esg wp oracle data guard

8/14/2019 ESG WP Oracle Data Guard

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White PaperDouble Up with Database Data Protection andDisaster Recovery with Oracle Data Guard

ByBrianBabineauAnalystEnterpriseStrategyGroupInformationProtection

November, 2006


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Table of Contents

Table of Contents..................................................................................................................................................1Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 1Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 2Introduction............................................................................................................................................................ 2Efficient and Effective Database Business Continuity......................................................................................3Integrating RPO and RTO Objectives into the Database Tier........................................................................... 4Maximizing a Business Continuity Investment Case Studies .......................................................................5BarnesandNoble.com.......................................................................................................................................... 5Burlington Coat Factory....................................................................................................................................... 6D. Swarovski & Co............................................................................................................................................... 7Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................. 8

Alltrademarknamesarepropertyoftheirrespectivecompanies.InformationcontainedinthispublicationhasbeenobtainedbysourcesTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup(ESG)considerstobereliablebutisnotwarrantedbyESG.ThispublicationmaycontainopinionsofESG,whicharesubjecttochangefromtimetotime.ThispublicationiscopyrightedbyTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.andisintendedonlyforusebySubscribersorbypersonswhohavepurchaseditdirectlyfromESG.Anyreproductionorredistributionofthispublication,inwholeorinpart,whetherinhard-copyformat,electronically,orotherwisetopersonsnotauthorizedtoreceiveit,withouttheexpressconsentoftheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.,isinviolationofU.S.copyrightlawandwillbesubjecttoanactionforcivildamagesand,ifapplicable,criminalprosecution.Shouldyouhaveanyquestions,pleasecontactESGClientRelationsat(508)482-0188.

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Executive SummaryHighlyavailableITarchitecturesshouldincorporatedisasterrecoverysolutionsthatensuresystemsandinformation remains accessible in case unforeseen events impair data center operations. Someorganizationsassociate theterm disasterrecoverywithproprietarystoragesolutions thatmirrordisk

updates to remote storage subsystems. While remote-mirroring affords a certain level of dataprotection,suchconfigurationscanbeexpensiveandcauseITtooverlookalternativedisasterrecoverysolutionsthatcanimprovelevelsofdataprotectionandavailability.OnesuchsolutionisDataGuard,afeatureofOracleDatabase10gformaintainingstandbydatabases,whichareautomaticallykeptsynchronizedwiththeproductiondatabase,enablingfastfailoverwhenaproductionoutageoccurs.Thisensuresthatdataremainsonline,evenintheeventofanunplannedoutage.DataGuardalsoenablesproductiveuseofstandbydatabases,effectivelyreducingthecostofdisasterrecoverysolutionsandmakingsuchaninvestmenteasytojustify.This paper describes how customers can use Data Guard, details the inherent benefits and offerstestimonialsfromcustomerswhohavereducedtheirriskofdatalossandimprovedavailability.

IntroductionIt is impossible for anyone to question the importance of databases within todays corporate datacenters.Fromlargemultinationalconglomeratestofamilyownedsmallbusinesses,organizationsrelyondatabasestoprocess,organizeandstoretransactionaldata.Whilethesizeofthesedatabasesmayvary, the relative importanceof the data cannot bemeasuredand organizationsneed tovalue theirinformationappropriatelyandprotectitaccordingly.Whendatabasesareoffline,orworse,whendataislost, irreparabledamage in the formof lost revenue,customerdissatisfaction and otherundesiredscenariosmayresult.DatabasesaresubjecttomanyofthesamebusinessdisruptionriskstowhichotherITsystemsare:

naturaldisasters, plannedoutages,datacorruption andhumanerror, tonamea few. Organizationshavehistoricallydeployedtapebackupsolutionsasameanstoprotectdatafromfailures.However,thisapproachresultsinsignificantdowntimeduetothelengthoftimeittakestorestoreadatabasefromtape,nottomentionthetimeitmaytaketoacquirenewsystemsandfacilitiesiftheoriginalproductionsystemislostinadisasterofsomekind.Storage replication (also referred to as remote-mirroring), where data is copied between storagesystemsthataregeographicallyseparate,overcomessomeoftapebackupsshortcomings.However,thesesolutionsalsohavelimitations.Forexample,itrequirestwoidenticalstoragesystemsaswellasthe necessary bandwidth and specialized network devices, such as protocol converters, to connectthem.Infact,manyorganizationscontinuetousetraditionaltapebackupsbecauseremote-mirroringistooexpensiveandrestrictive.

