Starting & Shutting Down a Physical Standby Database

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Use the STARTUP command from SQL*Plus.

  • ✅ STARTUP alone will mount and open the standby in read-only mode
  • ✅ Once mounted or opened, it’s ready to receive redo data from the primary
-- Basic startup (read-only mode)
STARTUP;

-- To mount only (for redo apply)
STARTUP MOUNT;

📝 Note:
If Redo Apply is started before the standby has received any redo from the primary, you may see:

ORA-01112: media recovery not started

This just means redo hasn’t arrived yet. Wait for it or register logs manually.

🛑 Shutting Down a Physical Standby Database

Use the SHUTDOWN command from SQL*Plus.

SHUTDOWN;

⏳ The session waits until shutdown is complete.

📌 Best Practice:
Before shutting down:

  1. Defer the standby destination on the primary
  2. Perform a log switch to avoid transmission issues

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