ZDLRA alternate redo destination replaced with Groups/Priority in 12.2

Alternate destination is depreciated in 12.2 for remote locations.

This diagram shows the use of an alternate destination for sending logs.
An alternate destination can be local to the database (to be used if the disk location fills up), but they can also be used to change the remote destination that the logs get sent to.

Configuring an "ALTERNATE" for a local destination is still supported

Below is what this looks like from the 18C manual.

LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_1='LOCATION=/disk1 MANDATORY MAX_FAILURE=1 
ALTERNATE=LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_2'
 
LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_STATE_1=ENABLE
 
LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_STATE_2=ALTERNATE

LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_2='LOCATION=/disk2 MANDATORY'

In this example, if /disk1 is not available (fills up, etc). the database will switch to sending logs to /disk2 so that the database will not get hung.

HOWEVER, for remote destinations AKA destinations using "SERVICE" , this changes with 12.2

12.2 introduces the idea of "GROUP" and "PRIORITY". in place of a simple "ALTERNATE".
I'm sure this was added for Far Sync but it also comes into play with the ZDLRA.

Using only "ALTERNATE" gives you the ability to switch to a single remote destination. Using GROUP and PRIORITY lets you set multiple destinations and decide the order in which they are used.

Now let's start with simple example with FAR SYNC.
I have 2 locations. San Francisco (SF) is Primary with 2 local farsync servers, and my remote destination is New York (NYC).

I can group them together and set the priority that they use. I can even switch from sync to async.  Below is what the new syntax would look like for the destinations.

LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_2='SERVICE=FARSYNC1 SYNC GROUP=1 PRIORITY=1'
LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_3='SERVICE=FARSYNC2 SYNC GROUP=1 PRIORITY=1'
LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_4='SERVICE=NYC ASYNC GROUP=1 PRIORITY=2’

This behaves in the following manner.

• My database in San Francisco sends archive logs to EITHER of the two services specified as PRIORITY=1.  The log could go to FARSYNC1 or FARSYNC2 and get passed on to NYC.
• If either of these 2 PRIORITY=1 destinations becomes unavailable the other will continue to work.
• If both of these 2 PRIORITY=1 destinations become unavailable, the redo will be sent to NYC as ASYNC.
• If NYC is the destination (because of a double failure), it will switch back to the either of the 2 FARSYNC services when they become available.

You can add up to 8 layers of PRIORITY and include a remote FARSYNC server if you would like.

Now, what does this have to do with ZDLRA ?

You can also use an alternate destination for redo traffic on the ZDLRA.  The alternate can be the downstream ZDLRA if replication is used, or it can be the upstream ZDLRA if store-and-forward is being used.  These are outlined in the ZDLRA admin guide under "Implementing Additional High Availability Strategies".

In the case of the ZDLRA you would use 2 destinations.

The first destination is the primary ZDLRA, and the second destination is the alternate ZDLRA.

The configuration would look like this.

LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_2='SERVICE=ZDLRA_SF_SCAN:1521/ZDLRASF:dedicated" ASYNC GROUP=1 PRIORITY=1'
LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_3='SERVICE=ZDLRA_NYC_SCAN:1521/ZDLRANYC:dedicated" ASYNC GROUP=1 PRIORITY=2'

This is an interesting change to the ALTERNATE setting on remote destinations.

Dataguard and LOG_ARCHIVE_MAX_PROCESSES

Any DBA who has set up Dataguard has seen this diagram of how the sending of logs to standby database works.

What I wanted to go through is the use of LOG_ARCHIVE_MAX_PROCESSES and how how it affects the sending of redo logs.

If you have set this parameter in your environment it is typically because you are seeing issues with the database cleaning out redo logs.
The primary reason this gets set from the default (4) is to add more processes capable of clearing out redo logs and making them archive logs.  The more processes running in parallel to clean out redo logs, the faster  the database can move on to start a new redo log.

But did you know the LOG_ARCHIVE_MAX_PROCESSES parameter also affects how many processes are used on your standby database to fill any gaps ?

In my example I have a primary database (BSG18) which on 18.3.0.  I also have a standby database (BSG18d).

In my primary database I set the parameter to 10.

NAME                                 TYPE        VALUE
------------------------------------ ----------- ------------------------------
log_archive_max_processes            integer     10

I then shutdown my dataguard database, and performed many log switches. I needed at least 10 log switches to demonstrate what happens.

