Log Shipping Servers

For every Oracle VM whose transaction logs you want to back up, Veeam Backup & Replication defines how to ship logs to the backup repository. Transaction logs can be transported in the following ways:

• Directly from the VM guest OS to the backup repository. This method is recommended — it does not involve additional resources and puts less load on the VM guest OS.

• Via log shipping servers. If it is not possible to establish a direct connection between the VM guest OS and backup repository, you can configure Veeam Backup & Replication to use a log shipping server.

A log shipping server is a Microsoft Windows or Linux server added to the backup infrastructure. You can explicitly define what servers you want to use for log shipping or instruct Veeam Backup & Replication to automatically choose an optimal log shipping server. Veeam Backup & Replication chooses the log shipping server based on two criteria: possible data transfer method(s) and location of the Oracle VM and log shipping server.

Data Transfer Methods

Log shipping servers can transport data in two ways:

• Over the network. In this scenario, Veeam Backup & Replication obtains files from the VM guest OS and transfers them over the network.
• Using VIX. In this scenario, Veeam Backup & Replication obtains transaction logs from the VM guest OS over the VIX, bypassing the network.

The priority method is log shipping over the network.

Location of Log Shipping Server and VMs

When choosing a log shipping server for the job, Veeam Backup & Replication considers the location of the Oracle VM and log shipping server. Veeam Backup & Replication uses the following priority rules to select the log shipping server:

1. Log shipping server is located on the same ESX(i) host as the Oracle VM.
2. Log shipping server and Oracle VM are located in the same network.
3. Log shipping server and Oracle VM are located in different networks (the production infrastructure is isolated from the backup infrastructure).

That is, when choosing a log shipping server, Veeam Backup & Replication will give the top priority to a VM that is located on the same ESX(i) host as the Oracle VM and that has a network connection to the Oracle VM

Log shipping servers are assigned per job session. When a new job session starts, Veeam Backup & Replication detects log shipping servers anew. Veeam Backup & Replication can also re-detect available servers during the job session. If a log shipping server becomes unavailable for some reason, Veeam Backup & Replication will fail over to another log shipping server.