Database practice questions

Data Pump (impdp)

Why wrong: Data Pump is a logical backup and restore utility, not a physical point-in-time recovery tool.

OCI Block Storage Volume Snapshots

Why wrong: Block volume snapshots provide crash-consistent disk backups, but RMAN is required for point-in-time database recovery.

SQL*Loader

Why wrong: SQL*Loader is used for bulk loading external data into database tables.

Terminate the current DB system and provision a new one with the larger shape, then restore from a manual backup.

Why wrong: Terminating and reprovisioning is unnecessary; OCI supports in-place scaling for Base DB Systems.

Stop the database instance via SQL*Plus and run the 'alter system modify shape' command.

Why wrong: Shape modification is managed at the OCI infrastructure level, not via an SQL command.

Attach an additional block storage volume with higher performance tiers to absorb the extra compute load.

Why wrong: Adding storage scales I/O throughput, not OCPU compute capacity.

Virtual Cloud Network (VCN) security lists and network security groups

Why wrong: VCN security lists control network traffic filtering, not hypervisor-level compute isolation.

Storage Server Cell software zones

Why wrong: Storage server cells provide storage pooling and smart scan capabilities, not hypervisor isolation for compute VMs.

Exadata Database Vault compartment boundaries

Why wrong: Database Vault restricts DBA privileges inside the database, not virtualization boundaries.

Exadata Cloud at Customer (ExaCC)

Why wrong: ExaCC runs on-premises in the customer datacenter, whereas Dedicated runs inside OCI data centers.

Autonomous Database on Shared Infrastructure

Why wrong: Shared infrastructure co-locates multiple customer databases on shared Oracle-managed Exadata infrastructure.

Oracle Base Database System

Why wrong: Base DB systems are standard virtual machine database deployments, not serverless or dedicated autonomous infrastructure.

A customer-managed File Storage Service (FSS) mount target

Why wrong: FSS is not used by default for automated database backups.

The local root file system (/u01) of the database VM

Why wrong: Storing backups on the root file system would risk data loss if the VM fails.

A locally attached block volume separate from the database data disk

Why wrong: Automated backups are not stored on local block volumes attached to the same DB node.

A Public Load Balancer fronting the standby database listener

Why wrong: Data Guard redo transport does not use public load balancers; it communicates directly via Oracle Net.

Enabling NAT gateways in both regions to route private database redo packets

Why wrong: NAT gateways enable outbound internet access, whereas cross-region VCN peering routes traffic privately.

Installing an IPSec VPN appliance directly on the database node operating systems

Why wrong: OCI handles underlying cloud networking infrastructure; host-level VPN appliances are not required.

Cross-Region Object Storage Export

Why wrong: Exporting to Object Storage is a manual backup/migration mechanism, not an instant clone feature.

Autonomous Database Data Guard

Why wrong: Data Guard provides high availability and disaster recovery, not test cloning.

Oracle RMAN Duplicate Database

Why wrong: RMAN duplicate is a manual process used on traditional DB systems rather than serverless autonomous instances.

JSON Database

Why wrong: JSON Database is optimized for collection-based NoSQL and document store access patterns.

APEX

Why wrong: APEX is optimized for low-code application development rather than heavy data warehousing analytics.

Transaction Processing

Why wrong: Transaction Processing is optimized for high-concurrency OLTP workloads.

Autonomous Patching Daemon (autopatchd)

Why wrong: autopatchd is a fictitious tool; OCI uses console-driven workflows and dbaascli.

Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Cloud Agent only

Why wrong: While OEM can manage patches, it is not the native OCI cloud control plane tool.

YUM Package Manager

Why wrong: YUM patches Linux OS packages, not Oracle database homes or grid infrastructure.

An SSH private key (.pem)

Why wrong: SSH keys are used for operating system access to VM database nodes, not for Autonomous Database client connections.

Oracle Wallet Manager Master Encryption Key

Why wrong: Master encryption keys are managed by OCI Vault or Oracle transparent data encryption, not downloaded by clients.

tnsnames.ora configuration text file only

Why wrong: While tnsnames.ora is inside the wallet, the entire client credentials wallet is required for secure authentication.

The standby database remains permanently read-only and cannot accept write transactions.

