DR sites are typically built as an exact replica of the primary site. Application and database software is installed on DR site and sits there mostly unused, waiting for a disaster to happen. DR site is very expensive proposition than only large companies are able to afford. Amazon AWS is an interesting alternative to having your own DR site.

Oracle databases on the DR side are in Data Guard configuration with a primary site and actively apply archive log files shipped from there. Pay per use, scalable Amazon Cloud model makes it an attractive alternative to creating and maintaining your own DR site. Operational expenses on DR site can be lowered by using AWS reserved instances. Reserved instances are cheaper from on-demand ( regular ) instances, but  you have to  commit to, or book an instance for certain duration of time ( minimum term is one year ), and you are charged an upfront, one-time fee.

As soon as primary site is repaired then new switchover can be initiated to fall back to the original configuration i.e. Amazon AWS again becomes your DR site.

Technology to build Oracle Data Guard databases in Amazon AWS is available. You can install Oracle software, create and configure Data Guard physical standby databases and enable archive log shipping between primary and DR sites.

Oracle Data Guard physical standby database requires same version of operating system software on both primary and DR sites. Amazon EC2 currently supports various flavors of Linux as well as Windows operating system. It means that having Oracle Data Guard DR site hosted by Amazon AWS will be possible for customers running Linux and Windows operating systems.

For databases larger than couple of hundred of Gigabytes it would be impossible to rely on standard Internet, out-of-the-box data transfer rates. Amazon AWS Direct Connect service lets you establish direct connection from your on-premise network to Amazon VPC using one or more 1Gbps and 10Gbps connections. There is no charge for IN data transfers, which makes it ideally suited for DR site purposes.

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