I was under the false impression that if you had your remote destination (log_archive_dest_2) configured with ARCH and OPTIONAL, then problems with transmitting the logs to your standby could not impact the primary database. This is very far from the truth - in fact, even this configuration can very easily bring your primary database to a complete standstill (at least in 9.2.0.6 and earlier) as I had the joy of learning today. If you're new to standby/dataguard databases as I am, I highly recommend reading Metalink note 260040.1. Hopefully this will help someone else avoid the pain I went through today. Regards, Brandon Privileged/Confidential Information may be contained in this message or attachments hereto. Please advise immediately if you or your employer do not consent to Internet email for messages of this kind. Opinions, conclusions and other information in this message that do not relate to the official business of this company shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by it.