Why wrong: A standby database can be promoted to become the primary read-write database.

The standby database automatically destroys itself and reprovisions in the primary region.

Why wrong: Standby databases do not destroy themselves during outages.

Data Guard automatically switches back to the primary database via split-brain prevention algorithms.

Why wrong: Automatic switchback to a failed primary does not occur without administrative intervention.

Personal Edition

Why wrong: Personal Edition is intended for single-user development and is not an OCI cloud shape.

Standard Edition 2 (SE2)

Why wrong: Standard Edition 2 does not support advanced features like Data Guard or Oracle In-Memory.

Express Edition (XE)

Why wrong: Express Edition is a free, entry-level database with strict resource limits, not available as a managed OCI Base DB shape.

Migrate the database to a Bare Metal DB system with larger local NVMe drives.

Why wrong: Migration is unnecessary because Exadata Dedicated supports scaling infrastructure components directly.

Scale up the Exadata VM cluster shape by adding more OCPUs.

Why wrong: Scaling OCPUs increases compute power, not storage capacity.

Attach OCI Block Storage volumes directly to the Exadata database nodes via iSCSI.

Why wrong: Exadata uses its own internal high-speed storage cell grid, not standalone OCI Block Storage volumes attached via iSCSI.

Modify the SQL*Net configuration file (sqlnet.ora) stored in the database home.

Why wrong: Shared Autonomous Database instances do not allow direct OS file modifications.

Deploy an OCI Web Application Firewall (WAF) policy in front of the database port.

Why wrong: WAF is designed for HTTP/HTTPS web traffic, not Oracle SQL*Net protocol connections.

Attach a VCN Security List directly to the Autonomous Database service endpoint IP.

Why wrong: Autonomous Database on shared infrastructure is managed by Oracle; customer VCN security lists cannot be directly attached to shared ATP instances.

Autonomous JSON Database

Why wrong: Autonomous JSON Database is a serverless autonomous offering without OS access.

Oracle Autonomous Database

Why wrong: Autonomous Database is fully managed by Oracle and does not provide OS root access or SYS privileges.

Oracle Database Serverless Cloud Service

Why wrong: Serverless offerings restrict direct OS-level administrative access.

Oracle Database In-Memory Column Store

Why wrong: In-Memory stores data in compressed columnar format in the database node memory, not on storage cells.

Hybrid Columnar Compression (HCC)

Why wrong: HCC compresses data to save space and reduce I/O bandwidth, whereas Smart Scan performs the actual offloaded processing.

Automatic Storage Management (ASM) Mirroring

Why wrong: ASM mirroring provides data redundancy across disks, not query offloading.

Maximum Performance

Why wrong: Maximum Performance is asynchronous and can potentially incur data loss upon failure.

Maximum Protection

Why wrong: Maximum Protection halts the primary database if the standby is unreachable, risking availability.

Maximum Throughput

Why wrong: Maximum Throughput is not a valid Data Guard protection mode.

OCI File Storage Service (FSS) NFS mount

Why wrong: While FSS can be mounted via NFS, Object Storage is the primary recommended cloud target for backups.

OCI Block Volume service attached via iSCSI

Why wrong: While block volumes hold data files, Object Storage is the native cloud repository for RMAN backup sets.

Local NVMe scratch disks

Why wrong: Local NVMe disks are ephemeral and not suitable for long-term backup retention.

Block volume IOPS and Throughput MB/s

Why wrong: Autonomous storage manages IOPS automatically based on storage TBs.

Number of database threads and PGA memory limits

Why wrong: Memory and threads are managed automatically by the autonomous service.

RAM size in Gigabytes and CPU core clock speed

Why wrong: RAM is automatically allocated based on OCPU selection, not specified manually.

It replicates data at the block level across heterogeneous database engines (e.g., PostgreSQL to Oracle).

Why wrong: Data Guard works strictly between Oracle database instances.

It automatically shards the primary database tables across multiple standby regions.

Why wrong: Sharding is handled by Oracle Sharding, not Data Guard.

It allows read-write operations on the standby database while synchronizing with the primary.

Why wrong: Standby databases remain read-only; write operations are not permitted during active sync.