Oracle provides a library of fantastic tools for recovering data. Depending on the situation and customer need, Blue Gecko has extensive experience using the right tool for the job. Often less experienced DBAs will resort to recovery from backup to solve every problem, but because there are many different kinds of failures, Oracle has provided a variety of solutions. Failures can include:
- Host crash
- Storage failure
- Block corruption
- Data dictionary corruption
- Logical data corruption (user error)
- File corruption
- Loss of control file(s)
- Loss of online redo log(s)
- Site failure
- Failed patch
…and the list goes on. Not all of these scenarios require a full database recovery or even downtime. Logical corruption can often be solved using LogMiner or Flashback recovery; a corrupt block can often be restored via RMAN without taking the database down at all; a corrupt data file can be restored and recovered without taking the entire database offline, allowing many transactions to proceed normally.
Equally important is planning for data recovery. Blue Gecko takes the time to understand your recovery requirements, then evaluate your current backup procedures and help make adjustments. Sometimes simple, inexpensive (or free) changes can make dramatic improvements in data protection and recovery.