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Oracle Data Guard 11gR2 Administration Beginner's Guide
Oracle Data Guard 11gR2 Administration Beginner's Guide
Oracle Data Guard 11gR2 Administration Beginner's Guide
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Oracle Data Guard 11gR2 Administration Beginner's Guide

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Using real-world examples and hands-on tasks, Oracle Data Guard 11gR2 Administration Beginner's Guide will give you a solid foundation in Oracle Data Guard. It has been designed to teach you everything you need to know to successfully create and operate Data Guard environments with maximum flexibility, compatibility, and effectiveness. If you are an Oracle database administrator who wants to configure and administer Data Guard configurations, then "Oracle Data Guard 11gR2 Administration Beginner's Guide" is for you. With a basic understanding of Oracle database administration, you’ll be able to easily follow the book.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 24, 2013
ISBN9781849687911
Oracle Data Guard 11gR2 Administration Beginner's Guide

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    Oracle Data Guard 11gR2 Administration Beginner's Guide - Emre Baransel

    Table of Contents

    Oracle Data Guard 11gR2 Administration Beginner's Guide

    Credits

    About the Authors

    About the Reviewers

    www.PacktPub.com

    Support files, eBooks, discount offers and more

    Why Subscribe?

    Free Access for Packt account holders

    Instant Updates on New Packt Books

    Preface

    What this book covers

    What you need for this book

    Who this book is for

    Conventions

    Time for action – heading

    What just happened?

    Pop quiz – heading

    Have a go hero – heading

    Reader feedback

    Customer support

    Downloading the example code

    Errata

    Piracy

    Questions

    1. Getting Started

    What is Data Guard?

    Standby database

    Physical standby database

    Logical standby database

    Snapshot standby database

    Oracle Data Guard evolution

    Version 7.3 – stone age

    Version 8i – first age

    Version 9i – middle age

    Version 10g – new age

    Version 11g – modern age

    Oracle Data Guard architecture

    Data Guard services

    Redo transport services

    Protection modes

    Apply services

    Redo Apply (physical standby databases)

    Monitoring Redo Apply

    Time for action – monitoring Redo Apply

    What just happened?

    Pop quiz – real-time apply consideration

    SQL Apply (logical standby databases)

    Role transitions

    Switchover

    Failover

    Fast-start failover

    User interfaces for administering Data Guard

    SQL*Plus

    DGMGRL

    Enterprise Manager

    Time for action – using interfaces to monitor Data Guard

    What just happened?

    Data Guard background processes

    Other replication solutions and Data Guard

    Storage-based replication solutions

    GoldenGate and Streams

    Summary

    2. Configuring the Oracle Data Guard Physical Standby Database

    Preconfiguration for Data Guard

    Data loss consideration

    Network bandwidth consideration

    Preparing the primary database

    Archive log mode

    Time for action – enabling the archive log mode

    What just happened?

    Force logging

    Time for action – enabling force logging

    What just happened?

    Standby redo logs

    Time for action – configuring standby redo logs on primary

    What just happened?

    Fast recovery area (FRA)

    Time for action – enabling FRA

    What just happened?

    Understanding initialization parameters

    DB_NAME

    DB_UNIQUE_NAME

    LOG_ARCHIVE_CONFIG

    LOG_ARCHIVE_MAX_PROCESSES

    LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_n

    LOCATION and SERVICE

    VALID_FOR

    SYNC and ASYNC

    AFFIRM and NOAFFIRM

    COMPRESSION

    MAX_CONNECTIONS

    MAX_FAILURE

    REOPEN

    NET_TIMEOUT

    DELAY

    LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_STATE_n

    What just happened?

    Creating the physical standby database

    Standby database related initialization parameters

    FAL_SERVER

    STANDBY_FILE_MANAGEMENT

    DB_FILE_NAME_CONVERT

    LOG_FILE_NAME_CONVERT

    The physical standby database instance

    Time for action – starting the physical standby instance and making it ready for the RMAN duplicate

    What just happened?

    Using RMAN duplicate to create physical standby databases

    Time for action – running an RMAN duplicate

    What just happened?

