Part A

1. DBVisit Standby Architecture Overview

2. Dbvisit Standby Components

2.1 Dbvnet:
This is the networking component which is responsible for the secure communication between the
primary and standby systems.

dbvnet- This is the main Dbvnet executable used to start the networking communication between the
primary and standby server.
This component should run on both the primary and standby servers and is configured during the
installation process.

Port: 7890

On Windows, the Dbvnet windows service must be started and on Unix based systems the dbvnet
process must be started on both the primary and standby servers.

2.2 Dbvserver

This is a Web server that provides the web interface to Dbvisit. This is independent of other
components.
dbvserver- The main Dbvserver executable for the Dbvisit Web server, and is used to start/stop the
Dbvisit Web server.

Port: 4433, HTTPS, admin/admin by default

The Dbvserver process will communicate with the Dbvagent (Agent) process on port 7891 by default. 
It is important to note though that the Agent will communicate with Dbvserver on port 4433.

Internet Explorer 11 + should work, but is not officially supported - it is recommended to use the latest
versions of Firefox, Chrome or Safari.

It is recommended that the Central Console be installed on a standalone server as far as possible.

2.3 Dbvagent

The Dbvisit Agent is used to manage the Standby core background processes as well as managing the
communication between the Dbvserver (Web-based interface) and the Dbvisit Standby core.

dbvagent - The main Dbvisit Agent executable, and is used to start/stop the Dbvisit Agent.

During installation, a passphrase is provided to which is used to allow the Dbvserver (webserver) to
establish a secure connection to the Agent.

Port: 7891

2.4 Standby Core - (Dbvisit Standby Core and CLI)

Dbvisit Standby also referred to as Standby, is the core of the Dbvisit Standby product.
dbvctl- The main Dbvisit Standby control utility (executable)
The standby core component will be invoked by either the user manually or Dbvnet or Dbvagent
depending on which process is executed.  There are no specific port requirements for the Standby Core.

2.5 Dbvisit Database Configuration

(DDC file)
This is similar to init.ora parameter file and contains the Dbvisit Standby settings for a specific
primary and standby database pair.
The DDC file is generated during the setup for each database.
The DDC file should only be edited on the primary server.
2.6 Dbvisit Database Repository
(DDR)
This repository contains the Dbvisit Standby tables used to manage the standby process.
It is located outside the Oracle database in a small file under the DBVISIT_BASE/conf directory called
<ddc>.db example if DDC name is PROD the file name will be "prod.db"
The DDR is created during setup.

2.7 Dbvisit Standby trace files

Each time the Dbvisit Standby executes, a trace file is generated. This trace file contains information
about Dbvisit Standby processing and its environment.
When an alert or error notification is sent by Dbvisit Standby, the trace file will be attached to the email
so that this can be forwarded to Dbvisit support if needed.
This trace file is used by the Dbvisit support team to diagnose issues.

3. DBVisit Standby Network Communication:

We can summarize the core functionality of Dbvisit Standby into three key processes:

3.1 Log Extraction

Dbvisit Standby will extract the latest primary database archive logs from the database archive
destination.
The following steps form part of the log extraction process:
  The latest archive logs will be extracted to be shipped to the standby
 A "logswitch" will be forced if no new logs were generated since the last run
 Logs will be compressed if the compression option is selected
 If configured, Dbvisit Standby can also manage the archive logs on the primary server; example
purge logs older than a specified time

3.2 Transport
The second step in the process will be to copy these extracted archive logs to the standby site.  
This transfer process is initiated from the primary server and the transfer process is secure. 
The following steps form part of the log transfer process:
 The latest archive logs will be transferred using the Dbvisit Network (Dbvnet) or SSH (Unix
Only)
 The connection between the primary and standby site is encrypted and secure by default
 Archive logs will be transferred in a compressed format if required
 Archive logs are renamed to a standard format as part of the transfer process and will be stored
on the standby server in a new naming convention (example
thread#_sequence#_resetlogs_id.arc)
 Checksum values are generated to ensure logs are transferred successfully
 Dbvnet is making use of port 7890 by default and this port should be open for communication
(SSH is fully supported as a communication method between Primary and Standby on UNIX
based systems)

3.3 Log Apply

The third step in the process is where Dbvisit Standby applies the transferred archive logs to the
standby database.
The following steps form part of the log apply process:
- On the Standby Server, Dbvisit Standby will pick up the transferred archive logs and apply them to
the standby database
- If configured, Dbvisit Standby can also manage the archive logs on the standby server; example purge
logs older than a specified time
Part B
Installation:

1. Pre-requisite

For we are using following:

OS: Windows 2016

Oracle: Oracle 11.2.0.1.0 Standard Edition
DBVisit Standby Software version: 8

Get the software from DBVisit official site using Customer code. They will send the download link in
the mail.

