database actually knows it to be(121939).

It's important to realise that the SCN reported in v$datafile_header is a complete lie as far
as the actual contents of the tablespace are concerned. By that I mean that whilst the
header reports the SCN to be 121925, the actual contents of the tablespace are actually at
SCN 121939 -in this particular demo, that's definitely the case, since all the inserts shown
in the text were actually performed to a table contained within the USERS tablespace
itself.

The point of course is that if you are performing Operating System hot backups, the O/S
will copy which ever O/S block happen to spin into view under the disk read head at any
one time -and that might not be the file's Header Block (in fact, the chances of it ever

Copyright © Howard Rogers 2001 24/10/2001 Page 2 of 7

What does the "Begin Backup" command do? Backup and Recovery Tips

being the Header Block are pretty small -in the order of thousands to one against). That's
a problem for recovery purposes, since to pull off a recovery we need to know, reliably,
what the earliest possible contents of our Data File backup might be, and take that as the
point from which to start applying redo. By simply freezing the SCN in the header, in the
way I've shown here, at the time when the tablespace entered hot backup mode, we
guarantee to be able to know this "earliest possible time" from which to start applying redo,
and hence ensure a successful recovery.

Block-level Redo
An Oracle Block is usually made up of several O/S blocks (an 8K block will usually contain
16 O/S blocks, for example, since most file systems seem to use 512-byte O/S blocks).
That poses another potential problem for hot O/S backups: we might copy 1 of the O/S
blocks in an Oracle block before a User performs an update, and the other O/S blocks after
that update.

This is a fractured or a "split block": the various components of a single Oracle block don't
agree with each other.

Fractured blocks are unusable, and we need a way of preventing them from happening -yet
we have no control over the order in which the O/S copies the constituent O/S blocks. The
solution is to generate more or less a complete image of the Oracle block in the redo logs
every time a piece of DML affects it. That way, although the block contained within the
copied Data File might be fractured, we have a "snapshot" image of the block in the redo
stream which we can use to patch up the mess.

This mechanism certainly works, and will mean that hot backups can be used reliably to
recover a database, regardless of how much DML activity is taking place on the database at
the time the backup is taken.

But there's a catch: Normally, redo contains before and after images of the actual data we
are changing by issuing DML. If we update a person's salary, we store a relatively small
amount of redo describing just that one record's changes. But in hot backup mode, the
same update requires us to store a complete image of the entire Oracle block -and such
blocks are several Kilobytes in size.

What that means is that to avoid block fracturing, we are reduced to making the rate at
which we generate redo during a hot backup shoot through the roof.

Again, a small demo will indicate the size of the potential problem. For the purposes of
this demo, be aware that the X$KCCCP table contains a column called CPODR_BNO, which
shows us the Redo block number we are currently writing to. Redo blocks are effectively
identical to O/S blocks, so the smallest piece of redo is going to take up an entire O/S
block -i.e., 512 bytes on most systems.

Copyright © Howard Rogers 2001 24/10/2001 Page 3 of 7

What does the "Begin Backup" command do? Backup and Recovery Tips

So, to begin with, we identify where we're sitting in the current redo log:

SQL> COL CPODR_BNO HEADING 'BLOCK NUMBER'

SQL> SELECT P.CPODR_BNO FROM SYS.X$KCCCP P;
BLOCK NUMBER
----------
357

SQL> INSERT INTO SCOTT.EMP VALUES (8,'HARRIS',450);

1 ROW CREATED.

SQL> COMMIT;
COMMIT COMPLETE.

SQL> COL CPODR_BNO HEADING 'BLOCK NUMBER'

SQL> SELECT P.CPODR_BNO FROM SYS.X$KCCCP P;
BLOCK NUMBER
----------
359

And we see at this point that a simple insert of a single record has advanced the block
where we're now writing compared to where we were originally by 2 O/S blocks -or 1K.

Now let's re-run the same test, this time in hot backup mode. We'll begin by deleting the
row just inserted, so that we can insert exactly the same data (and hence exactly the
same amount of data) in the new test:

SQL> DELETE FROM SCOTT.EMP WHERE EMPNO=8;

1 ROW DELETED.

SQL> COMMIT;
COMMIT COMPLETE.

SQL> COL CPODR_BNO HEADING 'BLOCK NUMBER'

SQL> SELECT P.CPODR_BNO FROM SYS.X$KCCCP P;
BLOCK NUMBER
----------
363

SQL> ALTER TABLESPACE USERS BEGIN BACKUP;

TABLESPACE ALTERED.

SQL> INSERT INTO SCOTT.EMP VALUES (8,'HARRIS',450);

1 ROW CREATED.
SQL> COMMIT;
COMMIT COMPLETE.

Copyright © Howard Rogers 2001 24/10/2001 Page 4 of 7

What does the "Begin Backup" command do? Backup and Recovery Tips

SQL> COL CPODR_BNO HEADING 'BLOCK NUMBER'

SQL> SELECT P.CPODR_BNO FROM SYS.X$KCCCP P;
BLOCK NUMBER
----------
376

And we see now that the write block has advanced from block 363 to block 376 -that's 13
O/S blocks, or around 6.5K.

