Test physical standby database in dataguard

Question

Hi all,
I had a successfull dataguard implementation for oracle 9r2.
Primary and standby databases are on different nodes, logs from primay are shipping and applying to physical standby database successfully.
As these database are for oracle 11i ebs, so for testing dataguard status i had created a table manually having columns date and remarks. Periodically i insert few records in this table in primary database and then chek this tabel in standby database (by opening in read only mode).
Now i want to test physical standby database with applications tier  but don't want to disturb origional primary database.
as these are the normal switchover steps
1) at primary db
ALTER DATABASE COMMIT TO SWITCHOVER TO PHYSICAL STANDBY WITH SESSION SHUTDOWN;
2) at standby
ALTER DATABASE COMMIT TO SWITCHOVER TO PRIMARY;
3) at primary, now this will be the stand by database
SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE;
STARTUP MOUNT;
4) at standby, now this will be the primary database
SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE;
STARTUP
My concern is if i skip step 1 and 3 and only execute step 2 and 4, will that be applicable for my requirement, or there is some other way to achieve this goal.
Regards,
Ken

Answer 1

To avoid touching the primary production DB, you may try to use the following command on your standby database side:
alter database activate standby database;
This will turn your standby database to primary database, however the log will be reset and this means you will need to rebuild your DR.
Another way is to use flash back feature on your standby database, activate it and revert back to the flashback point when the DR testing is done.