Databases using different information systems for different parts of the information society hold a critical and significant role. Continuity of data processing and high availability of these information systems must be ensured as well as possible every day. Possible problem situations must be solved and the information in databases recovered to continue work and the business.

Purpose of this study was to examine different methods for these databases to achieve continuous data protection and backups. Both local backup options and remote backup systems over the network are considered. With local well planed backup methods the database and its contents can be recovered to any point in time before the failure occurred. Remote backup sites can be put into service if an entire primary site is being affected. In addition remote sites can serve their users, reduce database workload and offer additional benefits for data processing depending on remote site configuration. Information can also be brought closer to its users with same data stored in the remote database.

Main interests of this thesis were Oracle databases and solution options offered by this software. These database systems are widely used in both corporate world and public sector.