High-availability with Workgroup Server?

   We will be running a distributed database using Oracle7.3 Workgroup Server under either Windows NT or Solaris x86-- we're still evaluating the two platforms.

   However, there seems to be some question as to what high-availability, data redundency, and other reliability options are offered with the Workgroup Server. Here are some of our basic goals:

1. Multiple servers will house the same data, but it will all be part of one mid-size (under 10GB) database. (This is so one server could go down without the database being brought offline).
2. Most of the data is read-only, but the data that is written needs to be concurrently updated on whatever machines store it.
3. All data needs to be kept in sync.
4. We don't need true mirroring in the sense that both drives send data back to the server concurrently. We just want the data duplicated, in sync, and accessible separately.

Simply put, we're looking to achieve a simple, scalable distributed database that isn't reliant on one or two machines. And it needs to be affordable, which is why we've chosen the Enterprise Server.

Any suggestions? We've been led astray by the many different options available (hot backup, hot standby, mirroring, etc...) but seem to think that simply using the two-phase commit may be sufficient.

If anyone has experience with this kind of setup, your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Jim. Received on Tue Nov 12 1996 - 00:00:00 CST