Abstract

Oracle Data Guard is an effective and widely adopted data protection and disaster recovery solution for
Oracle databases. One of the biggest challenges in Data Guard deployment is the instantiation of the
standby database which is traditionally done by Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) backup and restore.
However, this method can lead to significant downtime for large production databases. This article outlines
a Data Guard deployment solution utilizing DELL|EMC data replication technology, which can
significantly reduce primary database downtime during Data Guard deployment.

July, 2007
Deploying Oracle Data Guard with Dell|EMC Storage Replication

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Deploying Oracle Data Guard with Dell|EMC Storage Replication

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THIS WHITE PAPER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
AND TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.

.
© 2007 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden.

Trademarks used in this text: Dell, the DELL logo, PowerEdge and PowerVault are trademarks of Dell Inc.;
Intel and Xeon are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation; EMC, Navisphere, and PowerPath are
registered trademarks of EMC Corporation; Microsoft, Windows, and Windows Server are registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates.

Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the
marks and names or their products. Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade
names other than its own.


July 2007 Rev. A01
Deploying Oracle Data Guard with Dell|EMC Storage Replication

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Table of Contents

ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................................. 1

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 4

D
ELL
S
OLUTIONS FOR
O
RACLE
D
ATABASE
10
G
...................................................................................... 4

O
VERVIEW OF THIS
W
HITE
P
APER
.......................................................................................................... 4

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 5

ORACLE DATA GUARD OVERVIEW.................................................................................................... 6

TRADITIONAL DATA GUARD DEPLOYMENT METHOD USING RMAN .................................... 7

S
TEPS FOR
C
REATING AN
O
RACLE
10
G
RAC

S
TANDBY
D
ATABASE WITH
ASM
USING
RMAN ................. 7

D
ISADVANTAGES OF
U
SING
RMAN
TO
I
NSTANTIATE
S
TANDBY
D
ATABASE
.............................................. 7

DELL|EMC STORAGE REPLICATION TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW ............................................ 8

STANDBY DATABASE INSTANTIATION USING EMC MIRRORVIEW ........................................ 9

S
ETTING
U
P
M
IRROR
V
IEW
......................................................................................................................... 9

A
CTIVATING
M
IRROR
V
IEW
...................................................................................................................... 10

M
INIMAL
D
OWNTIME
............................................................................................................................... 10

CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................... 11

FIGURES INDEX ...................................................................................................................................... 12

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ............................................................................................................. 12

Deploying Oracle Data Guard with Dell|EMC Storage Replication

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Introduction

Dell PowerEdge servers and Dell|EMC storage systems are ideal choices to deploy highly reliable
and sustainable Oracle 10<i>g databases. This white paper is intended to help IT professionals design and
configure Oracle 10<i>g Data Guard solutions using Dell servers and storage that apply best practices
derived from laboratory and real-world experiences. This white paper documents Dells recommended
approach for implementing a tested and validated solution for Oracle Data Guard on 10<i>g R2 Real
Application Cluster (RAC) database, Dell PowerEdge 9th generation servers, Dell|EMC storage systems
and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.
Dell Solutions for Oracle Database 10<i>g
Dell Solutions for Oracle Database 10<i>g are designed to simplify operations, improve utilization and cost-
effectively scale as your needs grow over time. In addition to providing price/performance leading server
and storage hardware, Dell Solutions for Oracle Database 10<i>g include:

Dell Configurations for Oracle in-depth testing of Oracle 10<i>g configurations for the most in-
demand solutions; documentation and tools that help simplify deployment
Integrated Solution Management standards-based management of Dell Solutions for Oracle
10<i>g that lower operational costs through integrated hardware and software deployment,
monitoring and update
Oracle Licensing multiple licensing options that can simplify customer purchase
Dell Enterprise Support and Professional Services for Oracle offerings for the planning,
deployment and maintenance of Dell Solutions for Oracle 10<i>g

For more information concerning Dell Solutions for Oracle Database 10<i>g, please visit
www.dell.com/oracle
.

Overview of this White Paper

The balance of this white paper will provide the reader with a detailed view of Oracle Data Guard on 10<i>g
R2 Real Application Cluster database, best practices for configuring the hardware and software
components and pointers for obtaining more information.
Introduction

IT systems today have an increasing need to be highly reliable and available, in order to support global
businesses. IT systems can not afford to be down which may cause huge financial loss. It is critical to
implement high availability (HA) solutions to protect mission critical applications such as Oracle
databases. To help maximize systems availability for Oracle databases, various best practices can be
implemented using Dell PowerEdge server technologies, Dell|EMC CX3 storage array technologies, and
Oracle 10g HA technologies.

As illustrated in Figure 1, system availability improves with additional redundancy features used in the
Oracle database solution stack.



Dell PowerEdge servers and Dell|EMC CX3 storage provide redundancy at the hardware level with
technologies such as dual power supplies, dual host bus adapters, and dual communications
interconnect.
Oracle Flashback technology enables self-service repair operations to recover from logical
corruptions while the database is online.
Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM) protects against data loss by striping and mirroring
data across multiple disks.
Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) protect against single instance component failures by
enabling multiple instances to share access to one Oracle database.
Oracle Data Guard is a disaster recovery solution for Oracle database. It protects Oracle database
against primary site failures, disasters, errors and data corruption.


Figure 1 - System Availability vs. Redundancy Feature

This white paper introduces a method for deploying Data Guard using a standby RAC database with
minimum downtime to the primary RAC database.
Deploying Oracle Data Guard with Dell|EMC Storage Replication

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Oracle Data Guard Overview

When a primary database becomes unavailable, Data Guard can quickly switch the standby database to the
production role, thus greatly reducing downtime caused by primary site outage. Data Guard is highly
integrated with Oracle Database 10<i>g and it is a primary choice for data protection and disaster recovery of
Oracle databases. Implementing Data Guard for Oracle Database 10<i>g with RAC provides end to end data
protection and high availability as illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 2 - Oracle Database 10<i>g RAC with Data Guard

A Data Guard configuration consists of one primary database and one or more (up to nine) standby
databases. All members of a Data Guard configuration must run an Oracle image that is built for the same
platform. Primary database and standby databases can be single instance databases or multi-instance RAC
databases. Databases within a Data Guard configuration are connected and communicated via Oracle Net
over the network. Data Guard synchronizes the standby database with the primary database by
automatically transmitting redo data from the primary database to the standby database, and applying redo
data on the standby database.

There are two types of Data Guard standby databases physical standby database and logical