1. CERN IT Department CH-1211 Geneva 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t Emil Pilecki, IT-DB Standby configuration clean up and standardization

2. CERN IT Department CH-1211 Geneva 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t Standby configuration cleanup On both primary and stanbdby ensure that DB_UNIQUE_NAME is set LOG_ARCHIVE_CONFIG=DG_CONFIG is set and lists all unique names in the configuration useful for multi-standby configurations, especially in synch mode and with broker Always specify DB_UNIQUE_NAME for each remote LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_n destination LGWR option is removed from LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_n obsolete in 11.2

3. CERN IT Department CH-1211 Geneva 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t Standby configuration cleanup Symmetric configuration for faster switchover Configure redo transport on standby for easier switchover/failover now often not configured Configuration that use downstream capture are at risk if standby opened in RW mode and starts shipping redo Use LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_STATE_n=DEFER to safeguard from accidental redo shipment from standby set to ENABLE before switchover Use LOG_ARCHIVE_CONFIG=NORECEIVE/NOSEND as a 2nd safety measure for configurations with downstream to be tested if it works correctly remove this settings before switchover

4. CERN IT Department CH-1211 Geneva 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t Standby configuration in LDAP - already in LDAP Link between primary and standbys entities defined in LDAP to quickly see what standby databases are configured for a given primary useful for monitoring tools, such as RACMON - optional sub-entity of DB entity as - first standby - first standby DB entity name - disaster recovery or active (exposed to users) - second standby - second standby DB entity name - disaster recovery or active (exposed to users)

5. CERN IT Department CH-1211 Geneva 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t Standby naming conventions Standardize naming for standby databases Unify! Use the same naming scheme for LDAP entities DB_UNIQUE_NAME parameter Local TNS aliases Proposal dbname – primary database dbname_dg_racX – standby for disaster recovery dbname_adg_racX – active standby exposed to end users

6. CERN IT Department CH-1211 Geneva 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t Standby naming conventions Replace names in LDAP and DB_UNIQUE_NAME dbname_standby_racX => dbname_dg_racX Remove excess local TNS aliases dbname_primary and dbname_standby dbname_standby_racX aliases pointing to specific instances on standby databases There should be only one local TNS alias per database in the configuration dbname – always pointing to the primary dbname_dg_racX – pointing to the specific DR standby dbname_adg_racX – pointing to the specific active standby (exposed to end users) Retain TNS aliases pointing to specific instances on primary useful for troubleshooting and data pump

7. CERN IT Department CH-1211 Geneva 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t Standby for migration purposes Temporary standby DBs created for migration purposes are not covered by the rules described in this presentation Symmetric configuration is not needed DB_UNIQUE_NAME don’t have to be set LDAP standby information can be omitted Local TNS aliases should eventually be the same as on primary

8. CERN IT Department CH-1211 Geneva 23 Switzerland www.cern.ch/i t Conclusions Use the new naming convention and setup guidelines while configuring new standby databases Gradual clean up of existing databases to make them compliant with the new guidelines Deadline for non-PROD: October 2012 Deadline for PROD: November 2012 LDAP changes not yet implemented – will be announced separately when ready