Forthosewhocanaffordit,remote-mirroringdoesprovidealevelofdataprotection.However,whenitcomestoimplementingasolutionthatensurestheavailabilityandprotectionofdatabaseinformation,organizationsshouldconsidertheinnovationsmadebythedatabasevendors.Becauseoftheirintimateknowledgeofthedatabase,databasevendorscanoffersignificantaddedvaluethattranslatesintobothhigher availability and better data protection. For example, Oracle has helped customers keepinformationonlineandaccessiblewithOracleRealApplicationClusters(RAC),byavoidingdowntimethatwouldotherwiseresultfromserverfailures.Likewise,manydatabaseadministratorshavebeguntoutilizeDataGuard, a feature includedwithOracle Database, to increaseavailability and provide anadditionallevelofdataprotectionshouldunforeseeneventsimpacttheirproductiondatabase.



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Efficient and Effective Database Business ContinuityData Guard enables Oracle customers to implement and maintain a standby database, which is asynchronized copy of the production database to protect data and increase information availabilityshould any eventcausea productiondatabase to fail. DataGuardhas nogeographical limitations,

allowingthestandbydatabasetobelocatedafewfeetaway(inthesamedatacenter)orthousandsofmilesaway(ataremotedatacenter).Iftheproductiondatabasebecomesunavailable,customerscanuseDataGuardtofailovertothestandbydatabase.DataGuardallowscustomerstocreatemultiplestandbydatabasesforasingleproductiondatabase,therebyincreasingdataprotection,andmitigatingtheriskofcostlydowntimeanddataloss.Customers implement Data Guard by taking an online backup of their production database andrestoring the backup on another server to create a standby database, ideally located at a remotelocation. Once the standby database is created, Data Guard Transport Services automaticallysynchronize thestandbyby efficiently transmittingtransactionaldatablocks to thestandbydatabase.The creation of the standby database, from the backup through synchronization, does not disruptavailability of the primary database. The standby database can be located anywherebecauseDataGuard usesstandardTCP/IPprotocol to transmitdatabetween theprimaryandstandbydatabases,

eliminatingtheneedforspecializednetworkingdevices.DataGuardApplyServicescomprisetheprocessesthatapplythedatareceived from theproductionsitetothestandbydatabase.AsisthecasewitheveryDataGuardprocess,ApplyServicesareOracle-aware,usingitsknowledgeoftheOracledatabasetoperformadditionaldatavalidationbeforeanydataisappliedtothestandbydatabase.Thisimportantstep,onlypossiblewithDataGuard,providesanadditional level of protection to ensure that hardware- or network-induced data corruption is notpropagatedto thestandbydatabase.Remote-mirroringsolutions,becauseof their lackofknowledgeabout thedatabasedatastructure,copyall data, includingany corruptionscausedby thestorageornetworkhardware.DataGuardApplyServicesalso offera choice as tohow data is applied to the standby database.Customersmayimplementaphysicalstandbydatabasethathastheidenticalphysicalstructureofthe

