After preparing a Data Guard configuration by creating one or more standby databases, we should also integrate this configuration with the existing Oracle environment. This integration lets us benefit from Oracle Data Guard more effectively, makes it more robust and easily manageable, and also serves the purpose of Maximum Availability.
In this chapter, we'll discuss integrating the Data Guard configuration with the following Oracle software products:
- Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
- Recovery Manager (RMAN)
- Real Application Cluster (RAC)
Let's start with learning how we can incorporate Data Guard installations into an existing Enterprise Manager Cloud Control configuration.
The Oracle Enterprise Manager product family involves products to monitor and manage IT environments right from servers to applications and services. Cloud Control 12c (formerly named as Grid Control) is the comprehensive and integrated management solution of Oracle; it has been intended to control all IT infrastructure and cloud-based IT services.
From the database management perspective, Cloud Control offers unique properties to control the Oracle Database environment centrally. In addition to traditional database management features, Cloud Control has the following packs to address all kinds of administrative requirements. You can use these packs after purchasing the related license:
- Oracle Diagnostic Pack for Database
- Oracle Tuning Pack for Database
- Oracle Lifecycle Management Pack for Database
- Data Masking Pack
- Oracle Test Data Management Pack
- Exadata Management
Data Guard management does not require an extra pack, so it's a built-in feature in Cloud Control. We can monitor and manage Data Guard configurations using the Availability tab in the Database Management home page. However, in order to use Cloud Control's Data Guard management features, we first need to add the Data Guard configurations into Cloud Control properly. Let's see how we can accomplish this.
Note
It has been assumed that an Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c server is already installed and ready to use. It has also been assumed that the EM agent software is installed on servers in the Data Guard configuration, so the hosts have been added as targets to the Cloud Control environment. Preparing this environment is out of the scope of this book; so if you don't have a Cloud Control environment but want to prepare it, please refer to the related documentation at http://docs.oracle.com.