Database Blog


  • Watch Your FRA!

    Jul 10, 2020

    Reading Time: 3 minutes Now the FRA may sound like a magical area that should never run into storage-related issues—but that could not be farther from the truth.

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  • Oracle Active Data Guard Replication Error with Cisco Firewall: Root Cause and Workaround

    Apr 22, 2020

    Reading Time: 2 minutes One of our customers had issues over the past several months with Oracle Active Data Guard replication to a standby server. The database on the standby server would intermittently fall out of sync with the database on the primary server, and log files were not consistently shipping to the standby server.

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  • Ensure Redundant Database Coverage, During Covid-19 and Always

    Apr 9, 2020

    Reading Time: 2 minutes During this health crisis and always, ensure that at least two people know how to access and manage your database.

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  • Test Your Disaster Recovery Strategies before Disaster Strikes

    Mar 20, 2020

    Reading Time: 2 minutes As the old saying goes, “It’s better to be safe than sorry,” and testing your disaster recovery data is essential to keeping you and your data safe!

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  • Donuts and Data Backups

    Oct 3, 2019

    Reading Time: 2 minutes This is the story of a data loss event that changed my young life and put my feet on the path of becoming a DBA.

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  • Why Your Database Management Team Should Regularly Double-Check Your Backups

    Sep 30, 2019

    Reading Time: 3 minutes I’ve blogged before about the importance of checking database backups. Over 90% of new clients that we assess have backups that are either incomplete or totally unusable (true statistic!). The following story of a backup failure that happened recently—and the successful double-check by our DBA Scott)—provides a noteworthy example of how bad backups can happen even when you think your process is working. Recently we had a client that was looking to reduce storage costs…..

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  • A Christmas Backup Tale

    Dec 8, 2017

    Reading Time: 2 minutes Don’t let the Backup Grinch steal Christmas I have written about this topic in the past but it seems that it can never be shared too many times. As we approach the holiday season, we don’t want to be recovering data when we should be spending precious time with family and friends. So I will share another cautionary tale about how what we don’t know can hurt us. And how we can improve the chances of an uninterrupted holiday…..

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  • Tales of Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning

    Oct 2, 2017

    Reading Time: < 1 minute Planning for Disaster As we think about the enormous cleanup effort taking place in the wake of Harvey, Irma, and Maria, we are reminded of the importance of planning to keep your business up and running when disaster strikes.  In this blog post I share the thoughts of an expert in the field of Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery. I recently had an interesting and fun conversation with Bob Cohen,  Business Continuity and Disaster…..

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  • Database Backups and Gasoline Leaks

    Sep 5, 2017

    Reading Time: 3 minutes How is a database backup like a portable generator with a gasoline leak? And why should you care on a beautiful sunny September morning? How does any of this relate to Business Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity planning and testing?  Read On! Lack of Preparation Until Superstorm Sandy in 2012, we had lived in our NJ town for 25 years without ever having a power outage for more than a few minutes. I thought it would never happen,…..

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  • Architect Your Oracle Database for Efficient Backup and Recovery

    Aug 3, 2017

    Reading Time: 4 minutes Architecting for Backup and Recovery Efficiency with Oracle RMAN Database architecture is critical to achieving many business objectives. These include application performance, business continuity, security, and geographic distribution.  This article will explore another often overlooked objective that can be influenced by the database architecture: backup and recovery efficiency. Very large databases are common in today’s business environment. Multi-terabyte databases are prevalent in all but the smallest organizations. Despite these large sizes, we tend to find that…..

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