    Post-installation steps

    Verifying the standby database configuration

    Time for action – verifying the standby database configuration

    What just happened?

    Managing Redo Apply

    Time for action – starting, stopping, and monitoring MRP

    What just happened?

    Verifying synchronization between the primary and standby databases

    Time for action – verifying synchronization between the primary and standby databases

    What just happened?

    Time for action – testing real-time apply

    What just happened?

    Have a go hero – checking the network latency effect on real-time apply

    Summary

    3. Configuring Oracle Data Guard Logical Standby Database

    Logical standby database characteristics

    Not everything must be duplicated

    Use for reporting at all times

    Independent standby database objects

    Protecting writes on replicated standby tables

    Limitation for specific data types and objects

    High availability and disaster recovery considerations

    Preparation for the configuration

    Time for action – checking for the unsupported data types

    What just happened?

    Time for action – searching for and fixing any table row uniqueness problem

    What just happened?

    Creating a logical standby database

    Time for action – making a physical standby database environment ready for conversion

    What just happened?

    Time for action – converting a physical standby database into a logical standby database

    What just happened?

    Verifying the logical standby database

    Time for action – checking the redo transport service status

    What just happened?

    Time for action – checking the SQL Apply service status

    What just happened?

    Have a go hero – check the services in a broken configuration

    Customization and management in a logical standby database

    Selective replication in a logical standby database

    Time for action – working with skip rules on a logical standby database

    What just happened?

    Database Guard settings for the logical standby database

    Time for action – changing the Database Guard setting

    What just happened?

    Disabling database guard for a session

    Have a go hero – testing the NONE Database Guard mode

    Creating objects on the logical standby database

    Creating and re-creating tables

    Creating scheduler jobs

    Creating materialized views

    Time for action – creating objects on the logical standby database

    What just happened?

    Have a go hero – skip, disable guard, insert, instantiate, and disable skip

    Automatic deletion of archived logs

    Deletion of the foreign archived logs

    Files inside the fast recovery area

    Files outside the fast recovery area

    Deletion of the local archived logs

    Summary

    4. Oracle Data Guard Broker

    Introduction to Data Guard broker

    Data Guard broker features and benefits

    Centralized and simple management

    Cloud Control integration

    Oracle Data Guard and RAC

    Role transition with Data Guard broker

    Data Guard fast-start failover

    Recommendation

    Data Guard broker components

    Oracle Data Guard broker server-side components

    Data Guard Monitor process (DMON)

    Configuration file

    Oracle Data Guard broker client-side components

    DGMGRL utility

    Enterprise Manager Cloud Control client

    Implementation of Oracle Data Guard broker

    Time for action – initial setup of Data Guard broker

    What just happened?

    Time for action – connecting to Data Guard broker

    What just happened?

    Time for action – basic monitoring with Data Guard broker

    What just happened?

    Management with Data Guard broker

    Enabling and disabling broker configuration

    Time for action – disabling broker configuration

    What just happened?

    Enabling and disabling a standby database

    Time for action – disabling and enabling database

    What just happened?

    Changing configuration and database properties using broker

    Have a go hero – more examples on property changes

    Time for action – changing the database name

    What just happened?

    Changing the state of the database

    Have a go hero – more examples on state changes

    Troubleshooting Data Guard broker

    Data Guard tracing

    Most Common Data Guard broker issues

    ORA-16797: database is not using a server parameter file

    ORA-10458:standby database requires recovery

    ORA-16737:the redo transport service for standby database string has an error

    ORA-16715:redo transport-related property string of standby database string is inconsistent

    ORA-12514:TNS:listener does not currently know of service requested in connect descriptor

    Current listener description

    Oracle Data Guard fast-start failover

    Time for action – configuring fast-start failover

    What just happened?

    Troubleshooting observer configuration

    Script to stop and start observer

    Summary

    5. Data Guard Protection Modes

    The Maximum Protection mode

    The Maximum Performance mode

    The Maximum Availability mode

    Choosing the correct mode for your requirements

    Changing Data Guard protection mode

    Time for action – changing the protection mode with SQL*Plus

    What just happened?

