For who is this book ? This book is for all those wishing to protect their data stored in the RDBMS ORACLE. It assumes that the reader already knows the architecture of the Oracle database (9i Versions at minimum) Contents of the book The book comprises 11 chapters divided into two parts: I. - The first part dealing with the backup consists of four chapters The first chapter is devoted to the logical backup The second chapter deals with the physical backup The third chapter discusses the various flashback technologies The fourth chapter describes the duplication of a database and Tablespace Point in Time Recovery II - The second part dealing with DATA GUARD consists of seven chapters Begins with an overview of Data Guard in Chapter 5. It continues with chapters 6 and 7 which respectively describe how to create a physical standby database and a logical standby database. Chapter 8 discusses the data protection methods and redo log transfer services . Chapter 9 describes the permutations of roles and base change. Chapter 10 describes Fast Start Failover & Transparent Application Fail Over functionalities . Chapter 11, which closes the last part of the book, presents other accounts related to Data Guard . Form of the book The book is designed as a course. It outlines in a phased manner different fundamentals of Backup / Recovery and protection against disasters . The pedagogical approach used in this book will satisfy both the needs of: 1)Beginners readers with a minimal experience in running an Oracle database which will be guided throughout this book from a database creation to Data Guard implementation through the different backups / recoveries setups procedures . 2) Students, Engineers, Project Managers who already have a first experience in administering Oracle databases and want to broaden the concepts in order to: -Implementing advanced backup strategies -Effectively protecting their data against all types of failures. Many examples present in this book and the scripts which can be downloaded on the site www.tchoko-books.com will enable readers to implement effective strategies for Backup /Recovery and DATA GUARD management . The content is based on 11g version while highlighting the changes from the earlier versions 10g and 9i.