FLASHBACK STANDBY DATABASE

FLASHBACK STANDBY

SQLPLUS commands to turn off DATA GUARD temporarily in order to activate the physical standby for testing purposes.  Notice commands are indicated by PRMY or STBY designation for which database they need to executed on.  11g reduces these steps making this a feature they call the “SNAPSHOT DATABASE”.

PRMY> ALTER SYSTEM ARCHIVE LOG CURRENT;

PRMY> ALTER SYSTEM SET DG_BROKER_START=FALSE;

PRMY> ALTER SYSTEM SET LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_STATE_2=DEFER;

REDO APPLY is no longer running, Broker is automatically re-enabled if not turned off. Logs aren’t shipping. All of these things change in 11g!

STBY> ALTER DATABASE RECOVER MANAGED STANDBY DATABASE CANCEL;

STBY> CREATE RESTORE POINT HOTFIX1 GUARANTEE FLASHBACK DATABASE;

STBY> ALTER DATABASE ACTIVATE STANDBY DATABASE;

NOW you can use the physical standby safely for testing purposes, it is a fully functional database with data the same as production as of a certain point in time, no new data will be added…remember your Recovery Time Objective.

When testing is over, Revert….back into a physical standby.

STBY> STARTUP MOUNT FORCE;

STBY> FLASHBACK DATABASE TO RESTORE POINT HOTFIX1;

STBY> ALTER DATABASE CONVERT TO PHYSICAL STANDBY;

STBY> STARTUP MOUNT FORCE;

STBY> ALTER DATABASE RECOVER MANAGED STANDBY DATABASE USING CURRENT LOGFILE DISCONNECT;