Now once I start up my standby database, the LOG_ARCHIVE_MAX_PROCESSES is used to determine how many processes on my standby database to fill the gap.

Here is my query from V$DATAGUARD_PROCESS

select name,
           pid "standby PID",
           role, client_pid "Primary DB PID",
           client_role
    from V$DATAGUARD_PROCESS
    where type='NET'
order by 2;

NAME  standby PID              ROLE                     Primary DB PID CLIENT_ROLE     
----- ------------------------ ------------------------ -------------- ----------------
rfs   18116                    RFS async                          4165 async ORL multi 
rfs   26337                    RFS ping                           4153 gap manager     
rfs   26401                    RFS archive                        4159 archive gap     
rfs   26404                    RFS archive                        8752 archive gap     
rfs   26408                    RFS archive                        8738 archive gap     
rfs   26411                    RFS archive                        8750 archive gap     
rfs   26413                    RFS archive                        8740 archive gap     
rfs   26415                    RFS archive                        8748 archive gap     
rfs   26417                    RFS archive                        8742 archive gap     
rfs   26419                    RFS archive                        8744 archive gap     
rfs   26421                    RFS archive                        8746 archive gap     

If you look at the output, you can see all the pieces fit together.

Real Time redo process

The first process sends the redo information to the standby database in async mode, and is written to the standby redo logs.

oracle    4165     1  0 Nov05 ?        00:05:57 ora_tt02_bsg18

We can see on the primary database it is a "tt" process and starts up with the database.

oracle   18116     1  0 Nov12 ?        00:07:58 oraclebsg18d (LOCAL=NO)

and for the standby database , it is a sqlnet process.

Gap Manager process

Now let's look at the second process.

oracle    4153     1  0 Nov05 ?        00:00:26 ora_tt00_bsg18

We can see on the primary database it is also a "tt" process and also starts up with the database.

oracle   26337     1  0 Nov12 ?        00:00:18 oraclebsg18d (LOCAL=NO)

and for the standby database , it is a sqlnet process.

Gap fill processes

Now let's look at the remaining processes.

oracle    4159     1  0 Nov05 ?        00:00:14 ora_arc1_bsg18
oracle    8738     1  0 Nov05 ?        00:00:13 ora_arc2_bsg18
oracle    8740     1  0 Nov05 ?        00:00:14 ora_arc3_bsg18
oracle    8742     1  0 Nov05 ?        00:00:13 ora_arc4_bsg18
oracle    8744     1  0 Nov05 ?        00:00:13 ora_arc5_bsg18
oracle    8746     1  0 Nov05 ?        00:00:13 ora_arc6_bsg18
oracle    8748     1  0 Nov05 ?        00:00:13 ora_arc7_bsg18
oracle    8750     1  0 Nov05 ?        00:00:13 ora_arc8_bsg18
oracle    8752     1  0 Nov05 ?        00:00:13 ora_arc9_bsg18

When I look at the primary database, I can see 9 "arc" processes.
Why 9 processes? because LOG_ARCHIVE_MAX_PROCESSES of 10 tells the primary database that it can use 10 processes to fill the gap on the standby.
 The 1st process is the gap manager "tt', and the remaining 9 processes "arc" are used to send over the archive logs.

Increasing the LOG_ARCHIVE_MAX_PROCESSES can be used to increase the parallelization of sending archive logs to fill any gaps.

Oracle Active Dataguard - More than just a read-only copy.

NOTE: I updated this on 1/16/20 with additional information.

Anyone that knows me, knows I'm a stickler for properly explaining technical topics and ensuring I use the correct term.

Dataguard  vs Active Dataguard is a topic that drives me crazy sometimes as people tend to use the two options interchangeably.

The differences appear to be subtle on the surface, but there are some major difference (other than the obvious) that you might not know about.

What I am hoping you get out this blog post is... If you have the license for Active Dataguard, then turn  on portions of it, even if the application isn't using it for queries. There are more benefits from Active Dataguard than just having a read-only database copy.

Dataguard  -  First let's talk about normal Dataguard.

Basically, a Dataguard database, is an exact copy of the primary/protected database, that is constantly in recovery.  Redo log information (used for recovery) is automatically sent from the primary/protected database by specifying the name/location of the Dataguard copy as an additional location for the redo logs.