primarydatabase,makingitanexactreplicaofproduction.Aphysicalstandbydatabasecanbeopeninread only mode, enabling customers to query data while it continues to receive data from theproductiondatabase,ensuringthatdataremainsprotectedatalltimes.Itcanalsobeusedtooffloadtheoverheadofperformingbackupsfromtheproductiondatabasesto thestandbydatabase,thusfreeingupcriticalserverresourcesfromtheproductiondatabase.Alternatively, customers can choose to implement a logical standby database, which, as its nameimplies,createsalogicalcopyoftheproductiondatabase.Alogicalstandbydatabaseconvertsdatareceivedfromtheproductiondatabase intoSQLstatementsandappliestheseSQLstatementstothestandbydatabasetomaintainsynchronization.Thisenablesalogicalstandbydatabasetobeopeninread/writemodeatalltimes,makingitusefulforsupportingqueriesandreportingagainstanup-to-datecopyofproduction.Itisalogicalstandbybecausewhilethedataisidenticaltoproduction,thephysicalstructure of the database can bedifferent. This allows customers the flexibility toadd localdata or

createadditionalindexestooptimizequeryperformance.OracleEnterpriseManagerGridControl(EM),Oraclesdatacentermanagementtool,providesthewebinterfacetomanageoneormoreDataGuard configurations.EM includeswizards thatautomate thecreation of Data Guard configurations. Administrators can easily execute Data Guard switchovers(plannedevents)or failovers(theresultofsudden,unplannedfailures)thatquicklypromoteastandbydatabasetoproduction.OnesignificantbenefitofthismanagementcapabilityistheeasewithwhichDataGuarduserscaneasilytesttheirdisasterrecoverysystems.



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Integrating RPO and RTO Objectives into the Database TierDataGuardprovidescustomerswithsignificantflexibilityandaddedvaluewhendeployingabusinesscontinuitysolutionfortheirenterprisedata.Aswithanybusinesscontinuitysolution,customersshouldalsoevaluateRecoveryPointObjective(RPO)andRecoveryTimeObjective(RTO)requirementsforall

aspectsofadatabaseinfrastructurethatsupportstheinformationthattheyareprotecting.TheRPOmeasurestheamountofdatathatanorganizationcanaffordtoloseifadisasterorotherunplannedoutageoccurs.Forexample,anRPOof2hoursmeansthatintheeventofafailure,youcanrecovereverythingupto2hoursbeforethefailure.Youdeemthatlosing2hoursofdataisanacceptableriskforthecostassociatedwithprotectingthatdata.RTOistheamountoftimeittakestorestoreaccesstoITsystems,applicationsandassociateddata.Highlyavailablearchitecturesshouldminimizedatalossand reduce the time it takes to bring applications back online. Data Guard is one of a number ofintegrated high availability features of Oracle Database 10g - all of which are designed to helpcustomersachievespecificRPOandRTO.TwoadditionalOraclefeaturesofparticularnoteareOracleRealApplicationClusters(RAC)andFlashbackDatabase.Many Oracle customers choose to implement Real Application Clusters (RAC) to cluster databaseservers,providing high availability should a server fail,as well asadding the option toscaleserver

resourcesasnecessary.SimilartoDataGuard,RACisapplicationtransparent,andenablescustomersto increase availability and scalability by having multiple servers share access to a single Oracledatabase.Additionalserverscanbeaddedasperformancerequirementsdictateandadministratorscanshifttheallocationof resourceswithinaclusterfromoneapplicationtoanother,as theneedsof thebusinessdictate,withoutanydisruptiontoexistingservers.Ifaserverfails,RACcanrebalancetheworkloadacrosstheremainingservers,preventingdowntime,asaservernolongerpresentsasinglepointoffailure.AlsosimilartoDataGuard,RACenablescustomerstoreducetheirhardwarecostsbyutilizingindustrystandardserverswithoutcompromisingavailabilityorscalability.DataGuardprovidessignificant value with or without RAC, but it complements an RAC configuration by maintaining astandbydatabaseataremotelocationfordataprotectionandhighavailabilityshouldanyeventimpacttheavailabilityoftheproductionRACdatabase.Oracle Flashback Database can also be used in conjunction with Data Guard and RAC to enable

