Business Continuity for the Oracle Database

This section looks at database administration for the Oracle database and makes specific recommendations on improving availability.

1. You work out your approach to backing up your database. You must do this before you start production with the database. When using the database for production, you must back up the database as regularly as possible.

   For more information, see Backup with Oracle .

2. You manage the space in your database. You do this both before you start production with the database and during production as the database grows.

   For more information, see Space Management with Oracle .

3. You recover your database if a failure occurs with data loss.

   For more information, see Recovery with Oracle

4. You upgrade your database when required.

   For more information, see Upgrade with Oracle .

5. You consider using various tools and services offered as standard by SAP to increase the availability of your database:

   • Computing Center Management System (CCMS)

   • GoingLive and EarlyWatch

   Note

   When the SAP system is up, you should use the integrated CCMS facility to monitor the database. When the SAP System is not up (for example, in the event of operational problems) or for extra functionality not offered by the CCMS, you should use the specially designed tool, BR*Tools for monitoring and administering the database.

6. You consider using advanced products and services to increase the availability of your database:

   • DB Reconnect

   • Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) or in SDN:

     http://scn.sap.com/community/oracle under  SAP on Oracle Knowledge Center  SAP on Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) 

   • Oracle Standby Databases

   • Switchover Software for High Availability

7. You review your procedures to increase the availability of your database. For more information, see Procedures at Your Site for High Availability.

   Note

   Certain activities (for example, certain kinds of reorganization of database objects, recovery, tuning and configuration) require the database (or portions of the database) to be offline, resulting in SAP system downtime. Therefore, it is much better to anticipate problems by planning for them. By monitoring and proactively managing your database, you reduce the need to bring the database offline.

   Most tuning activities require short downtimes only (that is, a restart of the database) for parameter changes to take effect. Therefore, these issues are not covered here.

Your Oracle database is more available for production use.

SAP Database Guide: Oracle