List, As part of minimizing the downtime associated with some critical applications, we are exploring the available options. We are planning a hardware patch that will require us to shutdown the DBs. We have a DR site where we can set up dataguard for non clustered applications. I was looking into switch over, but it looks like switchover needs shutdown and startup and hence there is an associated downtime (twice - once switching over to standby and then again switching back). I also found some tidbits online where people have complained about delay in switching over. If there is a smoother way (any such thing as transparent switchover?) with dataguard I definitely want to explore the option before checking out other options. We have a mix of 10g and 11g. Can the listers share their experiences with DG. -- Thanks, Ram. -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l