Re: bandwidth for redundancy

On Mon, 15 Mar 1999 10:04:56 -0800, Peter Sharman <psharman_at_us.oracle.com> wrote:

>I don't know what document you saw here. Generically, the backup functionality
>until Oracle8 was to rely on an OS tool to perform the backup. You would either
>shut the database down for a cold backup or turn the tablespaces into backup
>mode for hot backup, then simply copy the files somewhere else using whatever
>backup tool was available at the OS level (again my ignorance of NW means I
>don't know what tool was available here). In 8.0, rman became available. It
>integrates with media management software such as Legato. If the media
>management software is not available on a particular OS, then rman obviously
>can't integrate with it.

Peter,

Understood about the above ... v7.x relies only on OS tools or standalone media mgmt like Legato, ARCserve, etc. etc. for backup. In v8.x Oracle mgmt integrates with those media mgmt software. Is this mostly a matter of *convenience* to the admins/DBA? Probably if the thing is integrated there's less to worry about open files or locked records that can pose them to be not backed up?

>Having said that, I've heard nothing internally or externally to say Oracle is
>moving away from NW. In fact, quite the opposite, as there have been some joint
>press releases between the two companies recently.

You are right on that! Actually after I reread my post I was kicking my head <g> because I remembered reading a lot about Oracle & Novell sharing directory services, NDS & OID, in PC Week & Info World this week.

>I wouldn't say less flexibility. You just may not be able to take advantage of
>the enhancements in the new releases. For example, replication in Oracle7 was
>generally thought to be capable of handling up to 10-15 tps (depending on your
>app). In Oracle8, the throughput can be much higher (up to 20-100 tps). In 8i,
>the redo shipping of standby is automated, if you run 7.3 then you need to
>script it.

Understood, although I have to say vaguely since I'm still learning about the particulars of Oracle & the two, standby & replication, methods. At least if a script is written once then it's good as automated, right?

<SNIP>
>This is what standby is used for, rather than replication. If you're running
>7.3 or 8.0, you need to put some smarts in your ftp script to only copy full
>logs and so on.

After reading your detailed explanation on Standby & Replication I probably should go for Standby for both onsite & remote site given that Replication will be interesting to setup (I say interesting b/c I like taking on challenges but this being a 24x7 app, a bread-and-butter service, I might take the simpler route).

Still what caught my interest was the word *recovery mode* you used in your explanation. The remote site's box in recovery mode should be fine. I'm wondering if there's any advantage to having the onsite box *not* operating in the recovery mode? Like load-balancing for example? I'm assuming that when you say *recovery* you mean that no one is logged in to that box.

This is totally *off-the-record* ... what would you think about my situation? Putting aside whether I can or can't get a full/part time DBA onboard for install/maintenance if I were to setup an Oracle box with redundancy probably the *standby* method will be the sure shot way to achieve fairly decent (up to how frequent the redo logs are sent to the boxes) redundancy plan?

Also does Oracle provide designing assistance?

TIA.
Robert Received on Tue Mar 16 1999 - 08:24:38 CST