Perform a Switchover

When you perform a switchover, the primary database becomes the standby database and the standby database becomes the primary database, with no data loss.

A switchover is typically done to test failover to the standby database for audit or certification reasons, or to test your application’s failover procedures when you have added an Autonomous Data Guard standby database.

For switchover to a standby database, the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Console on the primary database shows a Switchover link under Disaster recovery area when both the primary database and a standby database are available. You can perform a switchover when the primary database Lifecycle state shows Available or Stopped, and a standby database is available (the State field shows Standby).

To see either local or cross region standby database state, on the Autonomous AI Database details page select the Disaster recovery tab and for a standby database listed in the Peer Autonomous AI Database column, check that the State shows Standby.

Using the Autonomous AI Database API, you can initiate the switchover operation at any time. See Use the API for more information.

Note: When Full Stack Disaster Recovery is enabled, the Autonomous AI Database details page, under Disaster recovery, shows the Full Stack DR field as Enabled. See Use Full Stack Disaster Recovery to Perform Switchover or Failover Operations for details on performing a switchover or a failover when Full Stack Disaster Recovery is enabled.

Perform a Switchover to a Local Standby

When you perform a switchover, the primary database becomes the standby database and the standby database becomes the primary database, with no data loss.

To perform switchover to a local standby, you access the primary database from the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Console.

Perform the following prerequisite steps as necessary:

• Open the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Console by clicking the next to Cloud.

• From the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure left navigation menu click Oracle AI Database and then click Autonomous AI Database.

• On the Autonomous AI Database page, select your Autonomous AI Database from the links under the Display name column.

To perform a switchover to a local standby:

1. On the Autonomous AI Database Details page, in the Disaster recovery area, in the Local field click and in the menu select Switchover.

   As an alternative, to initiate a switchover you can select More actions and in the menu select Switchover.

2. In the Confirm switchover to peer dialog, enter the peer database name to confirm that you want to perform the switchover.

3. In the Confirm switchover to peer dialog, click Switchover.

   When concurrent operations such as scaling are active, the confirmation also confirms either pausing or canceling the concurrent operation. See Concurrent Operations on Autonomous AI Database for more information.

   The database Lifecycle state changes to Updating. To see the state of the peer database, select the Disaster recovery tab. The State column shows Role change in progress.

After the switchover completes, Autonomous AI Database reports the time of the last switchover in the Role field on the Autonomous AI Database Details page under Disaster recovery.

See Notes for Performing a Switchover for more information.

Perform a Switchover to a Cross Region Standby

When you perform a switchover, the primary database becomes the standby database and the standby database becomes the primary database, with no data loss.

Note: For a cross region switchover you must initiate the switchover from the Standby database.

You have several options to access the Standby database:

• Select the remote region in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Console and then access the Standby database.

• From the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Console access the primary, and from the primary database's Autonomous AI Database Details page select the Disaster recovery tab. From this page click the link for a standby database in the Peer Autonomous AI Database column.

Note: When Full Stack Disaster Recovery is enabled, the Autonomous AI Database details page, under Disaster recovery, shows the Full Stack DR field as Enabled. See Use Full Stack Disaster Recovery to Perform Switchover or Failover Operations for details on performing a switchover or a failover when Full Stack Disaster Recovery is enabled.

To perform a switchover to a cross region standby:

1. On the cross region standby database, on the Autonomous AI Database Details page, in the Disaster recovery area, in the Role field click and in the menu select Switchover.

   As an alternative, to initiate a switchover you can select More actions and Switchover.

2. In the Confirm switchover to peer dialog, enter the peer database name to confirm that you want to perform the switchover.

3. In the Confirm switchover to peer dialog, click Switchover.

   When concurrent operations such as scaling are active, the confirmation also confirms either pausing or canceling the concurrent operation. See Concurrent Operations on Autonomous AI Database for more information.

   The database Lifecycle state changes to Updating. To see the state of the peer database, select the Disaster recovery tab. The State column shows Role change in progress.

When the switchover completes, Autonomous Data Guard does the following:

• The display name shows the standby indicator.

• The Disaster recovery resource information is updated to reflect the switchover. Select the Disaster recovery tab to see the updated information.

• After the switchover completes, Autonomous AI Database reports the time of the last switchover in the Role field on the Autonomous AI Database Details page under Disaster recovery.

See Notes for Performing a Switchover for more information.

Notes for Performing a Switchover

Notes for performing a switchover on Autonomous AI Database.

• For a cross region switchover, you must initiate the switchover from the Standby database.

• During the switchover most of the actions on the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Console are not available and the Autonomous AI Database Information page shows the Lifecycle state with the value Updating.

• The switchover operation keeps the original state of the primary database. If the primary database is stopped when you perform a switchover, the primary database is stopped after the switchover.

• Autonomous AI Database generates the Switchover Autonomous AI Database work request. To view the request, on the Autonomous AI Database details page select the Work requests tab.

• After a switchover or failover to the standby, the standby becomes the primary:

  • The Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Metrics display information about the primary database.

  • The graphs on the Database Dashboard card in Database Actions display information about the primary database.

  • The graphs and metrics do not contain information about the database that was the primary database, before the switchover or failover operation.

• You cannot cancel a cross region switchover operation after the switchover begins and the State shows Role change in progress. Your options are:

  • Try or retry a switchover or a failover until the operation succeeds.

  • File a service request at Oracle Cloud Support or contact your support representative.