Data Guard Load Balancing Tips Donald K. Burleson

Oracle Data Guard Load Balancing

Standby databases can contribute towards load balancing on the primary database. The ad-hoc reporting and backup operation activities can be off loaded to the standby database, reducing load on the primary database.

Load Balancing

As a result, the most up-to-date data will not be available for reporting. If the reporting requirements of the organization demand the most up-to-date information from the primary database or real-time data, a logical Oracle instance will be the obvious choice. A logical Oracle instance is always open in read-only or read/write mode and can keep the data in sync with the primary database while providing reporting services.

If the backup and recovery strategy includes a traditional online or offline backup of the database along with Data Guard configuration, the backup operation can be offloaded from the primary database to the standby database.

Automated Management of Data Guard Load Balancing

The managed recovery mode of the standby database in Oracle8i greatly reduced the amount of time a DBA needed to spend on managing this configuration. In managed recovery mode, the archived redo logs are automatically transferred from the primary database to the Oracle instance and applied to the standby database.

The only time a DBA needs to monitor and maintain the Oracle instance is if there are gaps in the archived redo logs on the standby site.  Details about gap sequence and its resolution are provided in Chapter 2, “Data Guard Architecture.”