Oracle Standard Edition Log Shipping in Windows

In today’s always-on world, database downtime can cost businesses a fortune. Setting up a reliable Disaster Recovery (DR) solution ensures your organization can quickly recover from unexpected failures.

This guide walks you through a practical, step-by-step process of implementing Oracle 11g Standard Edition DR, from enabling archive logs to recovering the database at the DR site.

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Why This Matters

• Business Continuity: Minimize downtime during outages.

• Data Protection: Ensure no transaction is lost.

• Compliance: Meet RTO/RPO requirements.

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Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure:

• Oracle 11g Standard Edition is installed on both DC (Primary) and DR (Standby) servers.

• Network connectivity & firewall rules allow archive log and backup file transfer between DC and DR.

• Adequate storage is provisioned for backups and archive logs.

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High-Level DR Workflow

[DC: Primary Database]
   |
   |--- Archive Logs + RMAN Backups ---> [DR: Standby Database]
                                              |
                                              --> Restore + Recover --> Open DB

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Step-by-Step Implementation

Step 1: Install Oracle 11g

Install Oracle 11g Standard Edition on both DC and DR servers.

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Step 2: Enable Archive Logging (DC)

Archive logs capture every committed change — critical for recovery.

SQL>SELECT LOG_MODE FROM V$DATABASE;

SQL>SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE;
SQL>STARTUP MOUNT;
SQL>ALTER DATABASE ARCHIVELOG;
SQL>ALTER DATABASE OPEN;

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Step 3: Force Logging & Supplemental Logs

Ensure redo logs are always generated and enough data is captured for recovery.

SQL>ALTER DATABASE FORCE LOGGING;
SQL>ALTER DATABASE ADD SUPPLEMENTAL LOG DATA;

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Step 4: Configure Recovery Parameters

Increase recovery area size if required:

SQL>SHOW PARAMETER db_recovery;
SQL>ALTER SYSTEM SET db_recovery_file_dest_size=10g;

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Step 5: Configure RMAN

Enable control file autobackup and retention policy:

RMAN>CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP ON;
RMAN>CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 2;

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Step 6: Take Full Backup (DC)

RMAN>BACKUP DATABASE;

This will back up all datafiles and perform an autobackup of control file & SPFILE.

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Step 7: Prepare DR Instance

• Shutdown instance

• Remove old datafiles (oradata)

• Start in NOMOUNT mode

STARTUP NOMOUNT;

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Step 8: Move Backup Files to DR

Transfer flash_recovery_area folder to the DR server.

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Step 9: Restore Control File & Database

RMAN>RESTORE CONTROLFILE FROM AUTOBACKUP;
RMAN>ALTER DATABASE MOUNT;
RMAN>RESTORE DATABASE;

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Step 10: Recover Database

Update the catalog in RMAN before proceeding Recover Database 

RMAN> CATALOG START WITH 'C:\app\Administrator\flash_recovery_area\orcl\ARCHIVELOG';
searching for all files that match the pattern C:\app\Administrator\flash_recovery_area\orcl\ARCHIVELOG no files found to be unknown to the database

Use RMAN or SQL*Plus:

SQL>RECOVER DATABASE USING BACKUP CONTROLFILE UNTIL CANCEL;

Enter AUTO to apply logs automatically.

SQL> RECOVER DATABASE USING BACKUP CONTROLFILE UNTIL CANCEL;
ORA-00279: change 1046243 generated at 09/16/2025 08:25:59 needed for thread 1
ORA-00289: suggestion : C:\APP\ADMINISTRATOR\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORCL\ARCHIVELOG\2025_09_16\O1_MF_1_20_NDL89QG0_.ARC
ORA-00280: change 1046243 for thread 1 is in sequence #20
Specify log: {<RET>=suggested | filename | AUTO | CANCEL}
AUTO
ORA-00279: change 1048238 generated at 09/16/2025 08:35:03 needed for thread 1
ORA-00289: suggestion : C:\APP\ADMINISTRATOR\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORCL\ARCHIVELOG\2025_09_16\O1_MF_1_21_NDL89XF1_.ARC
ORA-00280: change 1048238 for thread 1 is in sequence #21
ORA-00278: log file 'C:\APP\ADMINISTRATOR\FLASH_RECOVERY_AREA\ORCL\ARCHIVELOG\2025_09_16\O1_MF_1_20_NDL89QG0_.ARC' no longer needed for this recovery

Finally open with resetlogs:

SQL>ALTER DATABASE OPEN RESETLOGS;

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Step 11: Validate

Run validation queries:

SQL>SELECT thread#, low_sequence#, high_sequence# FROM v$archive_gap;
SQL>SELECT file#, checkpoint_change# FROM v$datafile_header ORDER BY file#;
SQL>SELECT checkpoint_change# FROM v$database;

Ensure no archive log gaps remain.

