Full Stack Disaster Recovery FAQ

General

1. What is Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Full Stack Disaster Recovery?

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Full Stack Disaster Recovery (DR) orchestrates the transition of compute, databases, and applications between OCI regions from around the globe with a single click. Customers can automate the steps needed to recover one or more business systems without redesigning or re-architecting existing infrastructure, databases, or applications and without needing specialized management or conversion servers.

2. Where is OCI Full Stack DR currently available?

OCI Full Stack DR is available in OCI commercial regions, UK government regions, EU sovereign regions, Oracle Alloy regions, and OCI Dedicated Regions. For a comprehensive list of service availability, you can refer to the Full Stack DR regions availability page. The onboarding process for Oracle US Government Cloud and Oracle US Defense Cloud regions is still in process. For further information regarding OCI regions, including realms and their specific locations, check out the OCI realms and regions documentation.

3. Can OCI Full Stack DR support disaster recovery across OCI, on-premises, hybrid, and multicloud disaster recovery scenarios?

OCI Full Stack Disaster Recovery currently caters to resources available within OCI regions, and resources must be in the same tenancy. Full Stack DR supports the Oracle Database@Azure offering, which means database-level role transitions can be handled only using Full Stack DR. However, it's important to note that the ability to support disaster recovery in on-premises, hybrid, and multicloud strategies is part of the roadmap for future development. Oracle plans to extend the functionality of OCI Full Stack DR to encompass these environments, allowing you to have a comprehensive disaster recovery solution that covers a broader range of scenarios.

4. Does OCI Full Stack DR support cross-tenancy disaster recovery?

No. Disaster recovery in OCI requires all OCI services to support cross-tenancy operations. Very few OCI services support cross-tenancy replication or control. Since Full Stack DR relies on the capabilities and APIs provided by all OCI services, Full Stack DR can’t provide recovery orchestration until all OCI services support cross-tenancy capabilities.

5. Can OCI Full Stack DR be used for OCI inter- and intra-region deployments?

Yes, it can. Deploying OCI resources across two OCI regions provides enhanced disaster recovery capabilities. This approach helps ensure high availability and resiliency for critical applications and services. In the event of a disaster or outage in one region, resources can seamlessly fail over to the other region, reducing downtime and minimizing the impact on business operations. By distributing resources across multiple regions, you can achieve a robust disaster recovery strategy that offers improved data protection and business continuity.

6. Do I need to manage any additional infrastructure with OCI Full Stack DR?

No, OCI Full Stack DR is a fully managed service.

7. Does OCI Full Stack Disaster Recovery provide any SLAs?

Yes, OCI Full Stack DR provides availability and performance SLAs. For more details, refer to the Oracle PaaS and IaaS Public Cloud Services Pillar Document (PDF).

8. How do I access OCI Full Stack Disaster Recovery?

You can access OCI Full Stack DR using the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure console (a browser-based interface), REST APIs, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure SDKs, a command-line interface, and DevOps tools.

9. Can I use OCI Full Stack DR for any workloads?

Yes, OCI Full Stack DR can be used for both Oracle and non-Oracle workloads.

10, Can I create DR plans in the primary DR protection group region?

No. By design, Full Stack DR allows you to create DR plans only in the standby DR protection group region. It’s highly recommended that you use a test execution of a switchover plan to create all the DR plans (switchover, failover, and drill plans) in the other DR protection group. This will ensure that the DR plans are available in both regions.

11. Do I need multiple DR protection groups, or can I use a single protection group to manage the DR plans?

It depends on the application requirements. If there are no application dependencies (for example, if multiple DB switchovers can happen in parallel with application server recovery), then having multiple DR protection groups would be ideal. This would also help improve the business application’s overall recovery time objective. However, if the recovery steps depend on each other, having a recovery plan in a single DR protection group would make sense. Full Stack DR is highly flexible; you can create DR protection groups and DR plans according to your requirements.

Prerequisites and supported OCI services

1. What are the prerequisites for using OCI Full Stack Disaster Recovery?

OCI Full Stack DR helps automate the recovery steps for existing applications. To integrate with Full Stack DR, you’ll need to complete the following:

  • Disaster recovery runbook or details of how to recover your business system
  • Application deployment
  • Custom scripts as per application requirements

2. Can I use OCI Full Stack Disaster Recovery with any DR topology?

Yes, Full Stack DR is a highly flexible service. You can integrate any DR DR deployments with OCI Full Stack Disaster Recovery.

