Manage Disaster Recovery Plans

Overview Of Disaster Recovery Plans

A Disaster Recovery plan is an automated Full Stack DR runbook that transitions application resources between associated primary and standby protection groups. Plans contain sequential plan groups with parallel steps, are automatically generated through resource introspection, and can be customized with user-defined groups, steps, ordering, and execution settings. Plans are created only at the standby protection group, where they are Active; plans at the primary group are Inactive and become Active when roles reverse after a transition.

Types Of Disaster Recovery Plans

Full Stack DR supports failover plans for unplanned outages, switchover plans for orderly planned transitions, and start and stop drill plans for testing standby recovery without disrupting production. Failover requires availability in the standby region, while switchover requires both regions to be available. During a drill, protection groups enter DrillInProgress, normal plan operations and membership changes are restricted, roles remain unchanged, and only a stop drill can restore Active operation.

Create A Disaster Recovery Plan

Create a DR plan from the Plans section of an associated DR protection group that currently has the standby role. Open the creation dialog, provide a plan name, select the plan type, and create the plan.

View A Disaster Recovery Plan

View a DR plan by opening the Plans section for its protection group and selecting the plan name. The details page displays plan groups in execution order; expand a group to inspect its individual steps.

Modify A Disaster Recovery Plan

Full Stack DR generates built-in groups and steps automatically, while users can add and customize user-defined groups and steps, rename plans, change execution settings, clone plans, reorder content, and remove user-defined elements. Built-in groups and steps cannot be deleted but can be disabled. Plans affected by protection-group changes must be refreshed and verified before reuse, and API updates must include the complete group and step structure.

Rename A Disaster Recovery Plan

Rename a DR plan from either its Actions menu in the Plans list or the plan details page. Enter the new name in the rename dialog and save the change.

Edit Attributes Of A Plan Group

Plan-group attributes can be edited from the group Actions menu on the plan details page. Supported changes include renaming the group, enabling or disabling all steps, changing step timeouts, and changing error modes; save each modification to apply it.

Edit Attributes Of Steps In A Plan Group

Edit an individual step from its expanded plan group and Actions menu. You can change the step name, choose whether execution stops or continues after an error, set the timeout, and enable or disable execution; built-in steps require a timeout of at least 600 seconds.

Clone A Disaster Recovery Plan

Clone a DR plan from its Actions menu by supplying a new name and confirming the operation. The resulting plan is labeled Clone and identifies its source plan; inactive or deleted plans cannot be cloned.

Refresh A Disaster Recovery Plan

Changes to either protection group place affected plans into Needs attention with a Needs refresh sub-state, requiring a refresh followed by verification. Refresh the eligible plan from its details page, inspect added, modified, or deleted groups and steps, and verify the result before use. Inactive plans with Needs refresh cannot be refreshed, and plans cannot be edited during verification.

Understanding The Dr Plan Refresh Process

Refreshing a plan reconciles its groups and steps with current protection-group membership. New members add steps to matching groups or create new groups, while removed members delete corresponding steps and, when applicable, entire groups and related user-defined steps. New groups are inserted according to the default order when possible, though extensive custom reordering may affect placement. Plans in Active or refresh-related states return to Needs attention with Needs refresh whenever the protection group changes.

Verify A Disaster Recovery Plan

After every plan refresh, review the updated groups, steps, and execution order, then select Verify to finalize the changes. Verification removes items marked for deletion, incorporates added items, and returns the plan to usable status; it remains required even when no visible changes result from the refresh.

Manage Plan Groups

The Manage plan groups interface supports adding, editing, renaming, removing, and publishing user-defined groups and steps. It tracks modifications as Added, Modified, or Removed and allows changes to timeouts, error modes, and group names. Built-in and built-in precheck groups cannot be deleted, although empty built-in groups may be disabled; publish commits the changes, while cancel discards them.

Add User-Defined Plan Groups And Steps

Add user-defined groups or steps through Manage plan groups, positioning new groups before or after an existing group but always after Built In Prechecks. Configure the step name, enabled state, error mode, timeout, execution region, and execution method using an Object Storage script, local script, or Oracle Function. User-defined steps run through Cloud Agent Run Command on instances or through Functions, and failover function steps must use the standby region.

Configure A Step To Execute An Object Storage Script

Configure an Object Storage script step by selecting the instance region, target instance, bucket, and script or archive, then specifying the command and parameters, timeout, optional Linux run-as user, and enabled state. The object or archive must be in the standby region, the selected region must match the instance’s current location, private instances require suitable network access, and nonzero script exit codes fail the step.

Configure A Step To Execute A Local Script

Configure a local script step by selecting the instance’s current region, compartment, target instance, script, full command and parameters, timeout, optional Linux run-as user, and enabled state. Nonzero exit codes fail the step; for movable instances, place the step after the plan group that launches the instance in the standby region.

Configure A Step To Execute Oracle Functions

Configure a serverless user-defined step by selecting the Functions region, choosing Invoke function, selecting the target application and function, optionally supplying a payload, and adding the step.

Add User-Defined Precheck

User-defined prechecks can be added to an existing built-in precheck group when the plan contains at least one built-in or user-defined group. Configure the step using an instance script, Object Storage script, or Function, along with its region, target resources, error mode, timeout, and enabled state. Built-in and user-defined prechecks execute in parallel during both standalone prechecks and plan execution.

Add A Pause Group In A Plan Group

Add a pause group through Manage plan groups to suspend plan execution at a selected position. Provide a group name, enable or disable the pause, and place it before or after an eligible group; pauses cannot be placed before Built In Prechecks or after the final group. Pause groups can later be edited, enabled, disabled, or resumed.

Reorder Groups And Steps

Full Stack DR organizes steps into dependency-based built-in groups, but users can reorder groups and move steps into other built-in or user-defined groups. Such customization must preserve resource dependencies and execution order to ensure that recovery operations occur correctly.

Change The Order Of Plan Groups

Reorder plan groups from the standby protection group’s plan editor using Move up and Move down, then publish and save the changes. Built In Prechecks must remain first, and reordering built-in groups is discouraged because their generated order reflects recovery dependencies; user-defined groups are the safer candidates for rearrangement.

Move Selected Steps To Another Plan Group

Move steps through the plan editor by selecting a source step, choosing a target group, and updating the proposed arrangement. Steps in the same group execute in parallel, so dependent steps must remain in groups that run later than their prerequisites. Changes can be reverted or repeated before publishing the final arrangement.

Remove User-Defined Plan Groups

Remove a user-defined plan group from its Actions menu on the plan details page, then confirm the removal. Built-in groups are not eligible for deletion through this operation.

Remove User-Defined Steps From A Plan Group

Remove a user-defined step by expanding its plan group, opening the step’s Actions menu, selecting Remove, and confirming the operation.

Delete A Disaster Recovery Plan

Delete a DR plan from its Actions menu in the Plans list and confirm the deletion. The plan enters the Deleted state, is later removed, and cannot be used once deleted.