Determining whether a standby database is synchronized with a primary database

A method for performing an operation for determining whether a standby database is synchronized with a primary database in a log shipping physical database replication environment is disclosed. In operation a transaction log specifying on one or more checksum values for a first set of pages on the primary database. A second one or more checksum values for a second set of pages on the standby database is calculated. The checksums are compared to determine whether the standby database is synchronized with the primary database. If the checksum values match the primary and standby databases are synchronized. If they do not match the databases are not synchronized and an alert is generated. In preparing the second checksum a self consistency check may also be run on the standby database.