Originally posted by gandolf989
Do you need to do log switches on the primary and or force the secondary to sync up before making the secondary database active? Also, do you need to change the control file before you activate the server.

fyi, It has been awhile since I have mucked with standby servers.
If the logXptMode were ARCH (max availability mode), yes you would need to switch archivelogs..and everything in online redologs is history.

With max performance and LGWR mode, you don't need to switch logs..coz it uses SRLs (standy redologs). When LGWR Xpt gets hosed it automatically switches to max availability mode.

As for controlfile stuff..it is taken care of when you activate the standby.

In my case, the failover worked -- it eventually did what I asked it to (i blew my online redologs..but thats okay by me). But I don't get why it complained the first couple of times..and worked the 3rd time.

PS : I've performed real failovers / switchovers many times in past..never faced this before.