Re: Oracle Data Guard - Any Opinions?

On Wed, 30 Jul 2003 18:53:24 +0100, "Richard" <qaz1521_at_hotmail.com> wrote:

>I've been considering using Oracle Data Guard to provide disaster recovery
>for a number of Oracle 9 databases. The documentation makes it look quite
>promising but I'm seeking unbiased opinions from users who have experience
>of the product. In particular: -
>
>1 Is it reliable? I've had disappointing experiences with Oracle software
>before.
>

It is. 'Disappointing experiences' usually result from badly architectured databases, caused by ignoring manuals

>2 How much flexibility do you have in the choice of operating
>system/hardware/oracle version? The documentation seems a bit vague on
>this. I understand the operating system needs to be from the same
>manufacturer, solaris -> solaris, Linux -> Linux and so on but how close do
>the versions have to be?

They need to be identical.

Also, does running the standby on a much smaller
>machine to provide core services in an emergency work well?
>

Running the standby on a much smaller system would be a stupid idea, unless you want to shut part of your user community out.

>3 How does licencing work? If the standby database can only be used when
>the primary is unavailable, will one licence cover both servers or do they
>have to be licenced separately?

They will have to be licensed separately. Also, you seem to think the standby database isn't functioning when used as a standby. This is definitely not true.
Also it is the numbers of CPUs that count.

>
>Thanks for any advice,
>
>Richard
>

Sybrand Bakker, Senior Oracle DBA

To reply remove -verwijderdit from my e-mail address Received on Wed Jul 30 2003 - 13:35:40 CDT