Re: Turning Off Archive Logging for Dev, Test Systems

On Apr 7, 10:56 am, Cristian Cudizio <cristian.cudi..._at_yahoo.it> wrote:
> On Apr 7, 4:42 pm, "if_inves..._at_yahoo.com"
>
>
> <basis_consult..._at_hotmail.com> wrote:
> > On Apr 7, 10:24 am, Cristian Cudizio <cristian.cudi..._at_yahoo.it>
> > wrote:
>
> > > On Apr 7, 4:15 pm, "if_inves..._at_yahoo.com"
>
> > > <basis_consult..._at_hotmail.com> wrote:
> > > > Hi,
>
> > > > We are running a few SAP/Ora9i/10g Windows systems in which point-in-
> > > > time
> > > > recovery is not needed. (Some of these systems can easily be rebuilt,
> > > > and
> > > > others can be restored from a regular cold backup). The systems are
> > > > combined
> > > > OLTP/DS.
>
> > > > Thus, I am thinking of turning off archive logging for these systems.
> > > > What
> > > > are some of the other drawbacks to turning off archive logging?
>
> > > > Thanks,
> > > > BASIS Consultant
>
> > > If you want REAL test it is better that your test environment is equal
> > > to production system.
> > > Performance can be slightly different.
> > > The problem are archived logs, but you can schedule an rman script
> > > that regularly deletes
> > > archived logs
>
> > > Regards,
> > >  Cristian Cudizio
>
> > >http://oracledb.wordpress.comhttp://cristiancudizio.wordpress.com
>
> > Hi,
>
> > Thanks for the quick reply. We are developing software, not
> > replicating our production
> > environment (In which case you are correct, and I would leave archive
> > logging
> > on). I should have specified so in the original question.
>
> > Thanks
>
> Honestly i prefer to have archivelog mode enabled also on my
> development systems
> because restoring an RMAN backup is quicker than reconstruct the
> development
> environment and administration overload of enabling ARCHIVELOG is low.
>
> Regards,
>  Cristian Cudizio
>
> http://oracledb.wordpress.comhttp://cristiancudizio.wordpress.com- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

We do not use archivelog mode in test nor do we take rman backups. Simple export. We always save our create database scripts. Recreating a test database is pretty simple. Just remove the files, run the create script, and run the import. Most of our test systems are pretty small and this takes little time.

For upgrades we just modify the database name in the create database scripts and create a new test database. Run an import to populate the data and then point the application at it. We perform minimum testing to be sure we have the application set up correctly then we change the ORACLE_HOME and upgrade the database. Recompile the applicaiton and test.

You can do the same with rman but why bother with the rman setup and cleanup (purge of old data).

Every shop is different but you want to manage your test systems in the lowest DBA maintenance overhead as possible.

• Mark D Powell --