I like this book. It does not go into details but gives you at least the basic you need to deploy quickly RAC, DG, Flashback, and Streams. The author also spent time defining HA from the DBA point of view.
Overall, I recommend this book and gives 5 stars

I agree with one other poster that this book attempts to cover all major HA features in Oracle in one small book. It is ok for a very high level overview hence the 1 star but falls flat for major details on the individual HA features. Instead my advice is to get The Oracle 9i RAC book from Rampant Press, Oracle Streams book and Oracle Data Guard book all from Rampant Press and read the Oracle concepts manuals for these HA features.

I agree with one other poster that this book attempts to cover all major HA features in Oracle in one small book. It is ok for a very high level overview hence the 1 star but falls flat for major details on the individual HA features. Instead my advice is to get The Oracle 9i RAC book from Rampant Press, Oracle Streams book and Oracle Data Guard book all from Rampant Press and read the Oracle concepts manuals for these HA features.

It is one of the few good books available in the market which covers RAC, DataGuard and Flashback features all in one.

One of the drawbacks of this book is the fact that too much has been packed into one single book and it seems to loose its focus and lacks in detail.

Overall, I still recommend this to my students who undergo my RAC and DG courses.


Arif Khan
Oracle Consultant, (...)

The writers like to subsitute the Oracle manual in OTN but make no difference . eg, I wanted to setup the Dataguard through EM10g Grid Control. In fact , the creation standby database wizard was filled of bugs and user can't make use of it till patching and huge manual works. It's no doubt that writers never tried on this features. The book is rather splotchy and winding.

I like this book and it has excellent breadth especially the RAC wait event tuning. My only issue was that it did not have enough detail, but I liked what was there.

Yes, Read this Book at least, twice.

Has steps linked to various chapters.
Reading, Second time will solve/Answer most of your questions.

This Book is very good- I have implemented HA with RAC / DR - successfully many times.

On the scale 1-5

RAC - 3
Uses Oracle provided kernel (Linux) with firewire (storage) Architecture, for beginners it might be helpful.
Missing GFS - Global file system implementation. Can be used instead of ocfs.

RAC - Oracle Installation - 4
Installation, always read documentation from Oracle.

Flashback - 3
Since this is neat/new feature - need more explanation. Explains implementing Flashback, not much on administration of Flashback.

DR - 5
DataGuard - 5
Very good steps and explanation - cannot go wrong implementing DR logical/Physical

TAF - 4
Good explanation of TAF - Yes you will be able to implement the TAF and load balance RAC env.

ASM - 3
This is a very powerful feature - Needs a separate chapter similar to DR/Dataguard.

Three weeks ago I obtained a copy of 'High Availability with RAC, Flashback & Data Guard,' Oracle Database 10g. I work in a support environment where we field questions on all of the topics contained in this manual. The book has provided me with a clear and detailed manual for some very sophisticated products. The topics are explained in a thorough manner and pertain to subjects that are frequently queried about, such as changing the protection mode in data guard and adding nodes to an existing rac configuration plus of course many others. The authors have provided lucid explanations of these topics and also have given a logical way to find the information when it is needed. This book allows for the reader to use the information presented to better understand the software that makes up the Oracle High Availability array of products.

Early on in this impressive book, the HADBA Mantra, which states that "Availability is defined as much by end-user perceptions as by database realities.", sets the tone by offering what I think is a profound glimpse of the new world for DBAs. If that mantra is true, then our profession expands beyond the normal bounds of I.T. and suddenly involves real aspects of business itself including management, politics and psychology more deeply than ever before.

Thus this book sets a challenging goal for itself which I think it succeeds in accomplishing. While 'holistic' may be an overworked term in our culture, it is exactly that - a holistic HA solution - which is needed to meet these nascent business challenges and that solution is what Hart & Jesse have written. For example, the concept of incorporating aspects of performance tuning into the high availability view of the database is new to me, yet makes perfect sense. I had always viewed these as separate and independent DBA functions.

With each chapter, another brick is laid in what becomes a solid, highly-available wall:
RAC, Dataguard, Flashback Query, Rman Backup & Recovery, Streams - backed with the newest RDBMS features and performance tuning.

The book is well written and has very helpful labs. Understandably, it does not delve deeply into specific areas. Had the authors tried to cover every minute detail, we'd all be lugging a thousand pounds of books between home and work. At the same time, I think every topic is well covered and the depth of detail is good. Frankly, when it comes time to implement something like Dataguard, I'll have 10 references, white papers, etc. on my desk. This book is great for putting everything together under one roof and allowing one to see the big picture and how that picture is evolving.

As I get these features implemented, I expect to save a bundle on pager batteries!!!!!

Okay, I found this to be a very thorough discussion of what will be the future for any DBA. It is an early version of 10G but, as this is what most shops will work with for the next 6 months it is essential reading.
I would like to remark that both Dataguard (Chap7) and Streams (Chap 10) coverage is excellent and both provide a different direction for the HA arena.
A must read for those long trips traveling to customer sites.

I was suspicous about any book with claims to cover three large topics, and I was quite right.

The book has OK high coverage, but is lacking on depth and detail, especially with RAC. The RAC section does not have enough details to be of much benefit to anyone using it.

Evene the title is fishy because Data Guard is a low availability option and not high by todays standards.

A real HA option is Oracle Streams, but it was not even mentioned.

I work in the high availability support team at Oracle Support. Too often I see DBAs run into problems that cause downtime that could be avoided if they had understood and implemented sound HA practices. I have personally seen several cases where a company's database was down for hours or even days due to lack of a sound HA plan. These cases could have been avoidable if the DBA(s) had understood and implemented many of the techniques described in this book. This book describes each of the HA options available in Oracle 10g along with practical examples and labs. After reading this book, you will be armed with a tools you need to create a database environment that can survive multiple types of failures. By increasing your understanding of Real Application Clusters, Data Guard, Flashback, Streams, Recovery Manager, and other HA options, you can avoid unnecessary downtime and run a successful HA database.(...)