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RMAN Handy Scripts

Here are some ready-to-use RMAN scripts for ongoing maintenance:

Catalog & Recover

RUN {
  ALLOCATE CHANNEL c1 DEVICE TYPE DISK;
  CATALOG START WITH 'C:\app\Administrator\flash_recovery_area\orcl\ARCHIVELOG';
  RESTORE ARCHIVELOG ALL;
  RECOVER DATABASE;
  DELETE NOPROMPT ARCHIVELOG ALL COMPLETED BEFORE 'SYSDATE-1';
  RELEASE CHANNEL c1;
}

Point-in-Time Recovery

RUN {
  ALLOCATE CHANNEL c1 DEVICE TYPE DISK;
  SET UNTIL SEQUENCE 18 THREAD 1;
  RESTORE DATABASE;
  RECOVER DATABASE;
  RELEASE CHANNEL c1;
}

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Key Takeaways

• Automate archive log shipping from DC to DR to ensure near real-time recovery capability.

• Regularly run RMAN crosschecks to keep backup metadata in sync.

• Validate DR site periodically by performing trial recovery exercises.

With this approach, you can be confident that your Oracle 11g environment is disaster-ready and downtime can be minimized.

Oracle RDS Audit log enable

Oracle Audit Log : 

Oracle Audit Log refers to the feature in Oracle Database that records and stores information about various database activities and events. It provides a mechanism to track and monitor user activities, system events, and changes made to the database.

1. User Logins: Recording user login attempts and authentication information.
2. Database Activities: Logging SQL statements executed by users, including select, insert, update, and delete operations.
3. Privilege Usage: Monitoring the usage of privileges, such as granting or revoking permissions.
4. Schema Changes: Tracking modifications to database objects, such as creating or altering tables, views, or indexes.
5. System Events: Recording system-level events, such as startup and shutdown of the database.
6. Security Violations: Detecting unauthorized access attempts or suspicious activities.
7. Administrative Operations: Logging administrative tasks performed by database administrators, such as user management or database configuration changes.

The Oracle Audit Log provides an essential tool for security, compliance, and troubleshooting purposes.

Types of Auditing in Amazon RDS for Oracle : 

1. Standard Auditing 
2. Unified Auditing 
3. Fine-grained Auditing

We are going to see , how do we enable Standard auditing in Oracle RDS 

How to enable Audit Log in Oracle RDS?

Make sure you have enabled custom parameter group for Oracle RDS 

• Modify below values for Audit_Trail Parameter 

            Audit_Trail - DB, EXTENDED

• Next ,Just needs to modify below DDL or DML statements to capture the logs from the server 

            AUDIT DELETE ANY TABLE;

            AUDIT DELETE TABLE BY USER_01 BY ACCESS;

            AUDIT DELETE TABLE BY USER_02 BY ACCESS;

            AUDIT ALTER, GRANT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON DEFAULT;

            AUDIT READ ON DIRECTORY datapump_dir;

Its all done , we have enabled required logs to capture for security purpose 

How to we monitor Audit Logs ? 

We can just run the below command get the captured audit logs in Oracle RDS ,

SELECT * FROM DBA_AUDIT_TRAIL order by 1 desc 

Its just for normal scenario , explained the process . Still we can separate Audit Table space and many further things are available in Oracle . Let see on another blogs 

Happy Auditing !!!

Export/Import Data on Amazon Oracle RDS using Data Pump utility

Its easy to refresh the schemas in Oracle RDS , We can do one time for Testing or Development Purpose 

But if its needs to run on daily basis , here is the automated code for achieve the solution  

GitHub Link for Source Code : https://github.com/selvackp/Oracle_RDS_Import_and_Export