    Time for action – changing the protection mode with Data Guard broker

    What just happened?

    Have a go hero - protection mode transitions with DGMGRL

    Time for action – changing the protection mode with Enterprise Manager Cloud Control

    What just happened?

    Pop quiz – precautions for primary database availability issue in the Maximum Protection mode

    Summary

    6. Data Guard Role Transitions

    Role transition considerations

    Switchover

    Performing switchover with a physical standby database using SQL*Plus

    Time for action – preliminary tests before performing switchover

    What just happened?

    Time for action – switchover with a physical standby using SQL*Plus

    Performing switchover with a physical standby database using broker

    Time for action – switchover with a physical standby using broker

    What just happened?

    Performing switchover with a physical standby database using EM Cloud Control

    Time for action – switchover with a physical standby using EM Cloud Control

    Performing switchover with a logical standby database using SQL*Plus

    Time for action – switchover with a logical standby database using SQL*Plus

    What just happened?

    Pop quiz

    Performing switchover with a logical standby database using broker

    Time for action – switchover with a logical standby using broker

    What just happened?

    Failover

    Performing failover with a physical standby database

    Time for action – failover with a physical standby database using SQL*Plus

    Have a go hero

    Performing failover with a logical standby database

    Time for action – failover with a logical standby using broker

    What just happened?

    Summary

    7. Active Data Guard, Snapshot Standby, and Advanced Techniques

    Oracle Active Data Guard

    Why Active Data Guard?

    Oracle Data Guard license

    Enabling Active Data Guard

    Time for action – enabling Active Data Guard if Redo Apply is running using SQL *PLUS

    Time for action – enabling Active Data Guard if the standby database is shut down

    Time for action – enabling Active Data Guard using broker

    What just happened?

    Monitoring Active Data Guard

    From primary

    From standby

    Active Data Guard with applications

    Active Data Guard with PeopleSoft

    Time for action – Active Data Guard with PeopleSoft

    Active Data Guard with EBS

    Active Data Guard with TopLink

    Active Data Guard with Oracle BI

    Active Data Guard with SAP

    Active Data Guard features

    EXPDP from standby database using NETWORK_LINK (ADG)

    Time for action – exporting a database backup from Active Data Guard

    What just happened?

    Time for action – using the ASH report from the standby database

    What just happened?

    Have a go hero – running Statspack from a standby database

    Using a snapshot standby database

    Time for action – converting to a snapshot standby database

    What just happened?

    Time for action – converting to a physical standby database

    What just happened?

    Have a go hero – convert the physical standby to a snapshot and vice versa using broker

    Cascade standby databases

    Limitations with cascade standby database

    Time for action – cascade standby database

    What just happened?

    Advanced compression in Data Guard

    Time for action – enabling advanced compression

    What just happened?

    Preparation of standby on a cross-platform Data Guard

    Time for action – creating a cross-platform Data Guard setup

    What just happened?

    Data Guard tuning and wait events

    Network tuning

    Redo transport and apply tuning

    Data Guard wait events

    Summary

    8. Integrating Data Guard with the Complete Oracle Environment

    The Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control integration

    Time for action – adding the Data Guard configuration into Cloud Control

    What just happened?

    Have a go hero

    Cloud Control Data Guard administration home page

    Modifying the Data Guard configuration

    Time for action – enabling/disabling fast-start failover

    What just happened?

    Have a go hero

    Monitoring Data Guard performance

    Using Incident Manager to monitor Data Guard

    Time for action – setting the threshold and creating an incident for estimated failover time metric

    What just happened?

    RMAN integration

    Integration requirements and best practices

    Physical standby requirement

    RMAN Catalog requirement

    Using a different DB_UNIQUE_NAME

    General RMAN best practices

    RMAN settings for the Data Guard environment

    Registering primary database in the catalog

    Configuring RMAN settings for primary database:

    Configuring RMAN settings for standby database

    Checking the RMAN configuration

    Time for action – recovering a primary database using a standby database disk backup

    What just happened?

