Nice Article Jared! However, I prefer: "Best practices" have most certainly become a label attached to "generic deployment practices designed to be executed with automated tools and the least possible requirement for intervention by a sentient party." The point in the article that no one solution, practice, or procedure is optimal for everyone is right on. Used as good guidance, "best practices" are often helpful. Used as a restriction on doing anything else, the very phrase is evil. "But that's not 'best practice'!" is not a valid rejoinder to something that works better than "best" at a given place. Unfortunately it is increasingly hard to even discuss what should be done if it varies from the formulaic. Regards, mwf _____ From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jared Still Sent: Friday, June 26, 2009 8:20 PM To: sacrophyte@xxxxxxxxx Cc: ORACLE-L Subject: Re: Another note on "Best Practices" for DataGuard, Oracle Services and RAC On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 8:42 AM, Charles Schultz <sacrophyte@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: I still want to know who defines what the heck "Best Practice" means anyway. =) I wonder what would happen if I put that into all my documentation from here on out...... http://tinyurl.com/best-practices-ktjr If you don't want to read the entire article, skip to the last sentence. Jared Still Certifiable Oracle DBA and Part Time Perl Evangelist