Standby database

[vivekm]

I am going through a recommendation process for standby database architecture for an Oracle database in a 24 * 7 * 365 environment for a VLDB (greater than 100 Gb) in a heavy transaction oriented environment. The O/S is Windows NT running Oracle Release 2 in ARCHIVE mode.

The requirement is to have online backups with minimal impact on the application. The standby database needs to be 99.99% recoverable within one hour - linked to the primary via a 100Mb line.

From the information I have gathered, I do not see any reason why I should go for any solution other than a disk image solution.
1. One possible architecture in this solution is to have a mirrored disk on the standby site.
2. Not to mirror the disks across the network but to keep an array of image copies on the primary site(one for Monday, one for Tuesday, etc.) and recycle them.

The advantages with image disk solution are that the database is only "unavailable" for less than one minute. The other being that we can schedule the backing up of the image copies onto tape at a convenient time of the day - thereby keeping the standby and the backups in synch.

The disadvantage of images is that disk corruption is copied to the image copy.

What I am not sure about is
a) What is the hit on the network in having a mirror across the network if we go for option 1.
b) Can it be flagged that the database files are corrupt as soon as they happen - therby eliminating the disadvantage.
c) Are there any further disadvantages
d) Is there an option 3 which is just as good as this solution?
e) Should I use RMAN for handling the end-to-end solution or are there any other recommendations?

Thanks,
Vivek

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Check out the docs at

http://otn.oracle.com

[you may need to register, it is free and very helpful site]
( especially those on DataGuard and Standby databases), like this one:

http://otn.oracle.com/deploy/availability/pdf/MAA_DG_NetBestPrac.pdf