ZDLRA + MAA, Protection for Gold Architecture

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The Gold architecture for MAA is used to emphasis the application continuity. All the possible outages (planned or no) are protected by Oracle features. Here we are one step further and start to design using multi-site architecture. Data Guard, RAC, Oracle Clusterware, everything is there. But even with these, ZDLRA is still needed to allow complete protection.

The image above taken from https://www.oracle.com/a/tech/docs/maa-overview-onpremise-2019.pdf.

With the MAA references, we have the blueprints and highlights how to protect them since the standalone/single instance until the multiple site database. But for Gold we are beyond RPO and RTO, they are important but application continuity and data continuity join to complete the whole picture.

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ZDLRA + MAA, Protection for Silver Architecture

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The MAA defined Silver architecture for database environments that use (or need) high availability to survive for outages. The idea is having more than one single instance running, and to do that, it relies on Oracle Clusterware and Engineered Systems to mitigate the single point of failure. But is not just a database that gains with this, the Silver architecture is the first step to have application continuity. And again, ZDLRA is there since the beginning.

As you can see above, the Silver by MAA blueprints improves compared with Bronze architecture that I spoke at the last post. But the basic points are there: RPO and RTO. They continue to base rule here. And the goals are the same: Data Availability, Data Protection, Performance (no impact), Cost (lower cost), and Risk (reduce). More technical details here at the MAA Overview doc.

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Patch ODA from 18.3 to 19.8. Part 3 – 19.6 to 19.7

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This is the third part of the ODA patch series, from 18.3 to 19.8. I separate in multiple parts and you can use this part as a direct guide to patch ODA from 19.6 to 19.7. Each part can be used alone since they cover all the needed steps. Some steps of this post are similar to the upgrade from 18.8 to 19.6 that I described in the previous post.

The process of patch ODA is not complicated but requires attention over some steps. The 19.6 version was the first that was possible to patch from 18.8 version, and the version that allows upgrades to newer. If you want to go directly to 19.5 you need to reimage of the appliance. In this post, I will cover the process that I made recently to patch from 18.3 to 19.8 version. 

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ZDLRA + MAA, Protection for Bronze Architecture

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Oracle Maximum Availability Architecture (MAA) means more than just Data Guard or Golden Gate to survive outages, is related to data protection, data availability, and application continuity. MAA defines four reference architectures that can be used to guide during the deploy/design of your environment, and ZDLRA is there for all architectures.

Image above taken from https://www.oracle.com/a/tech/docs/maa-overview-onpremise-2019.pdf.

With the MAA references, we have the blueprints and highlights how to protect them since the standalone/single instance until the multiple site database. The MAA goal is to survive an outage but also sustain: Data Availability, Data Protection, Performance (no impact), Cost (lower cost), and Risk (reduce).

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Patch ODA from 18.3 to 19.8. Part 2 – 18.8 to 19.6

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This is the second part of the ODA patch series, from 18.3 to 19.8. I separate in multiple parts and you can use this second as a direct guide to patch ODA from 18.8 to 19.6. Each part can be used alone since they cover all the needed steps. Parts of this post are similar to the upgrade from 18.3 to 18,8 that I described in my previous post.

The process of patch ODA is not complicated but requires attention over some steps. The 19.6 version was the first that was possible to patch from 18.8 version, and the version that allows upgrades to newer. If you want to go directly to 19.5 you need to reimage of the appliance. In this post, I will cover the process that I made recently to patch from 18.3 to 19.8 version.

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Patch ODA from 18.3 to 19.8. Part 1 – 18.3 to 18.8

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The process of patch ODA is not complicated but requires attention over some steps. The 19.6 version was the first that was possible to patch from 18.8 version, and the version that allows upgrades to newer. If you want to go directly to 19.5 you need to reimage of the appliance. In this post, I will cover the process that I made recently to patch from 18.3 to 19.8 version.

The first part covers the upgrade from 18.3 to 18.8.

Patch Matrix

The matrix of what can be done can be found at this post from ODA blog, and you can check below:

Another important detail is to check the MOS note ODA: Quick Reference Matrix for Linux Release and Kernel by ODA Hardware Type and Version (Doc ID 2680219.1) and verify if your hardware is still compatible.

Remember that in this process, the ODA will reboot several times, so, you need to inform your teams that databases will be unavailable during the process.

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MAA, Blueprints and On-Premise Architecture Reference

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The Oracle Maximum Availability Architecture (MAA) is the correct way to protect your Oracle database environment (and investment). It covers from a simple single instance to Exadata/Engineered Systems RAC and a multi-site database with Data Guard protection. But do you know that to reach the MAA (whatever the architecture level that you are protecting) you need to use ZDLRA?

So, I will start a series of posts to cover the MAA and ZDLRA. Discussing what you need to do (and how) to reach the maximum level of availability as is at the MAA architecture (as defined in the documentation and best practices: Oracle Maximum Availability Architecture (MAA) Blueprints for On-Premises,  MAA Best Practices – Oracle Database, and Maximum Availability with Oracle Database 19c).

Why ZDLRA?

The question is why ZDLRA is needed? The point from ZDLRA is that it can (and needed to be used) to protect and reach zero RPO to all architectures. ZDLRA is more (much more) than just a backup appliance, is the core of every MAA design. You can’t reach zero RPO without using it.

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ZDLRA, How to Maintain the Native Replication

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The native replication for ZDLRA does not require a lot of maintenance or complicate tasks to keep it running. In my previous posts, I already wrote about an explanation about replication, how to configure the replication network between ZDLRA’s, how to configure the replication server, how to create the replication config (that links everything is done before), and how the replication protect the database. In this post, I will show some details that you need to monitor and to do maintain it running without errors.

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ZDLRA, Protecting Databases with Replication

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The replication for ZDLRA works differently than normal DataGuard, but you can reach almost the same level of multiple site protection with that. The replication for ZDLRA is not complicated but can be divided into several steps. Basically, to protect a database (since you have everything configure) is done linking the database with the protection policy that is replicated.

In my previous posts, I already wrote about all the steps to reach this configuration. Starting with an explanation about replication, how to configure the replication network between ZDLRA’s, how to configure the replication server,  and how to create the replication config (that links everything is done before).

But most of the time we don’t need to pass through all of these steps. Usually, the ZDLRA is deployed with the replication network already configured, or you already deploy two ZDLRA’s that will operate replicated. This part I consider the “physical” part of the configuration because evolves network and details that we usually don’t touch after configured. The “logical” part comes after and evolves all the definitions about what policies will be replicated, which databases will be part of each policy, and so on. This “logical” configuration I explained in this previous post.

But it is important to know how it’s working to understand all the details. And if you need, you can check my posts about the replication for ZDLRA.

In this post, I will show more details on how the ZDLRA replication impact over the backup for your database, and show the protection occurs to reduce your RPO to a minimum.

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ZDLRA, Creating the Replication Config

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The replication from ZDLRA is easy to configure and operate. Most of complex part resides for policy management and define correctly what will be replicated. I already wrote about the basics for ZDLRA Replication in this post, and how to configure the dedicated network for replication in another post.

But also wrote how to startup and configure the replication server in another post. This is the first step and needs to be done before what I will describe in this post, they are the “physical” configuration. Here I will show the “logical”  configuration for native ZDLRA replication and how correctly define it to avoid problems.

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