customers to quickly rewind databases to a previous point-in-time in the event of human error oranother form of logical corruption. When Flashback Database is enabled, Oracle records all datachangesina flashbacklog.Usersdeterminetheirretentionperiodbydecidinghowmuchdiskspacetoallocatetotheselogs.AkeyadvantageofusingFlashbackDatabasewithDataGuardistheabilityforaproductiondatabase,afterafailover,toquicklyrejointheDataGuardconfigurationasastandbydatabaseandautomaticallyresynchronize itselfwiththenewproductionsystem. Thiseliminatesthetimeconsumingtaskofrecreatingtheoriginalproductiondatabasefromanewbackupofproduction,andveryquicklyreturningtheconfigurationtoaprotectedstate. FlashbackDatabasealsoprovidesthefoundationforintegratedContinuousDataProtection(CDP)capabilitieswithinOracleDatabase10g.



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Maximizing a Business Continuity Investment Case Studies

BarnesandNoble.com

BarnesandNoble.comReasonsforselectingOracleDataGuard

NeededadisasterrecoverysolutionforE-commerceapplication

Requireddataconsistencyanddataintegrityfordatabasedisasterrecoverysolution

Benefits

FiveminuteRPO,Forty-FiveminuteRTOforE-commercedatabaseapplication

Webapplicationsupporting24x7customeraccessviatheinternet

CustomerQuoteWeutilizeEMCSymmetrixandwevegotbandwidth,sowevegottheabilitytousesolutionssuchasSRDF,butforthiscriticaldatabasesystem,wewentwithDataGuard.Dataconsistencyanddataintegritywerethemaindrivers.

During 2004,BarnesandNoble.comembarkedon a project to re-architect itsE-Commerce ShoppingDatabase.DavidWillen,ChiefTechnologyOfficerofBarnesandNoble.com,andhisteamweretasked

with building an application infrastructure thatreflected their corporate business philosophy afocuson the customer. According toWillen, thecoreBarnesandNoble.comE-CommerceShopping(Customer Account and Order) Database is400GB and typically supports between 300 and500concurrentusers. BarnesandNoble.comsE-Commerce application generates hundreds ofmillionsofdollarsinannualrevenueandbyitself,was enough to warrant an investment in abusinesscontinuitysolution.Thepotentialforlostrevenue was a significant factor in the project,however, as Willen explains. The intangible

componentofthelostconfidenceofthecustomer-ifthecustomeris onthe Internetandgoes thereandcannotcheckout-drivesustokeepthesiteonline. Therefore, thenewsystemsarchitecturehadtobeanextensionofthecompanyscustomerfocusedphilosophy.With a focus on the BarnesandNoble.comcustomer in mind, the IT department turned toOracleRAC and DataGuardbecause,asWillenstates,Thenewsystemhadtobehighlyavailablewhichmeantweneededahotstandbydatabasesothatitcouldbebroughtonlineinaveryshorttime.

BarnesandNoble.comwantedahighlyavailablearchitectureforitsdatabasesintheeventofanyoutagethatcouldbringdowntheirprimarydatacenter.Thecompanyusestwoeastcoastdatacentersonehousestheirproductiondatabaseandtheotherhoststheremotestandbydatabase.BecauseBarnesandNoble.commustbeavailableforcustomerstoshop24hoursaday,7daysaweek,theprojectteamfeltthatOracleRACandDataGuardwouldbestmeettheirRPOsandRTOs.Duringtheplanningphaseoftheproject,theyestablishedabusinesscontinuityRecoveryPointObjectiveoffiveminutesandaRecoveryTimeObjectiveofforty-fiveminutes.Afterimplementingthenew,highlyavailableconfiguration,BarnesandNoble.com tested thesystemand realized that theyhit their RPOobjectivesandtheRTOfromsystemfailurewasactuallybetweentenandtwentyminutes,afiftypercentimprovementovertheoriginaltarget.ThisbenefitisprimarilyduetotheDataGuardsolution,saidWillen.Whilemanycustomersstill lookto storagesystem-based replication solutions, DataGuard canhelpexceedspecificdataprotectionanddatarecoveryobjectives,suchaswasthecaseatBarnes&Noble.Whenitcametoselectingbetweenastorage-basedsolutionandDataGuard,Willenfoundthechoicetobefairlyeasy. WeutilizeEMCSymmetrixandwevegotbandwidth,sowevegottheabilitytousesolutions such as SRDF, but for this critical database system, we went with Data Guard. Dataconsistencyanddataintegritywerethemaindrivers.DataGuardhashelpedBarnesandNoble.commaintainitscriticalE-Commerceapplication,fulfillingtheobjectiveofthe2004projectkeepingcustomershappywithawebsitethatisonlineallthetime.



