1Z0-997-26 High Availability And Disaster Recovery — 15 Questions

Question 1

You are managing an Oracle Base Database Service instance and need to configure Data Guard to provide disaster recovery in another OCI region. Which prerequisite must be met before creating the Data Guard association?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Establish network connectivity between the primary and standby VCNs using a DRG and remote VCN peering.. Before creating a Data Guard association between two Oracle Base Database Systems in different OCI regions, the primary and standby VCNs must have network connectivity. In OCI, this is typically achieved with a Dynamic Routing Gateway (DRG) attached to each VCN and remote VCN peering (or an equivalent DRG-based connection) so that redo transport can flow between the regions. Without this connectivity, the broker cannot establish the association.

Answer

Ensure the standby database has a larger shape than the primary database.

Answer

Manually install the Oracle Data Guard binaries on the standby database compute instance prior to association.

Answer

Convert the primary database to an Autonomous Database instance.

Question 2

An OCI architect is reviewing the disaster recovery plan for a mission-critical database. The business requires a recovery drill to be executed in production without interrupting ongoing primary database operations or impacting RPO. Which Data Guard feature allows this?

Accepted Answer

Snapshot Standby mode, which converts the standby to a read-write database for testing and later converts it back to a physical standby, merging changes.. Snapshot Standby is the only Data Guard mode that temporarily converts a physical standby into a fully read-write database for testing, then reverts it to a physical standby and discards the test changes. Because the primary keeps running and redo is still being received (just not applied while in snapshot mode), primary operations and RPO are unaffected. This makes it the canonical answer for 'DR drill in production without impacting the primary.'

Answer

Manual database cloning from Object Storage snapshots.

Answer

Logical Standby mode with SQL Apply disabled permanently.

Answer

Primary database switchover executed during peak business hours.

Question 3

Which THREE features are provided by Oracle Data Guard in OCI when configuring high availability and disaster recovery for database systems? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Automatic synchronization of redo data from primary to standby databases. Data Guard provides role transitions (switchover/failover), Active Data Guard read-only offloading, and redo transport lag management.

Answer

Automatic provisioning of VCN remote peering connections across regions

Question 4

Which THREE methods can be used to back up an Oracle Base Database Service instance in OCI? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Automated backups managed by OCI to Oracle-managed Object Storage. Option B is correct because Oracle Base Database Service provides automated backups that OCI manages and stores in Oracle-managed Object Storage, with no customer bucket configuration required. Option C is correct because you can trigger on-demand manual backups through the OCI Console, CLI, or API, and these backups are written to Object Storage. Option D is correct because RMAN is the native Oracle backup and recovery tool and can be run directly against the database to create backups. Option A is not a supported backup method: copying datafiles with scp while the database is open in read-write mode without RMAN produces inconsistent, unusable backups. Option E is not valid because exporting database files to a Block Volume configured as a swap file is not a supported OCI backup mechanism and would not yield a recoverable backup.

Answer

Copying database datafiles via Secure Copy (scp) while the database is in read-write mode without RMAN

Answer

Exporting database files directly to an OCI Block Volume attached as a swap file

Question 5

When configuring OCI DNS Traffic Management Steering Policies for disaster recovery, which THREE steering methods are commonly used to route traffic between primary and secondary regions? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Geolocation steering (routing traffic based on the geographic location of the client). Geolocation steering (B) is correct because it routes clients to the closest or designated regional endpoint based on their geographic location, which is a common DR pattern for directing users to a healthy primary or secondary region. Failover steering (C) is correct because it actively monitors the primary endpoint with health checks and automatically redirects DNS answers to the secondary region when the primary fails, which is the core mechanism of DNS-based disaster recovery. Load Balancer steering (E) is correct because it distributes traffic across multiple endpoints using weighted distribution, allowing administrators to shift traffic proportions between primary and secondary regions during DR events. Round-robin routing through a single static IP without health checks (A) is not appropriate because it cannot detect a failed region and provides no failover capability. Manual BGP hijacking between VCN subnets (D) is not a valid OCI DNS Traffic Management steering method; BGP route manipulation is not how OCI steering policies operate.

Answer

Round-robin routing through a single static IP address without health checks

Answer

Manual BGP hijacking between VCN subnets

Question 6

An architect is designing a disaster recovery solution for an Oracle Base Database System on OCI. The primary database runs in the Ashburn region, and the standby database will run in the Phoenix region. The recovery point objective (RPO) is 5 minutes, and the recovery time objective (RTO) is 15 minutes. The architect must choose a Data Guard configuration that meets these objectives. Which configuration should the architect implement?