3. What OCI resources are required before using Full Stack Disaster Recovery?

You’ll need to set up all the production/DR infrastructure and application components. Depending on your DR deployments, this could include the following:

  • Networking resources, such as Oracle Cloud Infrastructure VCN and OCI Load Balancer
  • The standby database system or database that will be used, depending on the type of Oracle Database PaaS (Oracle Data Guard is used internally for Oracle Database replication)
  • Storage replication, depending on the type of OCI storage services you’ll be using for boot/block setup and volume group replication

4. Which OCI services can integrate with OCI Full Stack Disaster Recovery?

You can add the following resource types as members of the DR Protection group.

  • Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Compute virtual machines (VMs and destination-dedicated VMs)
  • Oracle Database PaaS
    • Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless
    • Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure
    • Oracle Autonomous Database on Exadata Cloud@Customer
    • Oracle Base Database Service
    • Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure
    • Oracle Exadata Database Service on Cloud@Customer
    • Oracle Exadata Database Service on Exascale Infrastructure
  • OCI Load Balancer
  • OCI Network Load Balancer
  • OCI Block Storage (boot and block volumes are contained in volume groups)
  • OCI File Storage
  • OCI Object Storage

While creating the DR plan, OCI Full Stack Disaster Recovery automatically generates built-in plan groups. Your DR plan can be further customized to interact with any other OCI services through user-defined plan groups using scripts or Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Functions.

5. What types of DR plans are available?

There are four types of DR plans.

  • Switchover
  • Failover
  • Start drill
  • Stop drill

6. Are there any plans to add new members as resource types in the DR protection group?

Yes, we have plans to add other OCI core services, such as OCI Kubernetes Engine (OKE). Check back for more information.

7. Do I need to use the OCI console or the built-in automation available within Oracle Database PaaS to set up the standby database system or database?

Yes. OCI Full Stack DR depends on the Oracle Database PaaS Data Guard APIs for generating plan groups for switchover or failover for the database. But having said that, you can use custom scripts to control Oracle Data Guard role changes in cases where Data Guard was set up manually.

8. Can I integrate Oracle Database instances running in OCI Compute VMs with Full Stack Disaster Recovery?

Yes, assuming you have Oracle Data Guard set up for the databases running in an OCI VM. You can create user-defined plan groups and use the Data Guard broker or role reversal scripts.

9. Can I integrate non-Oracle databases with OCI Full Stack DR?

We recommend that you follow the native database replication technologies for replicating the production and standby databases. You can use user-defined plan groups and bring in your own scripts for performing the database role reversal.

10. What are moving and non-moving instance compute resource types?

Moving instance: Typically used in pilot light or cold VM disaster recovery topologies where instances that comprise the application stack are only deployed in the primary region. The instances are moved from the primary DR protection group to the standby DR protection group.

Non-moving instance: Typically used for active-passive DR topologies where instances that comprise the application stack are predeployed in both regions and application software components. You start or stop these instances during DR operations to transition the service from one region to another.

11. When do I need to add a volume group as a member in the DR protection group?

If you added a moving or non-moving compute instance as a member in the primary DR protection group, you must add the relevant boot/block volume group as a member in the primary DR protection group.

12. How do I handle storage replication for the VMs that are added as non-moving compute instances in the DR protection group?

You can specify the block volume mount option details in the non-moving instance member properties. You must add the relevant block volume group as a member in the primary DR protection group.

13. Can I add Oracle HeatWave MySQL and PostgreSQL managed service DBs as a member type in Full Stack DR?

No, you can’t add these DBs as member types with Full Stack DR. Once the native cross-region replication features are released from the respective service, the Full Stack DR team will plan to have support for these services as member types. Today, customers can use custom scripts and integrate those with Full Stack DR if the recovery process for the DBs can be completed. For example, HeatWave MySQL supports cross-region backup and restore features; if the recovery process can be scripted, those can be added to the DR plan using the user-defined plan groups.

Recovery time objective and recovery point objective

1. What is a recovery time objective? What is a recovery point objective? And why are they important?

Recovery time objective (RTO): The RTO is the targeted time frame within which a particular application or system must be fully restored and operational after a disaster or disruptive event. It represents the maximum allowable downtime the business can tolerate for that application. In other words, it indicates how quickly the application needs to be up and running again to meet business continuity requirements. Critical applications often have a low RTO, as they need to be restored quickly to minimize disruptions and maintain essential operations.

Recovery point objective (RPO): The RPO refers to the maximum tolerable data loss in case of a disaster or disruption. It represents the period of time for which data may be lost (not backed up or replicated) before the disaster starts to significantly impact the business. For instance, if an application has an RPO of one hour, it means that after a disaster, the data must be recovered to a point no more than one hour before the incident occurred. Applications with a lower RPO typically require more frequent data backups or replication to ensure minimal data loss.