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Burlington Coat Factory

BurlingtonCoatFactoryReasonsforselectingOracleDataGuard

Soughttoimprovedatabaserecoverytimesduetosystemandstoragemediafailures

Minimizeoperatingcostswhenworkingwithahighlyavailabledatabasesolution

Benefits Nolongerrelyontapetorestoredatabases

fromcrashrecovery Databaserecoverytimesreducedtofive

minutesfromfourhours

CustomerQuoteBecauseofourfamiliaritywithOracle,DataGuardwasanaturalfit.WehadenoughOracleexpertiseinternallyandcouldtraintheappropriatepeopleononeavailabilitysolution.Wedidnothavetobuyanewgradeofstorageoranewcomponentforourexistingstoragesystemsortrainourselvesonathirdpartyreplicationsolution.DataGuardenablesustoachieveahigherlevelofdataprotectionandavailability

With over 400 stores in the United States, Burlington Coat Factory processes several million retailtransactionsperyear.AstheretailerhasbecomeapopularshoppingdestinationformanyAmericans,Burlington Coat Factorys IT department has had to simplify its operations to control costs whileincreasingtheavailabilityofseveralmissioncriticalapplications.Toreduceoperatingcosts,BurlingtonCoat Factory has standardized on Oracle as

their database management system platform.WithOracledatabasessupportinge-commerce,point-of-saletransactions,datawarehousingandelectronic data interchange applications,standardization was critical in controlling costs.Mike Balint, a Senior Database Administratorwith Burlington Coat Factory, says about thedecisiontoworkcloselywithOracle,Webelieveinthecompany,webelieveintheirdirectionandwebelieve that theyre trustworthy. Theyhavecomethroughforusinthepast.While controlling costs through standardization,

BalintandhispeersarealsoabletouseOracleData Guard to increase application availabilityand data protection. When addressingincreasing availability requirements, BurlingtonCoat focused on the ability to recover dataquickly in the event of a corruption or sitedisaster impacting their production databases.Bydeploying aphysicalstandbydatabaseatasecond data center less than a mile from theprimary location, Burlington Coat Factory hasreduced the time it takes to recover from anunplannedoutage.Balintandhisadministratorsno longer have to go to tape to getaprevious

backup of data files and do a point-in-time recovery. No matter what we did, recovery could takehours,statedBalint. Witha physicalstandby, the data is100%currentoras closeas possibletocurrent and wecan recover immediately. Balint also notes that DataGuardhas assisted inotherdatabase and storage system issues where recoveries impact application availability or businessoperations.DataGuardhelpsusimmenselyinthesecrashrecoverysituationsasoutagesarereducedtofiveminutesfromfourhours.WhileBurlingtonCoatFactoryreliesheavilyonitsstoragesystemstosupporttheirOracledatabases,theyelectednottogowithremote-mirroring.Oneoftheprimaryreasonswastheabilitytostandardizeonanavailabilitysolutionincludedwith theirdatabase. Becauseof our familiaritywithOracle,DataGuardwas anatural fit. Wehad enoughOracleexpertise internally,we couldutilize in-houseDBAskills,andcouldtraintheappropriatepeopleononeavailabilitysolution,explainedBalint.Wedidnothave to buy a newgrade of storage or a newcomponent for our existing storage systems or train

ourselvesonathirdpartyreplicationsolution.DataGuardenablesustoachieveahigherlevelofdataprotectionandavailability.Todate,BurlingtonCoatFactoryhascontinuedtostandardizeonotherOraclehighavailabilityfeatures,including DataGuard, RAC,Flashback Databaseand RMAN (the backup and recoverysolution forOracle Databases). Because its revenue-generating applications (e-commerce) and internalapplications(humanresources)arevitaltokeepingBurlingtonCoatcustomershappyandemployeesproductive,availability istopofmindin the IT department. Itis veryeasy toseewhyBalint quickly