    Have a go hero

    Using block change tracking with Data Guard

    RAC integration

    A RAC primary database with a single instance standby database

    A RAC primary database with a RAC standby database

    Summary

    9. Data Guard Configuration Patching

    What is patch and what are patch types?

    Interim patch

    CPU/SPU patches

    PSU patches

    Patch set

    Patching on Data Guard

    What just happened?

    Best practices of patching

    Upgrading OPatch

    Performing prerequisite checks of patch

    How to clean up patch history?

    What just happened?

    Patching on Data Guard configuration

    How to apply an interim/bug patch on logical standby?

    Time for action – applying a patch on logical standby

    What just happened?

    How to apply a PSU patch on physical standby database using broker?

    Time for action – applying PSU on a physical standby database

    Pop quiz

    What just happened?

    How to apply patch set on physical standby (11.2.0.1 to 11.2.0.3)?

    Time for action – patch set upgrade of physical standby

    What just happened?

    Have a go hero – in-place patch set installation

    Summary

    10. Common Data Guard Issues

    Recreating the standby control file

    Time for action – recreating the standby control file

    What just happened?

    Dealing with redo transport authentication problems

    Time for action – changing the SYS password in a Data Guard environment

    Pop quiz – the redo transport authentication problem in only one instance of the primary database

    What just happened?

    Time for action – changing the redo transport user

    What just happened?

    Dealing with UNNAMED datafiles

    Time for action – resolving UNNAMED datafile errors

    What just happened?

    Have a go hero

    Closing a gap with an RMAN incremental backup

    Time for action – closing a gap with an RMAN incremental backup

    What just happened?

    Pop quiz – using a tape for SCN incremental backup

    Fixing NOLOGGING changes on the standby database

    Time for action – fixing NOLOGGING changes on a standby database with incremental datafile backups

    What just happened?

    Time for action – fixing NOLOGGING changes in the standby database with incremental database backups

    What just happened?

    Turning on Data Guard tracing

    Have a go hero

    Gathering diagnostic data

    Alert log and trace files

    Time for action – monitoring the database alert log using ADRCI

    What just happened?

    Data Guard broker logs

    Dynamic performance views

    Summary

    11. Data Guard Best Practices

    Configuring a connection failover

    Transparent Application Failover (TAF)

    Configuring the client-side TAF

    Configuring the server-side TAF

    Fast Connection Failover (FCF)

    Time for action – configuring FCF for JDBC connections

    What just happened?

    Fast Application Notification (FAN)

    What just happened?

    The archived log deletion policy on the standby database

    Time for action – the recommended configuration for archived log maintenance on a standby database

    What just happened?

    Using flashback on a standby database

    Time for action – using flashback on a standby database

    What just happened?

    Database rolling upgrade using the transient logical standby database

    Time for action – performing a rolling upgrade using the transient logical standby database

    What just happened?

    Have a go hero – one last switchover

    Corruption detection, prevention, and automatic repair with Oracle Data Guard

    DB_BLOCK_CHECKSUM

    DB_BLOCK_CHECKING

    DB_LOST_WRITE_PROTECT

    Automatic block media repair

    Summary

    Pop Quiz Answers

    Chapter 1, Getting Started

    Pop quiz – real-time apply consideration

    Chapter 5, Data Guard Protection Modes

    Pop quiz – precautions for primary database availability issue in maximum protection mode

    Chapter 6, Data Guard Role Transitions

    Pop quiz

    Chapter 9, Data Guard Configuration Patching

    Pop quiz

    Chapter 10, Common Data Guard Issues

    Pop quiz – redo transport authentication problem in only one instance of primary database

    Pop quiz – using tape for SCN incremental backup

    Index

    Oracle Data Guard 11gR2 Administration Beginner's Guide


    Oracle Data Guard 11gR2 Administration Beginner's Guide

    Copyright © 2013 Packt Publishing

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

    Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the authors, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

    Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

    First published: June 2013

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    ISBN 978-1-84968-790-4

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    Cover Image by Sandeep Babu (<sandyjb@gmail.com>)