Accepted Answer

Configure Data Guard in maximum performance mode with asynchronous redo transport and use a fast-start failover observer deployed in a third region.. Maximum performance mode with asynchronous redo transport minimizes impact on the primary while typically achieving an RPO well under 5 minutes. Deploying a fast-start failover observer in a third region ensures that automatic failover can occur even if the entire primary region is lost, satisfying the 15-minute RTO. This combination is the standard recommendation for cross-region DR with strict RPO/RTO.

Answer

Configure Data Guard in maximum performance mode with asynchronous redo transport and use a backup and restore strategy to the Phoenix region instead of a standby database.

Answer

Configure Data Guard in maximum protection mode with synchronous redo transport and no observer, relying on manual failover by the DBA team.

Answer

Configure Data Guard in maximum availability mode with synchronous redo transport and place the observer in the primary region.

Question 7

A media company stores large video files in an OCI Object Storage bucket in the Frankfurt region. The company wants to protect against regional outages and also reduce latency for users in the United States. The architect must implement a solution that automatically replicates objects to the Ashburn region and allows users to read from the nearest region. Which OCI feature should the architect use?

Accepted Answer

Enable Object Storage replication on the bucket from Frankfurt to Ashburn and use OCI DNS with a geolocation steering policy to direct users to the nearest regional Object Storage endpoint.. Object Storage replication copies objects asynchronously to a destination bucket in another region, ensuring data durability and enabling DR. To reduce latency for users in different regions, a DNS geolocation steering policy can direct each user to the nearest regional Object Storage endpoint. This combination provides both cross-region replication and latency optimization without manual intervention.

Answer

Use OCI File Storage with a mount target in each region and configure a cross-region replication policy between the file systems.

Answer

Create a bucket in Ashburn and use OCI Data Transfer Service to schedule daily copies of all objects from Frankfurt to Ashburn.

Answer

Enable Object Storage replication on the bucket, specifying Frankfurt as the source and Ashburn as the destination, and configure a pre-authenticated request (PAR) for users in each region.

Question 8

An architect is designing a high availability solution for a stateless web application on OCI. The application runs on a fleet of compute instances in a private subnet across two availability domains. The architect must ensure that the application remains available if one availability domain fails and that incoming traffic is distributed only to healthy instances. Which two components should the architect include in the design? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

A regional private subnet that spans both availability domains, with instances launched in each AD.. A flexible load balancer distributes traffic and performs health checks, ensuring only healthy instances receive requests. A regional private subnet allows instances to be placed in multiple availability domains while sharing the same network configuration. Together, they provide AD-level high availability and automatic failover for stateless web servers.

Answer

An autoscaling configuration that automatically adds instances to the backend set when CPU utilization exceeds a threshold.

Answer

A site-to-site VPN connection to the on-premises data center for management access.

Answer

A NAT gateway in each availability domain to provide outbound internet access for software updates.

Question 9

A healthcare company runs a critical application on OCI. The application uses a block volume attached to a compute instance in the primary region. The company wants to implement a disaster recovery strategy that provides a recovery point objective (RPO) of 15 minutes and a recovery time objective (RTO) of 1 hour for the block volume data. The architect must choose the most cost-effective solution that meets these objectives. What should the architect do?

Accepted Answer

Enable cross-region replication for the block volume to a destination region and create a block volume clone from the replica during failover.. Block volume cross-region replication asynchronously replicates data to a destination region, typically achieving an RPO of less than 15 minutes. During a disaster, you can quickly create a clone from the replica and attach it to a compute instance, meeting the 1-hour RTO. This approach is cost-effective because it does not require a continuously running standby instance, only the replicated storage.

Answer

Create a block volume clone in the DR region every 15 minutes using a script and attach it to a standby compute instance.

Answer

Schedule hourly backups of the block volume to Object Storage and restore the backup in the DR region during failover.

Answer

Use OCI File Storage with a mount target in both regions and configure a replication policy between the file systems.

Question 10

You are deploying OCI Full Stack Disaster Recovery (FSDR) to orchestrate a cross-region DR plan for a multi-tier application stack. Which component acts as the primary grouping mechanism for all application assets (databases, compute, load balancers) within a compartment?

