At 09:19 PM 3/02/2006, you wrote:

>Helen Borrie wrote:
> > Alex, I'm curious: how does activation work when the shadow is
> > actually required after a HDD disaster? Does it mean you have to
> > configure RemoteFileOpenAbility to be allowed at all times?
> >
>
>No. There are two symmetric systems, and when primary server can't
>start, secondary activates it's own fbserver, and after playing a bit
>with IP addresses clients even do not notice, that they work with
>another box.
>But such ideal scenario worked only once (last time). Earlier bugs in
>the system forced me to go and do manual recovery. It is anyway required
>to make system comletely functional again, but such pair of servers help
>people to continue there work after the failure almost immediately.

OK, I see...I was kinda locked in the conventional frame, supposing
separate HDDs for server, live database[s] and shadow[s]. If the
write delay isn't an issue, it's seems not too far outfield to be
using the shadow as a standby that could be independent of some
calamity affecting the whole of the live host machine, e.g. a fire in
the server room, rather than just a disk crash.

Helen