Re: Remedy Disaster Recovery Solutions

[Aaron Keller]

** We have been using an Oracle standby server setup (on Solaris servers) since 2003, and it has saved our jobs multiple times!     We have two servers – one in Richmond, VA and the other in Charleston, SC, each with Oracle and Remedy installed.  This gets a little confusing so I’ll call the servers “Richmond” and “Charleston” instead of production and standby.   We have Remedy licenses on the Richmond server, and Remedy HotBackup licenses (*free*) on Charleston.  Richmond has Oracle running with archive logging turned on.  Charleston has Oracle running in standby mode.   We also have the end users connecting to a DNS alias instead of a server name or IP.   Under normal ops, data is written to the db on Richmond and, via archive logs, moved to and applied to the db on Charleston.  This is an especially nice setup because everything in the db, including data changes and admin changes, is automatically moved over.  We only have to do two things: 1) make sure the Remedy binaries, license files, and directories match between the two servers.  Recently we moved the binaries to a SAN, which took care of that. 2) We have to configure Remedy with the Server-Name and DSO-Host-Name parameters set to the aforementioned DNS alias.   If we loose Charleston or the connection to it, archive logs just queue on Richmond, and flow through when the connection is restored.  If we loose Richmond, we have the following DR procedure (very abbreviated version): --active the standby Oracle db on Charleston --change the DNS alias to point to Charleston --startup Remedy on Charleston   The whole process takes about 30 minutes, and the slowest part is getting the DNS change replicated through all windoze domain controllers.  Notice there is NO CLIENT ACTION required.  That is, except for those with an incorrect DNS configuration – there’s always a few.   The only problem is that once Charleston is activated, we CANNOT go back to Richmond.  We have to rebuild the db on Richmond as a standby of Charleston, and that process can take 2 or 3 days, since we have such a large DB.  So we can handle one disaster, but not two close together.   We’ve been testing a new Oracle feature which is supposed to work with 9.2.0.6 called a switch-over instead of a fail-over.  It’s supposed to allow you to bounce back and forth at will between two servers.  But we have NOT gotten it to work.  We get a slew of errors and end up having to fail over anyhow.   -Aaron * Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Marino, Melanie A Sent: Friday, September 22, 2006 11:47 AM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Remedy Disaster Recovery Solutions   Can anyone share with me what their company is using for Remedy Disaster Recovery?  We are looking to replicate our Remedy production environment to another site in real-time and switch back and forth between the servers as needed.  We are trying to determine the best solution.  We are running on a Solaris machine and an Oracle DB.   Your help would be greatly appreciated.   Thanks, Melanie Marino Project Manager KPMG LLP [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***************************************************************************** The information in this email is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorized. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. When addressed to our clients any opinions or advice contained in this email are subject to the terms and conditions expressed in the governing KPMG client engagement letter. ***************************************************************************** SunCom is the wireless company that's committed to doing things differently. Things we want you to know. This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. This communication may contain material protected by the attorney-client privilege. If you are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for delivering the e-mail to the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this e-mail in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. __20060125_______________________This posting was submitted with HTML in it___ __20060125_______________________This posting was submitted with HTML in it___