Ric, I agree that the redo stream is likely not to cause any problems. Generally spoken applying redo of a previous version (restoring/recovering just after an upgrade) is not a problem at all. However, what if you run a database Read/Write (as primary) and the code-stack (ORACLE_HOME) is patchlevel x, but the database is patchlevel x-1? The Oracle code resides for a great deal in the dictionary. Just patching Oracle home is not enough. The database will not start up correctly with all combinations of x and x-1, as you will experience when you: 1. install Oracle software with installer and including 'creation' of a predefined database 2. install the patches to move to the latest version 3. startup the instance using this just 'created' database The database is not created, but restored from a clone that comes with the installation CD. I forgot the exact error, and have no time to find out right now, but the database needs a startup migrate and running catpatch before it is usable. Was the 9.2.0.6 -> 9.2.0.7 upgrade an ORCALE_HOME upgrade only, i.e. an empty or no catpatch.sql at all? I've no 9.2.0.7 at hand, and need to drive off now. Bottomline: Unless the combination of codestack x and database x-1 has been tested very carefully (and I THINK this cannot be tested completely) I wouldn't jeopardize my VITAL database with such a setup. Best regards, Carel-Jan Engel === If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. (Derek Bok) === On Tue, 2006-12-05 at 19:15 -0600, Ric Van Dyke wrote: > Carel-Jan, > > > > You are very correct that as stated in the documentation the version > of Oracle are supposed to be the same (as in identical) on the primary > and the standby. However I worked with the folks who developed the > standby database code and this is more of a CYA requirement then a > real one. There was some long discussions about this requirement and > I believe that “paranoia” won out, the idea being it’s better to be > over restrictive then not. The issue is more about the format of the > redo log stream then anything else. It’s very likely that this setup > will work just fine. And given that Tony (apparently) has been running > with this setup for some period of time, it’s again likely that this > will continue to work just fine. > > > > The escape clause for Oracle should Tony run into bazaar problems will > likely be that the versions of Oracle are different in his > configuration. However I figure it’s very unlikely that this will > cause an issue. Currently I agree that if your production system > needs a certain patch level then having a standby at a different patch > level is at least odd. > > > > > Ric Van Dyke > > Hotsos Enterprises > > ----------------------- > > Hotsos Symposium March 4-8, 2007. Be there. > > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > From:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carel-Jan Engel > Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2006 5:46 PM > To: tony@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > Cc: oracle-l > Subject: Re: 9i DataGuard, RAC primary - secondary offline for > networkmaintenance > > > > > > Hi Tony, > > See inline > On Tue, 2006-12-05 at 22:09 +0000, Tony Sequeira wrote: > > > > Hi all, > > I have a 2 node 9i RAC primary (Win 2003), 9.2.0.6 mandated by the > application. > > Have a physical standby 9.2.0.7. > > All appears to be going well, teething problems over (touch wood). > > > Cross your fingers. Oracle DOESN'T support DG environments with > different versions. It appears you haven't checked the prerequisites > carefully enough. > > Your standby database is not 9.2.0.7, mind that you never did a > startup migrate and ran catpatch.sql for 9.2.0.7 on the primary. Since > your standby is a physical copy of the primary, this database is > 9.2.0.6 as well. I don't know why you keep the standby (probably for > High Availability reasons), but switching/failing over to it might pop > up some surprises. 'Results are unpredictable' is the right phrase > here. I cannot emphasize enough that an HA configuration needs > SYMMETRY. You're violating this rule#1 here. > > > > > The primary is running in maximum performance mode. > > The secondary server is due to go down for about 24 hours for absolutely > vital electrical maintenance work. > > I believe that this will be OK, and that the secondary will catch up > when brought online again. > > > Yes, no problem. Not that you can use it, effectively it is > unavailable as long as you have this mixed version setup running. I > have never investigated the combination of a failover/switchover with > startup migrate/run catpatch. It might work. Please test it and share > your experiences. > There is one big assumption involved in your theory: You have to keep > the archived redo log files long enough for the standby to fetch them > after it switched on again, As Ric Van Dyke posted while I am writing > this. > > > > > > > > Any think or know different? I'm trying to plan for any glitches now, > the primary database is a vital 24/7 system. > > > If so, either upgrade your primary to 9.2.0.7 or install 9.2.0.6 at > the standby. You don't want surprises at the eve of failover with a > vital 24x7 system. > > > > > I am aware of Note:259804.1 - particularly the section 'Real > Application Clusters and Data Guard Redo Apply During a Network Outage'. > > > > Get aware of > http://download-uk.oracle.com/docs/cd/B10501_01/server.920/a96653/considerations.htm#52221 > , 3rd bullet, too. > > > > Best regards, > > Carel-Jan Engel > > === > If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. (Derek Bok) > === > > > > >