1 Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved. Realistic Testing Setting Up the Test Environment

Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved Objectives After completing this lesson, you should be able to: Identify the challenges that result from system changes Set up snapshot standby for database testing

Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved Challenges Faced by DBAs When Performing Changes Maintaining service-level agreements through changes to hardware or software configurations Offering production-level workload environment for testing purposes Effectively forecasting and analyzing impact on SQL performance

Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved Change Is the Only Constant Change is the most common cause of instability. Enterprise production systems are complex. Actual workloads are difficult to simulate. Realistic testing before production is impossible. Reluctance to make changes Inability to adopt new competitive technologies Preserve order amid change. possible!

Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved Life Cycle of Change Management Make change Set up test environments (snapshot standbys) Diagnose and resolve problems (advisors) Test (Database Replay or SQL Performance Analyzer) Patches and workarounds Realistic testing Diagnose problems Provision for production

Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved Life Cycle of Change Management Make change Set up test environments Test Patches and workarounds (Enterprise Manager) Provisioning automation Diagnose problems (ADR/Support Workbench) Provision for production (rolling upgrades) Diagnose and resolve problems

Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved Setting Up the Test Environment by Using the Snapshot Standby Database Physical standby database Redo stream Perform testing Snapshot standby database Open database as snapshot standby Back out testing changes Redo stream

Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved Benefits of Snapshot Standby A snapshot standby database is activated from a physical standby database. Redo stream is continually accepted. –Provides for disaster recovery Users can continue to query or update. –Snapshot standby is open read/write. –Benefits reporting applications Reduces storage requirements

Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved Using SQL to Create a Snapshot Standby Database Activate the snapshot standby database: Convert the snapshot standby database back to a physical standby database: SQL> ALTER DATABASE CONVERT TO SNAPSHOT STANDBY; SQL> ALTER DATABASE CONVERT TO PHYSICAL STANDBY;

Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved Using DGMGRL to Create a Snapshot Standby Database Activate the snapshot standby database: Convert the snapshot standby database back to a physical standby database: Add a snapshot standby database to a broker configuration: DGMGRL> CONVERT DATABASE >TO SNAPSHOT STANDBY; DGMGRL> CONVERT DATABASE >TO PHYSICAL STANDBY; DGMGRL> ADD DATABASE AS > CONNECT IDENTIFIER IS ;

Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved Viewing Snapshot Standby Database Information View the database role by querying V$DATABASE : SQL> SELECT database_role FROM v$database; DATABASE_ROLE SNAPSHOT STANDBY

Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved Using DGMGRL to View Snapshot Standby Database Information DGMGRL> show configuration Configuration Name: DGConfig Enabled: YES Protection Mode: MaxPerformance Databases: orcl - Primary database pdb1 - Snapshot standby database Fast-Start Failover: DISABLED Current status for "DGConfig": SUCCESS

Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved Using DGMGRL to View Snapshot Standby Database Information DGMGRL> show database pdb1 Database Name: pdb1 Role: SNAPSHOT STANDBY Enabled: YES Intended State: APPLY-OFF Instance(s): pdb1 Current status for "pdb1": SUCCESS

Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved Snapshot Standby Database Considerations Potential data loss with a corrupted log file Lengthy conversion of the snapshot standby database to a primary database in the event of a failure of the primary database

Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved Summary In this lesson, you should have learned how to: Identify the challenges that result from system changes Set up snapshot standby for database testing

Copyright © 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved