Originally posted by OracleDoc
yes, once the changes are applied. My thinking is just working smarter and not harder. It's just one less step you have to take and also not having your standby actually down.
I agree. I was thinking exactly along with your thoughts. That's why I said: "Yes, except you don't need to actualy perform a shutdown of the stanbdby instance". But it won't be a mortal sin if he (hrishy) does and if that makes him sleep better - that's why I added "....it won't hurt if you do, though".

Bottom line:
There is absolutely nothing wrong if you don't constantly apply changes to the standby. After all, that's why they provided a readonly open mode of the standby for us! The important thing is that the standby site can constantly recieve the chaanges from the primary, even if they are not applied immediately. And even if you temporary disable the transport of changes to the standby, that shouldn't be much of the problem - that's why FAL process is there for in DataGuard.