Both the RTO and RPO are essential considerations in disaster recovery planning as they directly impact the continuity and resilience of business operations during and after a disruptive event. Organizations need to balance these objectives based on the criticality of their applications and the cost of implementing the necessary DR measures.

2. How does OCI Full Stack Disaster Recovery impact the RTO of my application?

The RTO for an application can be determined by considering the time it takes to complete the switchover or failover plan. OCI Full Stack DR, with its fully automated recovery process, can significantly improve the RTO by minimizing downtime and reducing the manual intervention required for recovery.

By automating the failover and switchover processes, OCI Full Stack DR streamlines the recovery workflow and enables applications to be brought back online quickly. This reduction in recovery time can lead to improved business continuity and reduced disruptions during a disaster.

3. How does OCI Full Stack Disaster Recovery impact the RPO of my application?

OCI Full Stack DR doesn’t have control of the RPO, as it can vary based on the OCI services, their replication methods, and configurations. Different services within Oracle Cloud Infrastructure may have specific RPO guidelines depending on how they handle data replication and synchronization.

For example, for Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless, Oracle may have published RPO values for cross-region standby databases indicating the maximum tolerable data loss for that specific setup.

To ensure compliance with your desired RPO and to understand the data recovery capabilities of each OCI service, refer to the respective OCI service’s documentation. These guidelines provide detailed information on how data is replicated, what recovery options are available, and the expected RPO for different configurations. By following the recommendations in the documentation, you can implement an appropriate disaster recovery strategy that aligns with your business needs and data protection requirements.

Pricing

1. What is the pricing model for OCI Full Stack Disaster Recovery?

The pricing for OCI Full Stack DR follows the OCI OCPU and ECPU per-hour pricing model. The service is priced based on the CPU (OCPU and ECPU) count of each member type added to a DR protection group. It only uses the allocated CPUs to calculate charges. Storage, networking, and other resource usages that are part of Full Stack DR protection groups are not billed by Full Stack DR.

  • OCI Full Stack Disaster Recovery Service – OCPU Per Hour – B95485
  • OCI Full Stack Disaster Recovery Service – ECPU Per Hour – B110274

For more details, refer to the OCI cost estimator and OCI pricing list (PDF).

2. How is OCI Full Stack Disaster Recovery priced?

OCI Full Stack DR is priced based on the number of OCPUs and ECPUs of compute and database resources added as members in both the primary and standby DR protection groups.

Example 1

  • Primary-DRPG has the following members: Compute-A (2 OCPUs) and ADB-Primary (1 ECPU)
  • Standby-DRPG has the following members: Compute-B (2 OCPUs) and ADB-Standby (1 ECPU)
  • Total OCPUs/hr. (compute and database): 4 OCPUs/hr. and 2 ECPUs/hr.
  • Full Stack DR pricing/hr.: (4 × US$0.0128) + (2 × US$ 0.0032) = US$0.5184

Example 2

  • Primary-DRPG has the following members: Compute-A (4 OCPUs), ADB-Primary (2 OCPUs), volume group-500 GB
  • Standby-DRPG has the following members: ADB-Standby (2 OCPUs)
  • Total OCPUs/hr. (compute and database): 8 OCPUs/hr.
  • Full Stack DR pricing/hr.: 8 × US$0.0128 = US$0.1024

Please note that the pricing per hour and model can change in the future. For current pricing, refer to the latest pricing guidelines or contact your Oracle sales representative.

3. Is there pricing for adding a volume group, file storage, or load balancer as a member of a DR protection group?

No, there’s no separate pricing for adding a volume group as a member in a DR protection group. The OCI Full Stack DR pricing only applies to compute and database member types. Full Stack DR doesn’t charge extra for the following OCI resource types:

  • OCI Load Balancer
  • OCI Network Load Balancer
  • OCI Block Storage (volume groups for boot and block volumes)
  • OCI File Storage
  • OCI Object Storage

4. Is there an extra cost to set up a DR infrastructure?

Yes. You’ll pay the normal costs of the OCI services needed to deploy the application stack whether you’re using Full Stack DR or not. You’ll pay for OCI Networking, OCI Compute, OCI storage consumption, OCI Load Balancer, Oracle databases, and any other OCI services your application stack requires. The cost of Full Stack DR is an additional cost based on the number of ECPUs and OCPUs as explained in answer to question 2 of this section.

The cost associated with OCI services and a DR deployment model will vary depending on the specific services and configurations you choose. For instance, if you opt for cross-region block replication, there will be an additional storage cost. Similarly, using an autonomous standby database will also incur additional expenses. For more detailed information on pricing for each respective OCI service, please refer to the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure pricing details.