specified on the primary database. In addition, you may have to create directories on the standby system if they do not already exist.

3.1.5 Enable Archiving

If archiving is not enabled, issue the following statements to put the primary database in ARCHIVELOG mode and enable automatic archiving:

SQL> SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE;

SQL> STARTUP MOUNT;

SQL> ALTER DATABASE ARCHIVELOG;

SQL> ALTER DATABASE OPEN;

See Oracle Database Administrator's Guidefor information about archiving.

3.2 Step-by-Step Instructions for Creating a Physical Standby Database

This section describes the tasks you perform to create a physical standby database.Table 3–2provides a checklist of the tasks that you perform to create a physical standby database and the database or databases on which you perform each task. There is also a reference to the section that describes the task in more detail.

Reference Task Database

Section 3.2.1 Create a Backup Copy of the Primary Database Datafiles Primary

Section 3.2.2 Create a Control File for the Standby Database Primary

Section 3.2.3 Prepare an Initialization Parameter File for the Standby Database Primary

Section 3.2.4 Copy Files from the Primary System to the Standby System Primary

Section 3.2.5 Set Up the Environment to Support the Standby Database Standby

Section 3.2.6 Start the Physical Standby Database Standby

Section 3.2.7 Verify the Physical Standby Database Is Performing Properly Standby

3.2.1 Create a Backup Copy of the Primary Database Datafiles

You can use any backup copy of the primary database to create the physical standby database, as long as you have the necessary archived redo log files to completely recover the database. Oracle recommends that you use the Recovery Manager utility (RMAN).

See Oracle High Availability Architecture and Best Practicesfor backup recommendations andOracle Database Backup and Recovery Advanced User's Guideto perform an RMAN backup operation.

3.2.2 Create a Control File for the Standby Database

If the backup procedure required you to shut down the primary database, issue the following SQL*Plus statement to start the primary database:

SQL> STARTUP MOUNT;

Then, create the control file for the standby database, and open the primary database to user access, as shown in the following example:

SQL> ALTER DATABASE CREATE STANDBY CONTROLFILE AS '/tmp/boston.ctl';

SQL> ALTER DATABASE OPEN;

Note: You cannot use a single control file for both the primary and standby databases.

3.2.3 Prepare an Initialization Parameter File for the Standby Database

Perform the following steps to create a standby initialization parameter file.

Step 1 Copy the primary database parameter file to the standby database.

Create a text initialization parameter file (PFILE) from the server parameter file (SPFILE) used by the primary database; a text initialization parameter file can be copied to the standby location and modified. For example:

SQL> CREATE PFILE='/tmp/initboston.ora' FROM SPFILE;

Later, in Section 3.2.5, you will convert this file back to a server parameter file after it is modified to contain the parameter values appropriate for use with the physical standby database.

Step 2 Set initialization parameters on the physical standby database.