When disaster strikes and the primary database is no longer available the standby database must be activated to become the new primary database to continue operation.
This is also called failover to the standby database.
The steps to activate the standby database are:
- Stop the scheduling of Dbvisit Standby.
- Change the network configuration (or DNS) so that users will connect to the standby database (or server) instead of the primary database (or server).
- Activate and open the standby database for normal operation as per instructions below. As soon as the standby database is activated and becomes the new active primary database, the link to the original primary database is lost and it is no longer possible to apply new logs to the original primary database.
To activate and open the standby database for continued operation in the event of a disaster the following procedure must be used:
On the standby server using CLI:
1. Manually run Dbvisit Standby to ensure all log files have been applied.
dbvisit w102n
Where w102n is the name of the database.
2. Activate the standby database. A prompt will be displayed to ask for confirmation:
dbv_oraStartStop activate w102n
3. As soon as possible, back up your new production database. At this point, the former standby database is now your production database. This task, while not required, is a recommended safety measure because you cannot recover changes made after activation without a backup.
On the standby server using GUI:
1. Manually run Dbvisit Standby to ensure all log files have been applied.
Home > Run > Run Interactive > Standby Server tab > select Database from drop-down menu > select Default from Run Action drop-down menu > Run
2. Activate the standby database. A prompt will be displayed to ask for confirmation:
3. As soon as possible, back up your new production database. At this point, the former standby database is now your production database. This task, while not required, is a recommended safety measure because you cannot recover changes made after activation without a backup.
The new production database is now operational and users can connect to continue operation. Once the old primary server is available again, a new standby database can be built on this server. Dbvisit Standby can then be run as normal to keep the new standby database in synch with the primary database.
For automatically activating the standby the following command may be given. This will not prompt for confirmation.
dbv_oraStartStop activate w102n Yes