In this post we will review how to protect the data of one of the most widely used application servers in large enterprises, Oracle Weblogic, backing it up with Veeam Backup & Replication while following the best practices recommended by Oracle.
As always, we should go to the official Oracle Weblogic documentation where we’ll find the best practices and recommended options for backing up Oracle Weblogic-specific data:
https://docs.oracle.com/en/middleware/standalone/weblogic-server/14.1.1.0/index.html
After reading the documentation, we know that there are two types of backups, as well as the protection of specific Oracle Weblogic folders:
- Offline Backup
- Online Backup
And if applicable to the installation, the “Backup Artifacts” must be included — these are simply other operating system configuration folders.
Backup with Veeam Backup & Replication#
Backing up Oracle Weblogic with Veeam Backup & Replication is very simple, since whether the machine is physical or virtual, the backup methodology will be via Snapshot (using the default options), which will include all the files necessary to recover Oracle Weblogic in case of any issue with the application server.
Now, as always, backups must be performed as indicated by the official documentation, which is why we will review the file and folder paths that must be backed up for a successful recovery — either granular or with the great features of Veeam Backup & Replication.
As we reviewed earlier, there are two types of backup: Offline and Online. As the name says, for an Offline backup it is mandatory to shut down all Oracle Weblogic services and then back up the Backup Artifacts — that is, the files or folders — and then bring the services back up. In today’s world (unless strictly necessary) this is probably not the best option because we will have service downtime, and that is unacceptable these days, right?
That’s why we will review the Online backup, which is the best option and has no Oracle Weblogic service downtime. Therefore, when reviewing the official documentation, we must ensure that at the time the backup runs there are no configuration changes so that the backup remains consistent.
And of course, recovery is based on the Weblogic configuration files, via Instant VM Recovery or whichever Veeam Backup & Replication mechanism you require.