Accepted Answer

Disaster Recovery Protection Group (DR Protection Group). The Disaster Recovery Protection Group (DR Protection Group) is the primary grouping mechanism in OCI Full Stack Disaster Recovery. It logically groups all application assets—such as compute instances, databases, load balancers, and file systems—within a compartment so they can be managed and failed over together as a single unit. DR plans are then built on top of these protection groups to orchestrate cross-region failover and failback.

Answer

Backup Policy Group

Answer

OCI IAM Dynamic Group

Answer

Load Balancer Backend Set Group

Question 11

An enterprise application uses an Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure with Maximum Availability Architecture (MAA). A catastrophic regional disaster occurs, and you must initiate a failover to the standby region. What is the expected behavior of Active Data Guard during this process?

Accepted Answer

The standby database converts to the primary role, opens for read/write operations, and stops applying redo from the old primary.. During a Data Guard failover, the standby database transitions from the standby role to the primary role, opens for read/write operations, and stops applying redo from the former primary. This is the defining behavior of a role transition: the standby ends its redo apply process and becomes the new source of truth. Active Data Guard's read-only workload is replaced by full read/write capability once the failover completes.

Answer

The standby database automatically initiates a flashback database operation to sync with object storage backups before opening.

Answer

Active Data Guard remains in read-only mode until a manual database restore command is issued.

Answer

The database becomes inaccessible until Full Stack Disaster Recovery automatically reprovisions the storage cells.

Question 12

Your company requires automated daily backups of block volumes attached to critical production compute instances in OCI. Which OCI service feature should you configure?

Accepted Answer

OCI Volume Backup Policies attached to the block volumes.. OCI Block Volume Backup Policies are the native, automated mechanism for scheduling backups of block volumes. You create a backup policy (e.g., Bronze/Silver/Gold or a custom policy) defining backup frequency and retention, then attach it to the block volume or its compartment. OCI then automatically creates volume backups on the defined schedule, which can be restored to new volumes or used for cloning.

Answer

Custom Oracle Autonomous Linux scripts cron-scheduled to push to Object Storage.

Answer

OCI File Storage service snapshot schedules.

Answer

OCI Block Volume Vaults with automated cross-region replication policies.

Question 13

When configuring an OCI Network Load Balancer (NLB) for high availability across availability domains, what is a key architectural characteristic of the NLB service?

Accepted Answer

It is a regional service that automatically provisions endpoints across availability domains.. OCI Network Load Balancer is a regional, Layer 4 (TCP/UDP) load balancing service that automatically provisions endpoints across multiple Availability Domains within a region. It provides high availability by distributing traffic across healthy backend instances in different ADs without requiring manual failover scripts or keepalived. This regional, multi-AD design is a key architectural characteristic that differentiates it from a zonal load balancer.

Answer

It requires manual setup of keepalived and IP failover scripts on backend compute instances.

Answer

It terminates SSL/TLS connections before forwarding traffic to backend servers.

Answer

It can only route HTTP and HTTPS traffic.

Question 14

You are designing a disaster recovery strategy for an Oracle Autonomous Database (Serverless) instance. You need to ensure the database can failover to a remote region with minimal RPO. Which feature should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Cross-Region Autonomous Data Guard. Cross-Region Autonomous Data Guard is the native OCI feature that creates a standby Autonomous Database in a remote region and provides automatic or manual failover with low RPO (typically seconds) and low RTO. It is purpose-built for ADB Serverless disaster recovery and requires no manual backup shipping.

Answer

OCI Block Volume cross-region replication

Answer

Manual RMAN incremental backups copied to Object Storage in the remote region

Answer

Database Express Export/Import scheduled via cron

Question 15

An architect is evaluating RTO and RPO requirements for an Oracle Exadata Database Service in OCI. The business demands an RPO of zero and an RTO of less than two minutes. Which configuration meets this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Maximum Availability mode with synchronous redo transport and Fast-Start Failover (FSFO) enabled.. An RPO of zero requires synchronous redo transport so no committed transaction is lost, and an RTO under two minutes requires automated fast failover. Maximum Availability mode with synchronous redo transport and Fast-Start Failover (FSFO) enabled satisfies both: it guarantees zero data loss while the primary is available and enables automatic failover within seconds.

Answer

Active Data Guard with snapshot standby mode and automated cron-based switchovers.

Answer

Maximum Performance mode with asynchronous redo transport and a Data Guard Observer.

Answer

Maximum Protection mode with asynchronous redo transport and manual failover scripts.