Sold by: metabloc
Deployed on AWS
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Pre-configured Oracle Data Guard Fast-Start Failover Observer appliance on Oracle Linux 9 for automated database failover and high availability.
Overview
Metabloc's Oracle Data Guard Fast-Start Failover (FSFO) Observer Appliance provides a turnkey, hardened, and lightweight environment for deploying dedicated Data Guard broker observers in enterprise cloud architectures. Built on minimal Oracle Linux 9.5 and packaged in an ultra-lean 12 GB footprint, this appliance eliminates the overhead, dependency conflicts, and licensing weight of deploying full database installations simply to monitor high availability configurations.
The appliance includes a fully compiled and validated Oracle Database 19c Client environment featuring the Oracle Data Guard Broker CLI (dgmgrl), SQL*Plus, and Oracle Net Services utilities. It is optimized to run as a third-party observer deployed outside the primary and standby database availability zones or AWS regions, ensuring accurate split-brain detection and automatic failover execution.
Key Features & Capabilities
Dedicated FSFO Observer Stack: Pre-configured with Oracle 19c Client binaries (dgmgrl, sqlplus, tnsping) compiled and linked natively against Oracle Linux 9 / glibc 2.34+.
Automated Daemon Management: Integrated oracle-observer.service systemd unit ensures continuous background execution, automatic process restart on transient failures, and clean boot-time recovery.
Interactive First-Boot Wizard: Includes setup-observer CLI wizard to quickly configure TNS connect identifiers, credentials, and state files without manual script edits.
Minimal Resource Footprint: Designed to run cost-effectively on general-purpose or burstable EC2 instances (such as t4g.micro, t3.micro, or t3.small) using only 12 GB of EBS gp3 storage.
Enterprise Hardening & Security: Follows the principle of least privilege, running observer processes under a dedicated oracle service account with strict SELinux policy compliance and isolated directory permissions.
Common Architecture Use Cases
Cross-AZ High Availability: Deployed into a third Availability Zone to arbitrate failovers between Primary and Standby databases in multi-AZ deployments.
Cross-Region Disaster Recovery: Positioned in a witness AWS region (or on-premises bridge) to supervise cross-region Data Guard broker configurations without co-locating the observer with the database tiers.
Hybrid Cloud Arbitration: Serving as an independent, cloud-based tie-breaker for on-premises Oracle Enterprise Edition Always-On and Data Guard environments.
Highlights
- Automated Fast-Start Failover Monitoring - This appliance serves as a dedicated Oracle Data Guard Fast-Start Failover (FSFO) Observer, continuously monitoring primary and standby database configurations. When a failure is detected on the primary database, the Observer automatically initiates failover to the standby, minimizing downtime and ensuring business continuity without manual intervention.
- Pre-Built on Oracle Linux 9 - Deployed as a ready-to-use appliance built on Oracle Linux 9, reducing the time and effort required to configure an FSFO Observer from scratch. The appliance is optimized for Oracle Database 19c environments, ensuring compatibility and streamlined setup so your team can focus on database operations rather than infrastructure provisioning.
- High Availability for Oracle Database 19c - Designed specifically for Oracle Database 19c Data Guard environments, this Observer appliance strengthens your high availability architecture. By running as an independent observer instance on AWS, it provides the third-site validation required for automatic failover decisions, helping meet stringent uptime and disaster recovery requirements.
Details
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64-bit (x86) Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
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Operating system
OtherLinux Oracle Linux 9.5
Deployed on AWS
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Dimension | Cost/hour |
|---|---|
t3.small Recommended | $0.02 |
t3.micro | $0.02 |
t3a.micro | $0.02 |
t3.large | $0.02 |
t3.medium | $0.02 |
t3a.large | $0.02 |
t3a.medium | $0.02 |
t3a.small | $0.02 |
t3.xlarge | $0.02 |
t3a.xlarge | $0.02 |
Vendor refund policy
Software is usage-based, charged hourly, and can be terminated at any time. No refunds are available.
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Delivery details
64-bit (x86) Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
An AMI is a virtual image that provides the information required to launch an instance. Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) instances are virtual servers on which you can run your applications and workloads, offering varying combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking resources. You can launch as many instances from as many different AMIs as you need.
