The illustration demonstrates the benefits of using the ALTERNATE attribute of the LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_n paramete. There are two illustrations shown in this graphic; one on the left separated by a dashed vertical line from one on the right. The illustration on the left side of the dashed vertical line shows the primary database instance archiving online redo log files to a local disk device. This illustration also shows that an alternate archiving destination is available, but not currently in use. The alternate archiving destination is shown in dotted lines to indicate it is ready for use if archiving to the original local destination fails. The illustration on the right side of the dashed vertical line shows archival of online redo logs being redirected from the local disk device to an alternate archiving destination. The original local archiving destination is shown in dotted lines to indicate it is no longer available for archiving; all archiving operations from the primary database instance are now taking place to the alternate destination device.