Justifying A Copy Of Production Environment

I am in the process of writing a document that will justify having a test environment(not QA) that mirror's production. Just like many companies today, our management severely scrutinizes IT budget and expect miracles to be performed when a crises occur. In response to this behavior, I am putting together a document that outlines the pros/cons of having a test environment that mirrors production in order to troubleshoot problems when they occur, test production upgrades, etc.

I am using my 10 years + of Oracle experience as a DBA and the Oracle 24X7 book as my primary sources. Can anyone point me to additional books or documents to consider? Documentation that includes REAL WORLD examples of how executive management shot themselves in the foot by not mirroring their production environment would be a PLUS.

Thanks Received on Wed Dec 31 2003 - 10:52:00 CST