esg112952: NetWorker: Possible Performance Degradation. Hang or Crash of Oracle Databases after Extended Period of Backups on Windows.

EMC Technical Advisory
ETA esg112952: NetWorker: Possible Performance Degradation. Hang or Crash of Oracle Databases after Extended Period of Backups on Windows.

Products
NetWorker Module for Oracle 5.0 (Windows only)
NetWorker Module for Oracle 4.5 (Windows only)
NetWorker Module for Databases and Applications 1.0 – only if protecting Oracle (Windows only)
NetWorker Module for SAP with Oracle 4.0 – only if using the BRTools RMAN feature (Windows only)
NetWorker Module for SAP with Oracle 3.5 – only if using the BRTools RMAN feature (Windows only)

Symptoms
A gradual increase in the number of handles used by the NetWorker module in the Oracle database service leads to degradation of Oracle database performance on Windows.
After extended periods of time between Oracle database restarts, the Oracle database server might hang or crash.

Issue
On Windows systems, every time a manual or scheduled backup runs, the NetWorker module opens handles, but the module does not close all the open handles when the backup is completed. As a result, a handle leak occurs in the Oracle database service. Over a period of months of recurring backups of an Oracle database, if the database is never restarted, the performance of the Oracle database might degrade due to the handle leak. As time passes, the handle leak might also cause a crash or hang in the Oracle database server.

Resolution
All customers using any of the following products are advised to apply the hotfix immediately:
NetWorker Module for Oracle (NMO) 4.5 and 5.0 on Windows
NetWorker Module for Databases and Applications (NMDA) 1.0 on Windows (if protecting Oracle)
NetWorker Module for SAP with Oracle (NMSAP) 3.5 and 4.0 on Windows (if using the BRTools RMAN feature)

1. Access the hotfixes for download at ftp.legato.com
:
* For NMO 4.5, go to
ftp://ftp.legato.com/pub/NetWorker/Updates/NW112917/nmo45
* For NMO 5.0, go to
ftp://ftp.legato.com/pub/NetWorker/Updates/NW112917/nmo50
* For NMDA 1.0, go to
ftp://ftp.legato.com/pub/NetWorker/Updates/NW112917/nmda10/oracle * For NMSAP 3.5, go to
ftp://ftp.legato.com/pub/NetWorker/Updates/NW112917/nmsap35
* For NMSAP 4.0, go to
ftp://ftp.legato.com/pub/NetWorker/Updates/NW112917/nmsap40

2. Download the hotfix for the appropriate platform of the Oracle client to a tmp directory on the client machine:
Hotfix directory Operating system
win_x86 Windows 32-bit Intel
win_x64 Windows 64-bit Intel
win_ia64 Windows 64-bit Itanium

3. Rename the file \bin\orasbt.dll to \bin\orasbt.orig on the client.
By default, is C:\Program Files\Legato\nsr.

4. Move the downloaded file orasbt.dll from the tmp directory to \bin.

5. Restart the Oracle service.

Note: This hotfix will be included in the future NMDA and NMSAP releases, starting with NMDA 1.1 and NMSAP 4.1.

EMC issues Technical Advisories (ETAs) to communicate information to customers.
ETAs are articles from our Knowledgebase that address:
* Critical problems that cannot be prevented or controlled through our proactive tools and processes.
* Product defects that might cause unexpected behavior or any kind of data loss.
Source : http://solutions.emc.com/emcsolutionview.asp?id=esg112952