This is a simple explanation, but Dataguard concepts are that simple.

Dataguard - What Dataguard does for me to protect my primary database.

Dataguard is used for a number of purposes.  The most common of which is to have a "Disaster Recovery" copy of the primary database available in the event of the loss of the primary copy.

For a "Disaster Recovery" copy, best practice is to have this copy be geographically isolated from the primary.  This ensures a disaster to the primary datacenter (flood, earthquake, etc.) doesn't affect the Dataguard copy.

When moving the application to use the Dataguard copy, there are 2 different ways to bring up the dataguard copy as the primary.

1) Switchover - In the case of the switchover, all transactions on the primary are applied to the dataguard copy before it is opened up.  This ensures no data loss. This isn't always possible since transactions on primary database need to be "drained" and transferred to the Dataguard copy.

2) Failover - In the case of a failover, it is not possible to "drain" transactions from the primary database.  All outstanding transactions that have been received from the primary database are applied on the Dataguard copy and it is opened with "resetlogs" and there is data loss.

Other uses for Dataguard

• Dataguard can be used to create an up-to-date copy of production for testing/QA, etc.
• A Dataguard database can be opened for write (snapshot standby) to test code releases etc and then flashed back to being a Datagaurd copy again.
• A Dataguard database can have a delay in log apply, essentially providing a time gap, allowing data to be recovered within the time gap in case of user error.

Active Dataguard Option (Licensible option)- 

This contains many features now

Original feature  -- Dataguard copy is is open as read only.

  That is as simple as it is to use active dataguard (if you have the license).  Before starting the apply of redo log information, the database is open read only.

  The main advantage of Active Dataguard is that you can now use the DR copy of the database for queries.  This not only offloads activity from the primary to the mostly idle Dataguard copy, it also ensures that there is a readable copy of the data even while the primary is not available (patching, etc.).

What I wanted to go through in this post, is all the other features that comes with Active Dataguard that you might not realize.

Additional Active Dataguard Features.

First I am going to separate the features into 2 requirements.

Features that are available when the database is in mount mode (read-only not required).

1. Far Sync -  Far sync allows you to create a shell instance that is used to capture real-time redo from a database, and send it on to standby database.  You can have multiple far sync instances for redundancy, and they are typically local to primary to provide a synchronous destination with very little network lag..
2. BCT (Block Change Tracking). You can create a BCT file on your standby database, and it will be used for incremental backups. 
3. Real-time- redo - This allows you to cascade redo from the standby to a destination real-time in the same manner that the primary DB does with Standby redologs.

Features that are available when the database is in read-only mode

1. Automatic Block repair -  Corrupted blocks on the primary are repaired by automatically applying the "clean" block from the Dataguard copy.
2. DML redirection.  Occasional updates to the dataguard copy are redirected to the primary database.
3. Preserve Buffer cache during Role change - When a Dataguard database becomes the primary, the mode change is done without bouncing the database, thus preserving what is in memory.

Additional Active Dataguard Features affecting ZDLRA.

I wanted to call out there 2 features specific to Active Dataguard that have an affect on the ZDLRA recoverability.

1. Block Change Tracking File - With Active Dataguard, the BCT file gets updated with the changes and is used for incremental backups.. This can be extremely important when using a ZDLRA to backup your Dataguard database.  With the ZDLRA, only incremental backups are performed.  Without an active BCT file, incremental backups will scan all database blocks with every incremental backup.  If you have the license for Active Dataguard be sure to create a BCT anyway, and ensure it is used.
2. Far Sync Support -  You are probably wondering what this has to do with ZDLRA.  The Far Sync support (starting with 12c) is more than just support for Far Sync.  This feature changes when the applied updates are written to the destinations. Prior to 12c, changes were written to the destinations AFTER the log switch.  This means that the downstream Dataguard databases, and ZDLRA only got full archive logs.  With 12c, an Active Dataguard database, just like the primary sends changes to the destinations from memory as they are applied.  This can make a big difference as to the recovery point objective (RPO) of a dataguard database from the ZDLRA.  This feature, using real-time redo from a standby database to a ZDLRA is allowed as an exception under licensing.

Key takeaways.

Active Dataguard has a couple of great features that the ZDLRA takes advantage of. If you have the license for it, you should turn on BCT, even if the application isn't using any of the other features..