Time for action – changing the SYS password in a Data Guard environment

The way to change the SYS password without breaking the redo transport service includes copying the primary database's password file to the standby server after changing the password. The following steps show how this can be done:

1. Stop redo transport from the primary database to the standby database. We can execute the DEFER command to defer the log destination with the ALTER SYSTEM statement:

   SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_STATE_2 = 'DEFER';
   
   System altered.
   

   If the Data Guard broker is being used, we can use the following statement:

   DGMGRL> EDIT DATABASE TURKEY_UN SET STATE = 'LOG-TRANSPORT-OFF';
   

2. Change the SYS user's password in the primary database:

   SQL> ALTER USER SYS IDENTIFIED BY newpassword;
   
   User altered.
   

3. Copy the primary database's password file to the standby site:

   $ cd $ORACLE_HOME/dbs
   $ scp orapwTURKEY standbyhost:/u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/ dbhome_1/dbs/orapwINDIAPS
   

4. Try logging into the...