    Credits

    Authors

    Emre Baransel

    Nassyam Basha

    Reviewers

    Syed Jaffar Hussain

    Michael Seberg

    Joel Perez

    Acquisition Editor

    Martin Bell

    Lead Technical Editor

    Susmita Panda

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    Graphics

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    Cover Work

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    About the Authors

    Emre Baransel is a graduate of Electrical and Electronic engineering and has two Master's, one in Business Administration and the other one in Information Systems. He has been working in the IT industry for the past 10 years. He has worked for one of the largest fixed-line and GSM technology-based companies in Turkey. He was nominated as an Oracle ACE in 2012. He's an Oracle Certified Professional (OCP), a founding member of TROUG (Turkish Oracle User Group), and a blogger at emrebaransel.blogspot.com. He has spoken at the Oracle Open World in the US and at user group conferences in different countries of Europe. He has also contributed to the Oracle RMAN 11g Backup and Recovery book in 2010. He has focused specially on high database availability and disaster recovery solutions, cloud technologies, and database security.

    First of all, I would like to thank the love of my life, my wife Tulay, for her patience and support during the time I was writing this book, and my super sweet son Demir for his presence in my life. I would also like to thank my co-author Nassyam for his great effort on this book under intense work pressure, the technical reviewers Jaffar, Joel, and Michael for their valuable time, and the Packt Publishing team for all their help and labor on this book. Thousands of hours were spent on this book by many different people. Thank you all who made this book possible.

    Nassyam Basha is a Database Administrator. He has around seven years of IT experience of which the last five years have been as a Production Oracle DBA. He is a post graduate who holds a master's degree in Computer Applications from the University of Madras. He started working with dBase and FoxPro, and has participated in several projects with FoxPro and Oracle database starting from Oracle 7. He is an Oracle 10g Certified Professional having good knowledge in Oracle technologies such as Data Guard, RMAN, RAC, and performance tuning. He has completed more than 90 Data Guard setups on all platforms, from RAC to non-RAC and successful cluster migrations with switchovers and failovers for many business-critical production databases with major Data Guard-related issues. He actively participates in Oracle-related forums such as OTN, having 9000+ posts, using the profile Freelists (https://forums.oracle.com/forums/profile.jspa?editMode=true&userID=651869). He maintains an Oracle technology-related blog, (www.oracle-ckpt.com) and he is reachable at .

    Above and beyond all others, I have to thank my Almighty Allah and my parents N. Abdul Aleem and Rahimunnisa. Without them I wouldn't have been able to be what I am today. A special thanks to my brother Nawaz Basha who has been with me all the time, in joy and even in sadness, and to my family members Zaheer Ahamed, Farhana, Riyana, niece Fathima Zehra, and my nephew Azzoo. I would also like to express my gratitude to Oracle professionals such as Shahbaz, Mohammad Farhan, Syed Jaffar Hussain, Chinar Aliyev, Michael Seberg, Uwe Hesse, Mohamed Houri, Adi Narayana, and all my friends along with my favorite authors Larry Carpenter and Joseph Meeks. I shall not forget to thank my clients and colleagues who have provided me with invaluable opportunities to expand my knowledge and shape my career. My heartfelt appreciation goes to the technical reviewers of this book, Syed Jaffar Hussain, Michael Seberg, and Joel Perez for the time they have spent reviewing this book, and to Packt Publishing's team members, Stephanie Moss, Leena Purkait, and Martin Bell for their support. Thanks to all of them and to their team members for giving me the opportunity to write this book. Last but not the least, I would like to say a big thanks to Emre Baransel who gave me the opportunity to co-author this book with him. His help, along with his direction were strong assets to write. Thank you Emre.

    About the Reviewers

    Syed Jaffer Hussain has been an Oracle Database Expert for over 14 years in his 20 years of Information Technology (IT) career. Over the past 14 years of his Oracle journey, he has been associated with several local and large-scale international banks where he implemented and managed very complex cluster and non-cluster environments with hundreds of business critical databases. Recognizing his efforts and contribution towards the community, Oracle awarded him the prestigious Best DBA of the year award in 2011, and bestowed him with the Oracle ACE Director status. He has also acquired a number of industry best-Oracle credentials, such as Oracle Certified Master (OCM), Oracle RAC Expert, and OCP DBA 8i, 9i, 10g, and 11g in addition to ITIL expertise.