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madethedecisiontogowithDataGuard.Itisa riskmanagementtoolbecauseitsolvesourprimaryissue:theabilitytorecoverdatainashortandpredictableamountoftime.D. Swarovski & Co.Asaleadingsupplierofcutcrystal,Swarovskihasextendeditsbusinessoperationsacrossmorethan120countries.BasedinWattens,Austria,thecompanyhasbeeninbusinesssince1895andrelieson

SAPR/3formanyofitsenterpriseapplications,includingEnterpriseResourceManagement,CustomerRelationshipManagementandBusinessWarehousing.Swarovskipridesitselfonproducingqualitycutcrystal and its ITdepartment extends that paradigm to its own processes. When undertaking theirglobalSAPdeployment,SwarovskisSeniorITManagementmandatedthatthesystembedesignedtopreventanydatalossandensure thattheapplications couldbebroughtonlinewithinanhourin theevent of unplanned downtime. Harald Neuner, Swarovskis IT Manager for the SAP installation,describesthemindsetoftheprojectthatwasinstilledbyseniormanagement,FromtheverybeginningoftheITsystemsconcept,weknewthatwecouldnotloseonetransactionunderanycircumstance.

D.Swarovski&Co. ReasonsforselectingOracleDataGuard

DesiredhighavailabledatabasearchitectureforSAPR/3ERPapplication

Configurationflexibilitytominimizetheriskofcorruptedorlostdataonstandbydatabase

Benefits

ReducedrecoverytimeofSAPR/3ERPdatabaseapplicationtolessthan30minutesfrom12hours

Achievedgoalofdesigninganinfrastructurethatwillnotloseanysingletransactionandapplicationscanbeupandrunningwithinonehourafteradisruption

CustomerQuoteWeareplanningtousethistechnologyforothercriticaldatabasesinthefuture.Wearefamiliarwithhowitworksandwehavedocumentedourprocess,soitisnaturalforustoaddDataGuardtoothersystems.

ThemostcriticalapplicationforSwarovskiisitsEnterpriseResourceManagementSAPmodule,which,atanytime,needstosupportonethousandfourhundredusersworldwide.Topreventdatalossandreduce the time it took tobring this applicationonline in the eventofa disasteror data corruption,NeunerandhisteamturnedtoOracleDataGuard.Swarovskicreatedaphysicalstandbydatabasethat

is located ina second data center 400meters from theirprimary facility. DataGuardsynchronoustransport services are utilized to protect against any chance of data loss. Maintaining integrity ofinformationinthestandbydatabasewasaprimaryreasonthatSwarovskioptedforDataGuardover

remotemirroring.Inadditiontohavingastandbydatabasethatcanbe brought up inminutes,Swarovski also usestheflexibilityofDataGuardtoreducetheriskoflogical corruption or user error impacting theirSAPapplications.WhileDataGuardshipsdataimmediately,Swarovskiuses itsdelay feature inapplying updates to their standby database.Swarovskis planned delay of 4 hours gives

Neuners team the time to undo accidentallydeleted or corrupt transactions before they areapplied to standby. With the flexibility in DataGuard,wecouldarchitectthisdelay,andtakeourrecovery time from 12 hours to less than 30minuteswithout impactingapplicationavailabilityor increasing risk of data loss, stated Neuner.Thisispossiblebecause,whilethereisa4-hourdelayonapply,DataGuardstillshipsdatatothestandbydatabaseasquicklyasitisgenerated.IfSwarovski has to suddenly fail over to thestandby,the delay is removed,and DataGuardperformanceissuchthatittakesjustminutesto

catch the standby database up to the last datareceived.