So, in hot backup mode, we're generating 6 to 7 times the amount of redo compared to
what would normally be generated for the identical transaction.

For the record, on a 4K-Oracle block database, I've measured deletes also generating about
7 times the amount of redo when performed in hot backup mode compared to normal.
And I've measured updates generating an astonishing 30 times the amount of redo.

This discrepancy between inserts/deletes (7 times the redo) and updates (30 times) is
easily understandable: one half of the redo entry for a delete or insert usually consists of
the entire row affected (the before image of a delete is the entire row, as is the after
image of an insert). But the before and after image of an update is only the field(s)
actually affected by the update -and hence is relatively tiny. Yet in hot backup mode, all
three types of DML now must cause an entire Oracle block to be written into the redo
stream. Updates (which are usually relatively small) are thus going to be proportionately
much more affected than inserts or deletes (which are usually comparatively large).

(Incidentally, you might wonder, if block-level redo is enabled by issuing the 'begin backup'
command, why my insert above generated 6.5K-worth of redo, when the database involved
was using 4K Oracle blocks. Shouldn't the test have shown 4K of redo being generated?
The answer is that there is always some additional house-keeping data required whenever
redo is generated, and we're dealing with a minimum granularity of 512 bytes, because
even 1 byte of redo must use an entire 512 byte O/S block. For the record, a single insert
on a 2K Oracle Block system (using Solaris) caused 4K of redo to be generated during hot
backup mode, which again suggests the Oracle block-sized redo itself, plus housekeeping
overhead and O/S-block size rounding issues are all coming into play).

Whatever the precise numbers from these simplified tests show us, the implication is clear:
switching into hot backup mode is going to flood your redo sub-system with anything from
6 or 7, up to 30 or so, times the amount of data its usually having to cope with. The
precise "inflation rate" will vary from database to database, but the general point should
be plain.

Hot O/S-based backups therefore need to take this into account, since if redo logs fill up
30 times more quickly than they otherwise would do, there is a real risk of them wanting
to switch back to the first Online log before that log has been successfully checkpointed

Copyright © Howard Rogers 2001 24/10/2001 Page 5 of 7

What does the "Begin Backup" command do? Backup and Recovery Tips

and/or archived. That would result in a temporary database-wide hang (i.e., the
suspension of all DML activity for all Users) until ARCH, DBWR and/or CKPT have caught up.

This is the main reason to avoid placing all tablespaces into hot backup mode
simultaneously, and attempting to back up all Data Files in one pass: one tablespace
generating 30 times its normal amount of redo might be bearable. For the entire database
to be doing so is almost certainly going to cause performance problems and temporary
hangs.

One final question springs to mind: if you were to perform multiple DMLs affecting the one
block, do we generate multiple block images in the redo stream, or just one when the final
commit is issued?

The answer appears to be that even when multiple updates are issued by the one session,
only one block image is generated, as this simple test shows:

SQL> SELECT P.CPODR_BNO FROM SYS.X$KCCCP P;

BLOCK NUMBER
----------
433

SQL> ALTER TABLESPACE USERS BEGIN BACKUP;

TABLESPACE ALTERED.

SQL> UPDATE SCOTT.EMP SET SAL=250 WHERE EMPNO=1;

1 ROW UPDATED.

SQL> SELECT P.CPODR_BNO FROM SYS.X$KCCCP P;

BLOCK NUMBER
----------
446

Clearly, the 13 O/S block redo entry has been made by doing a single update.

SQL> UPDATE SCOTT.EMP SET SAL=250 WHERE EMPNO=2;

1 ROW UPDATED.

SQL> UPDATE SCOTT.EMP SET SAL=250 WHERE EMPNO=3;

2 ROWS UPDATED.

SQL> SELECT P.CPODR_BNO FROM SYS.X$KCCCP P;

BLOCK NUMBER
----------
447

Copyright © Howard Rogers 2001 24/10/2001 Page 6 of 7

What does the "Begin Backup" command do? Backup and Recovery Tips

Note that three extra rows have been updated, but the amount of redo written has not
increased significantly as a result of the additional updates

SQL> UPDATE SCOTT.EMP SET SAL=250 WHERE EMPNO=5;

1 ROW UPDATED.

SQL> SELECT P.CPODR_BNO FROM SYS.X$KCCCP P;

BLOCK NUMBER
----------
447

SQL> COMMIT;
COMMIT COMPLETE.

SQL> SELECT P.CPODR_BNO FROM SYS.X$KCCCP P;

BLOCK NUMBER
----------
449

And again, at the end of the entire transaction, the amount of redo written has not
increased dramatically from the point it had reached after the very first update was
generated.

Now all the above tests were done within the one session, but it remains the case even
when two separate sessions start performing transactions that affect different records
housed within the same Oracle block: the block image is produced in the redo stream when
the first update takes place, and subsequent updates do not add significantly to the
amount of redo generated, regardless of which session is performing them.

Copyright © Howard Rogers 2001 24/10/2001 Page 7 of 7