    Syed is an active Oracle speaker. He regularly presents technical sessions and webinars on various Oracle technologies at many Oracle events. You can visit his technical blog at http://jaffardba.blogspot.com, where he discusses and writes about workarounds/solutions for the issues confronted by him in his day-to-day activities.

    Apart from being a part of the core Technical Review committee for a few Oracle technology-oriented books, he has also co-authored the books Oracle 11g R1/R2 Real Application Cluster Essentials and Oracle Expert RAC.

    I would like to thank the Almighty and my parents for giving me everything I needed to become what I am today in life. Also, I owe a very big thanks to my wife Ayesha and my three champs (Ashfaq, Arfan, and Aahil) for allowing me to concentrate on my work by sacrificing their family time. Last but not the least, from the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank every individual who stood behind me and supported me morally during my ups and downs and encouraged me all through my life.

    Michael Seberg has worked with Oracle since Version 7.3 in programming and administration. In the spring of 2010, Michael took on data protection for his employer, designing a complete failover site for Oracle using Data Guard. He has done extensive testing of switchover, failover, and monitoring of Data Guard. An Oracle generalist, Michael also works with Fusion Middleware, Forms and Reports, PHP, JSP, and Linux. He also does development in PL SQL, Object Pascal, and Java. Michael maintains a large personal website dedicated to Oracle technologies. He is a frequent contributor to the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) forum.

    I would like to thank my wife Andrea for her commitment and patience with me.

    Joel Perez is an expert DBA with over 12 years of specialized experience in several database areas with special focus on high availability and disaster recovery solutions (RAC, RMAN, Data Guard, and so on), upgrades, backup and recovery, database hardening, performance tuning, and others. During these years, Joel has worked as a Senior Consultant with a large number of companies and clients in various countries namely Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, Dominican Rep., Haiti, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Colombia, Honduras, Ecuador, Mexico, India, and others. Joel is a frequent speaker at many events such as OTN LAD TOUR. Among other complementary activities, Joel teaches high availability courses in Oracle University of several countries in Latin America and publishes articles for OTN LAD. Joel was the first Latin American to be named OTN Expert in the year 2003. Joel has been an Oracle ACE since 2004 and an Oracle ACE Director since 2012.

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    Preface

    Data Guard is the Oracle technology that meets high availability, disaster recovery, and data protection requirements for the Oracle Database, and is the market leader product for this scope. In enterprise systems, Data Guard is very widely used, so managing Data Guard configurations is a common task of Oracle DBAs. This administration task is not just about installing and keeping standby databases synchronized with the primary database. DBAs also provide standby databases for reporting and testing purposes, recovering partial data by using them, performing role transitions for disaster recovery testing or for planned maintenance operations, integrating Data Guard with the existing Oracle environment, and so on. As an Oracle DBA, you need to learn how to install and maintain Data Guard and benefit from it as much as possible.

    In this practical book, you'll not only be introduced to Oracle Data Guard, you'll also see all aspects of Data Guard administration with examples, recipes, and best practices. We'll start by learning about the fundamental components of Data Guard, and then continue with configuring physical and logical standby databases of Data Guard. The important details and best practices of Data Guard administration will be covered later on.

    What this book covers

    Chapter 1, Getting Started, includes an introduction to Oracle Data Guard. Configuration elements, the architecture of the physical and logical standby databases, Data Guard services, the history of Data Guard, and a comparison with other replication solutions are covered in this chapter.

    Chapter 2, Configuring the Oracle Data Guard Physical Standby Database, explains how to prepare the configuration from scratch, create a physical standby database including post tasks with a step-by-step approach, and verify the physical standby database recovery including real-time apply.

    Chapter 3, Configuring Oracle Data Guard Logical Standby Database, shows you how to prepare a logical standby database configuration with pre and post steps. Customization and management in a logical standby database are also covered.

    Chapter 4, Oracle Data Guard Broker, explains the detailed implementation of the Data Guard broker, monitoring and managing Data Guard using the broker, troubleshooting the Data Guard broker, and configuring fast-start failover (FSFO).