SwarovskiplanstocapitalizeonDataGuardsavailabilityfeaturesacrossmoreofitsSAPapplicationportfolio. We are planning to use this technology for other critical databases in the future, saysNeuner.Wearefamiliarwithhowitworksandwehavedocumentedourprocess,soitisnaturalforustoaddDataGuardtoothersystems.



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Duringitsexistence,SwarovskihasnotstrayedfromitscommitmenttoqualityanditdoesnotappearthatitsIToperationswillveerfromitsgoaltopreventdataloss.AsitcontinuestoexpanditshighlyavailablearchitectureacrossSAPapplicationmodules,SwarovskisexperiencewithOracleDataGuardwillbeusedtokeepdataavailabletoitsemployeesworldwide.

ConclusionBusinesscontinuity solutions can beexpensive and cumbersome touse, and provide little value tocustomersunlessacatastrophiceventcausingsystemfailureoccurs.Manyorganizationsstilldependuponcriticalapplication recovery fromtapeas their solebusinesscontinuity solution,exposing theirbusinesstotheriskofsignificantdatalossandcostlyperiodsofdowntime.Thoseorganizationsthatdependonstorage-basedbusinesscontinuityimplementationsoftenfailtoconsideralloptionsavailabletoprotecttheirenterprisedata.Thisoversightincreasestheriskthatvitalinformationassetscanbelostifadatacenterorproductiondatabasesuddenlygoesoffline.Organizationsthatrelyondatabasestoprocess transactions and organize information should considerall options tomitigatedata loss andreduceanybusinessdisruptionthatcanbecausedbyaplannedoranunplannedoutage.

OracleDataGuardrepresentsacost-effectivesolutionforprotectingenterprisedata,goingbeyondthelimitationsof tape-basedbackupandrecoveryandremote-mirroringsolutions,withanativedatabasecapability that provides optimum data protection and availability. It is included as part of OracleDatabase10gandcanbemanagedwithOracleEnterpriseManagerGridControl,asolutionthatmanydatabaseadministratorsuseregularly.DataGuardalsoenablescustomerstorunqueries,reportsandbackups using their standby database, increasing the return on investment in disaster recoverysystems.AfterspeakingwithOraclecustomers,simplebutdefinitivereasonsthatOracleDatabasecustomersshouldconsiderDataGuardtoincreasetheavailabilityoftheirdatabasemanagementsystemsemerge.Theseare:

EfficientNetworkUtilization

o Data Guard is a database-aware disaster recovery solution that efficiently utilizesnetworkresourcesbytransmittingonlytheminimalchangesnecessarytokeepstandbydatabasesynchronized.

ComprehensiveDataProtectiono DataGuardpreventsdatacorruptionsfrompropagatingtostandbydatabases.

Cost-Effec iveto DataGuardisastorageagnosticsolution,reducinghardwarecosts,andvendorlock-in.

StandbyUtilizationo Data Guards flexible configuration options enable customers to utilize their standby

databaseandserversforbackup,reporting,andotherpurposes. IntegratedManagement

o Standbyconfigurations,monitoringandmaintenance,includingfailoverandswitchover,areeasilymanagedbyOracleEnterpriseManagerGridControl.

Theriskofanunplannedoutagecausedbyanaturaldisaster,disruptiontopower,systemfailureorhumanerrorcan crippleemployeeproductivity ifdatabase-specificbusinesscontinuitymeasuresarenot inplace. WithDataGuard, customers now have anoption besides storage-basedmirroring toensurethatdatabaseinformationwillbeprotectedregardlessofwhatdisruptsaccesstotheirproductiondatabases.Tothe extent thatyourorganization views informationasa businessasset,OracleDataGuardisanext-generationdataprotectionsolutionthatcanmitigatetheriskofdatalossanddowntime.


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