1.1 OS/Installation users

 It is important to note that the user running Dbvisit on Unix based systems MUST be the same
user that is used to install and run the Oracle Database software.
 On Windows-based systems the user used, does not have to be the same user as the Oracle
Home Owner, but MUST be in the ORA_DBA and Local Administrators group with "Log on as
a service" permission (required for Dbvnet, Dbvagent, Dbvserver Windows Services)
 For "Log on as a service" follow this guide:

1.2 The Dbvisit Standby Base (DBVISIT_BASE)

The location into which Dbvisit Standby software is installed into is referred to as the Dbvisit Standby
base, also known as the DBVISIT_BASE.
The default location is as follow:

C:/Program Files/Dbvisit
/usr/dbvisit

It is strongly recommended that you make use of the default location when installing Dbvisit Standby.
On Unix, it is important to pre-create this directory and make sure the owner and group used for this
directory are the same as what was used for the Oracle Database Software installation. In most cases,
this will be the Unix user "oracle" and group "oinstall" or "dba".
Note: It is recommended you have minimum 512MB of free space in this location to cater to the
installation.
DBVISIT_BASE is also used to store active redolog during the switchover. Make sure, that there is
also additional space available equal to the size of your redolog file
1.3 Define primary and secondary database in “/etc/hosts” file:

xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx your_primary_server_name
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx your_standby_server_name

1.4 Archivelog Mode

To enable the use of a standby database, your primary database must be in archivelog mode.  To
determine if the database is in archive log mode run SQL command: "sql> archive log list"
Example:
SQL> archive log list;

Database log mode Archive Mode

Automatic archival Enabled
Archive destination USE_DB_RECOVERY_FILE_DEST
Oldest online log sequence 21568
Next log sequence to archive 21571
Current log sequence 21571

If the database is not in archivelog mode, you can use the following to enable it.Please note this
requires an outage. Also, make sure you have sufficient space in your fast/flash recovery area:
SQL > connect / as sysdba
SQL > shutdown immediate
SQL > startup mount
SQL > alter database archivelog;
SQL > shutdown immediate;
SQL > startup

1.5 Recommended Operating System Packages

Before installing the Dbvisit Standby central console it is recommended that the following operating
system package - if using Linux be installed prior to installing Dbvisit Standby version 9 Dbvserver
component:
 glibc 
 zlib
 libaio

1.6 Network Access

Maker sure all the required ports are open in the firewall at the network and os level.

2. Installing DBVisit Core components

2.1. Unzip the downloaded software and run the installer.

2.2. Once the installer is launched the following screen will be displayed. As highlighted, please make
sure you have stopped your schedules prior to running the installer.
2.3. Accept the license agreement

2.4. Select components to install

Select Dbvserver based on your requirement. For it is insalled on both DC and DR but used only in
DR site.
2.5. Select Dbvisit Base (Installation Destination)

2.6. Provide the Windows user account, if you don’t use domain then pass the username only.

2.7. Provide the Windows user Password in the next window and click Install.
2.8. After this we will get installation progress window and once it is complete we get confirmation
window and click OK.
2.9. Once you click OK as above , the Installer script will be executed automatically as below:

2.9.1 Configure DBVNET by supplying required information as asked during the configuration
process:
NOTE: The passphrase supplied above must be set the same during installation in the DR Site as well.
2.9.2 Configure DBVAGENT by supplying required information as asked during the configuration
process:

NOTE: The passphrase used below must be set the same during installation in the DR Site as well.

Now , it will start installing the core components.

2.10. Once the installation is complete we will get Installation Complete window

Click on Finish
2.11. Please repeat the same steps (step 1 - 10) in the DR site as well.

NOTE:
We are installing Dbvserver in the DR site so select Dbvserver during installation:

Configure the DBVSERVER by supplying required information:

3. Configure Primary and Standby servers in the DBVisit using DBServer Console:

3.1. Start the dbvserver:

C:/Program Files/Dbvisit/dbvserver/dbvserver -d start
3.2. Access the web console:
https://<DR_hostname/DR_IP:4433>

3.3 Add hosts

3.3.1. First Add the hosts from the web console:

Goto “Manage Hosts” and add both primary and standby hosts.

- The Operating System should be detected automatically, or we can click Get Host OS.
- The passphrase is that which was supplied during DBVAGENT installation.

Similarly add the Standby DR server.

We can view the list as below:
 3.4. Goto “Manage Configurations” to configure the DDC.

We need to create a DDC file before we create a standby database. There will be one DDC file for
one SID.

We can add configuration by supplying/choosing the correct information in the web console itself.
We need to supply important configuration parameters like for both DC and DR:
HOSTNAMES, ORACLE_HOME, ORACLE_SID, ASM SID etc
We can review the configurations as below, change the allowed values only:
3.5. Goto “Update Standby License” and Enter the license key to activate the software.
3.6. Goto “Create Standby Database” and follow the instructions to create the standby database.

We need to do this for both IPS and ECC.

NOTE: We unchecked the option when it asks for whether to use clusterware and srvctl.
The standby database creation process will take some time, we can track the process in the progress bar
at the bottom of the we console as shown below:

NOTE: Once the process is completed successfully, we will get at green check mark as shown above
or else we will get red exclamation mark.

3.7. We can check “Database Actions” for further actions like:

- View Log gap report.

- Send logs to standby database.
- Apply logs to standby database.

4. References:

https://dbvisit.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/DS8QSG/pages/106135893/Dbvisit+Standby+Scheduling