Overview Of Database Validator; Database Validator - HP StorageWorks P9000 User Manual

1 Overview of Database Validator

Unless otherwise specified, the term P9000 in this guide refers to the following disk array:
P9500 Disk Array
The GUI illustrations in this guide were created using a Windows computer with the Internet Explorer
browser. Actual windows may differ depending on the operating system and browser used. GUI
contents also vary with licensed program products, storage system models, and firmware versions.

Database Validator

The Database Validator function of the P9500 is designed for the Oracle database platform.
Database Validator prevents data corruption between the database and the storage system and
protects existing Oracle data on the storage system. The next figure shows a functional overview
of Database Validator operations.
Figure 1 Database Validator overview
The combination of networked storage and database management software has a risk of data
corruption while writing data onto storage. This data corruption rarely occurs; however, once
corrupted data is written into storage, it can be difficult and time-consuming to detect the underlying
cause, restore the system, and recover the database. Database Validator prevents corrupted data
blocks generated in the database-to-storage infrastructure from being written onto the disk storage.
This helps to prevent potentially disastrous corrupted data environments while at the same time
minimizing risk and potential costs in backup, restore, and recovery operations.
Database Validator provides the following benefits:
Prevents invalid Oracle data from being written to the P9500: The data stored on a storage
system is transferred through many channels and may become invalid during the process.
Database Validator makes sure the Oracle data is valid before it is written onto disk. If the
data is invalid, Database Validator prevents the data from being written, thus achieving
high-reliability of data in the P9500. Database Validator also saves time and costs required
for recovery when invalid data is written onto a volume.
Protects existing Oracle data in the P9500: Once Oracle data is stored on a volume, Database
Validator protects the existing data from being deleted or updated by mistake by checking
the data to be stored on that volume. For example, if another application attempts to write
data onto a volume containing Oracle data, the P9500 will reject the write I/O and return
an error.
Database Validator 5