Version release notes
Version: 1.0.0 Release Date: October 2026
Oracle Data Guard Fast-Start Failover (FSFO) Observer Appliance on Oracle Linux 9.5 (x86_64).
What's New:
- Base Operating System: Oracle Linux 9.5 minimal install with latest kernel and security updates.
- Oracle Client: Pre-installed and configured Oracle Database 19c Client (19.3) x86_64 stack, including dgmgrl (Data Guard Broker CLI), SQL*Plus, and Oracle Net Services utilities.
- Enterprise Linux 9 Compatibility: Pre-resolved modern glibc 2.34+ dynamic linker dependencies and shared library links (libclntsh, libocci, libagtsh).
- Systemd Automation: Integrated oracle-observer.service systemd unit for background process supervision, automatic restart on transient network drops, and failure recovery.
- Guided Setup Wizard: Included /usr/local/bin/setup-observer interactive utility for first-boot configuration of TNS connect identifiers, credentials, and state files.
- Security Hardening: Enforcing SELinux policy compliance out of the box with dedicated non-root execution under the standard oracle service account.
- Storage Optimization: Trimmed image footprint packaged on a lean 12 GB EBS gp3 volume, cleared of staging installers and build dependencies.
System Requirements:
- Architecture: 64-bit x86 (x86_64)
- Recommended EC2 Instance: t3.small (supported across t3, t3a, m5, m6i, c5, c6i up to 16 GB RAM)
- Network: Inbound SSH (port 22) for administration; outbound access to target Oracle Database listener ports (typically TCP 1521).
Additional details
Usage instructions
Usage Instructions: Oracle Data Guard FSFO Observer Appliance
Overview: This appliance provides a pre-configured environment for running an Oracle Data Guard Fast-Start Failover (FSFO) Observer. Follow the steps below to configure network connectivity, credentials, and the background daemon.
Prerequisites & Access
Launch this instance in a separate Availability Zone or Region from your Primary and Standby databases.
Security Groups: Ensure outbound access to the database listener port (TCP 1521). Allow inbound SSH (port 22) for administration.
Connect via SSH as user cloud-user: ssh -i /path/to/key.pem cloud-user@<INSTANCE_IP>
Configure TNS Resolution Edit the tnsnames.ora file to define your primary and standby endpoints: sudo -u oracle vi /u01/app/oracle/product/19.0.0/client_1/network/admin/tnsnames.ora
Example entry: FSFO_TARGET = (DESCRIPTION = (CONNECT_TIMEOUT = 10)(RETRY_COUNT = 3) (ADDRESS_LIST = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = primary-db.example.internal)(PORT = 1521)) (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = standby-db.example.internal)(PORT = 1521)) ) (CONNECT_DATA = (SERVER = DEDICATED) (SERVICE_NAME = orcl_dg_broker) ) )
Test network reachability: source /etc/profile.d/oracle-env.sh tnsping FSFO_TARGET
Run the Setup Wizard Run the included configuration script: sudo /usr/local/bin/setup-observer
Follow the prompts to enter:
TNS Connect Identifier (e.g., FSFO_TARGET)
Observer Username (e.g., dgb_user or sys)
Observer Password
The wizard generates configuration files and immediately enables and starts the background systemd service (oracle-observer.service).
Service Management The observer runs automatically as a systemd background process under the oracle user.
View service status: sudo systemctl status oracle-observer
View live logs: sudo tail -f /home/oracle/observer/logs/observer.log
Restart service: sudo systemctl restart oracle-observer
Stop service: sudo systemctl stop oracle-observer
Verify Observer Status in DGMGRL Connect to Data Guard Broker CLI to confirm registration: source /etc/profile.d/oracle-env.sh dgmgrl /@FSFO_TARGET DGMGRL> SHOW FAST_START FAILOVER;
Ensure the status confirms the Observer is running from this appliance.
Support
Vendor support
Metabloc provides support for the VM at https://metabloc.co.uk/support or support@metabloc.co.uk . The VM is preconfigured to use the Oracle Linux repositories for patches and updates.
AWS infrastructure support
AWS Support is a one-on-one, fast-response support channel that is staffed 24x7x365 with experienced and technical support engineers. The service helps customers of all sizes and technical abilities to successfully utilize the products and features provided by Amazon Web Services.
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