    Chapter 5, Data Guard Protection Modes, focuses on the three data protection modes of Oracle Data Guard. You'll learn how to choose the correct mode for your requirements and how to change modes using SQL*Plus, the Data Guard broker, and Enterprise Manager Cloud Control.

    Chapter 6, Data Guard Role Transitions, will include the necessary steps to accomplish successful switchover and failover operations in the physical and logical standby database environments. It also covers different tools to perform role transitions.

    Chapter 7, Active Data Guard, Snapshot Standby, and Advanced Techniques, explains what Active Data Guard is, how to integrate applications with Active Data Guard, and several advantages of using it, such as performing Data Pump exports, gathering ASH reports, and advanced compression. This chapter also describes how to use snapshot standby, implement cascade standby databases, configure the cross-platform Data Guard setup, and also provides a brief on Data Guard tuning.

    Chapter 8, Integrating Data Guard with the Complete Oracle Environment, explains the configuration steps required to integrate Data Guard with Enterprise Manager Grid Control, RMAN, and RAC. Integrating Data Guard with these products is crucial to make an efficient configuration and take advantage of all of these products together.

    Chapter 9, Data Guard Configuration Patching, explains how to apply one-off patches and patch set updates to databases in a Data Guard environment, and some best practices of patching.

    Chapter 10, Common Data Guard Issues, gives practical information for dealing with some very common issues in Data Guard that every administrator needs to know and experience.

    Chapter 11, Data Guard Best Practices, includes very important information regarding how to make a Data Guard configuration perfect and take maximum advantage of Data Guard properties. Connection failover, deletion of archived log files, using flashback, database rolling upgrade using transient logical standby and corruption detection, and prevention and automatic repair with Oracle Data Guard are covered.

    What you need for this book

    In order to follow the exercises in this book, you must install the Oracle Database 11g Release 2 software on two separate database servers (primary and standby). You can use a virtual machine to create virtual database servers on your PC. Also, a database has to be created on the primary database server. The Oracle management software, Enterprise Manager 12c Cloud Control, needs to be installed to follow specific exercises using this tool.

    Who this book is for

    If you are an Oracle DBA who wants to configure and administer Data Guard and improve your knowledge on Data Guard with a step-by-step approach and hands-on scenarios, this book is for you. With a basic understanding of Oracle database administration you'll easily be able to follow the book.

    Conventions

    In this book, you will find several headings appearing frequently.

    To give clear instructions of how to complete a procedure or task, we use:

    Time for action – heading

    Action 1

    Action 2

    Action 3

    Instructions often need some extra explanation so that they make sense, so they are followed with:

    What just happened?

    This heading explains the working of tasks or instructions that you have just completed.

    You will also find some other learning aids in the book, including:

    Pop quiz – heading

    These are short multiple-choice questions intended to help you test your own understanding.

    Have a go hero – heading

    These are practical challenges that give you ideas for experimenting with what you have learned.

    You will also find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.

    Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: The LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_n parameters must be configured properly on every instance of primary and standby databases to show remote archiving destinations.

    A block of code is set as follows:

    LOG_ARCHIVE_CONFIG =

    {

    [ SEND | NOSEND ]

    [ RECEIVE | NORECEIVE ]

    [ DG_CONFIG=(remote_db_unique_name1, ... remote_db_unique_name9) | NODG_CONFIG ]

    When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

      2  DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_JOB (

      3  JOB_NAME =>

    'REFRESH_EMPDEPT_MV_PRIMARY'

    ,

      4  JOB_TYPE => 'PLSQL_BLOCK',

    Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

    RFS LogMiner: Registered logfile [/u01/app/oracle/archive_std/1_106_791552282.arc] to LogMiner session id [1] ... LOGMINER: Begin mining logfile for session 1 thread 1 sequence 106, /u01/app/oracle/archive_std/1_106_791552282.arc LOGMINER: End  mining logfile for session 1 thread 1 sequence 106, /u01/app/oracle/archive_std/1_106_791552282.arc

    New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you

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