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Dbvisit FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
How is Dbvisit installed?
Dbvisit is installed through a menu (dbvisit_setup) that takes you through the installation process. Dbvisit will recommend most of the
settings. Typically the installation takes about 15-30 minutes.
The Database does not need to be restarted and there are no init.ora parameters that need to be altered.
See our documentation page for an complete overview of the installation and user manuals available. We have quick and normal installation guides.
Do you provide support and updates to Dbvisit?
Yes, Dbvisit is a fully supported product and updates are provided. Dbvisit creates trace files which can be
emailed to Dbvisit support to be analysed so that issues can be quickly resolved.
How can we get notified of new updates to Dbvisit?
There are 3 methods to get notified of new Dbvisit updates:
1. RSS subscribe to the Dbvisit announcements on our forum: 
2. RSS subscribe to our Dbvisit blog:
2. Subscribe to our Dbvisit blog and you will be notified by email.
Is there a Windows version for Dbvisit?
Yes, to download please go to Download Dbvisit for Windows.
Can Dbvisit run in a virtual server? What is your licensing model for virtual servers?
Yes, Dbvisit is fully supported to run in a virtual environment. Our licensing model for virtual servers is that we license per virtual server
and per CPU that is allocated to the virtual server. The Dbvisit prices for a virtual server is the same as for a physical server.
If the Dbvisit license requires upgrading because more CPU are allocated, we only charge for the difference between your current Dbvisit license and the new license.
What sort of reporting can we get out of Dbvisit?
The Dbvisit repository installed in the Oracle database provides a lot of useful information and can be accessed using standard SQL.
Some examples are: How long it takes for each log to transfer to the standby server, archive log gap analysis
etc. This information can be obtained using any SQL reporting tool (TOAD or PL/SQL Developer) that connects to the database. Please see the
Dbvisit Installation Guide and User Manual on our documentation page for more information.
How can we verify that the standby database is up to date?
There are 2 options:
- Open the standby database in READ-ONLY mode with a simple Dbvisit command, and run your specific SQL command to verify changes have been replicated from the primary to the standby database.
The Dbvisit command to open the standby database in READ-ONLY mode:
dbv_oraStartStop open <database>
Where <database> is your database name.
- Run the Log Gap report. This will report on the difference between the primary and the standby database. The command is:
dbvisit -i <database>
This command can be scheduled to run every hour to provide historical reporting.
Can Dbvisit be used in a UNIX cluster environment?
Yes, Dbvisit can be used in a UNIX or Linux clustering environment. You will need a Dbvisit license for every server (or node) in the cluster.
Can Dbvisit be used with Oracle Fail Safe?
Yes, Dbvisit can be used in a Microsoft clustering environment with Oracle Fail Safe. You will need a Dbvisit license for every server in the Oracle Fail Safe cluster.
Can Dbvisit be used in an Oracle RAC environment?
Yes, Dbvisit can be used in an Oracle RAC environment. Please see the
Dbvisit with RAC page for more information.
Does Dbvisit impact Database processing?
Dbvisit runs outside the database and therefore has very limited impact on database processing. Dbvisit does not use PL/SQL packages or Database triggers.
When Dbvisit runs, a log switch must occur and this may
have an impact on Database processing (Data Guard has a similar impact on Database processing). The more frequent Dbvisit is scheduled the more this impact will be.
Is it easy to change the configuration of Dbvisit?
Yes, it is very easy to change the configuration of Dbvisit for a particular Database. Each Database has a separate configuration file which
is a plain text ASCII file and can be easily edited using any text editor. We call this configuration file the DDC file (Dbvisit database configuration file).
An overview of all the Dbvisit configuration settings can be found here.
The DDC file can also be updated through the Dbvisit setup utility:
dbvisit_setup
Does Dbvisit support multiple Standby Databases?
Yes, Dbvisit supports multiple Standby Database from the same primary Database. There is no limit to the number of standby database supported for
one primary Database. Setting up an additional Standby Database takes about 2 minutes!
When I purchase a Dbvisit license, how long does this last?
The Dbvisit license is a perpetual license. It lasts forever, and the Standby Database license is also included. Included is a 3 month free technical support and free upgrades.
See pricing for more information.
Does Dbvisit create a standby database automatically?
Yes this is available in Dbvisit 5.2.
For larger standby databases that cannot be created over the network please see our documentation on how to manually create a standby database:
This uses rman or the traditional method (hot or cold backup).
Can I do a graceful switchover (role reversal) with Dbvisit?
Yes this is fully automated in Dbvisit. Please see our graceful switchover page.
Is automatic failover supported? What is the process you go through when the primary fails?
We prefer not to automate the failover process as it is difficult for software to determine if it is a real disaster or just a temporary glitch.
The failover process cannot be reversed so it is crucial that this only happens in case of a real disaster.
With Dbvisit the standby database is ready to take over instantly at any time. It only requires one Dbvisit command to activate the standby database and this can be scripted to run automatically if automatic failover is required.
What kind of error reporting occurs if a log transmission or other failures occur?
There will be an email sent, and there will be an entry in the Dbvisit "alert" log. The location of the Dbvisit alert log will be specified by the
LOGDIR variable in the Dbvisit database configuration (DDC) file. The name of the Dbvisit alert is specified by the JOBHIST variable but is normally dbvisit.hist.
Just like the Oracle alert log can be monitored by a monitoring tool, the Dbvisit alert log can also be monitored by a monitoring tool.
The Dbvisit alert log is a very condensed alert log which makes monitoring easy.
Dbvisit will also produce a trace file. The email will contain the name and location of the trace file.
The trace file can be sent to Dbvisit support for analysis.
Can we install Dbvisit in any location, say /u01/oracle/dbvisit/ or d:\program files\dbvisit?
Dbvisit can be installed in any location. Dbvisit can be installed in different locations on the primary and the standby servers.
How to start/stop the database synchronisation process?
Dbvisit is started on both the primary and standby servers with the same command:
dbvisit <database>
Where <database> is your database name.
This will synchronise the databases at the time that the Dbvisit process is run.
To continuously synchronise the databases, the Dbvisit command has to be scheduled on both the primary and standby servers (say every 10 minutes).
By stopping the Dbvisit scheduling, the synchronisation process will also stop.
See the full list of Dbvisit commands.
Do the tablespace need to be in the exact same directories and sizes as the primary?
The database files (and tablespaces) for the standby database do not have to be in the same directories as the primary database, but this is highly recommended as it will make administration of the standby database much easier.
It will also make creation of the standby database much easier. The automatic standby datafile creation feature of Dbvisit also assumes the standby database files are in the same directories as on the primary database.
Please see the Dbvisit forum for help if your standby server configuration is not the same as the primary server.
The tablespace size will automatically be the same size as the primary database. This cannot be changed.
Does memory configuration of the standby database matter?
The memory configuration of the standby database is independent to the primary database. In most cases the standby server has less capacity than the primary server, so the memory settings for the standby database is usually less than the primary database.
The memory configuration of the standby database has no impact on Dbvisit processing.
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