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Oracle database export, import and migration

Migrating Oracle 8i to 9i, from Solaris to Linux

Migrating Oracle 8i to 9i, from Solaris to Linux

By  Maria Anderson, Production DBA, Autodesk

SearchOracle.com

I want to migrate an Oracle 8i database to 9i. The applications are also getting migrated from Solaris to Linux. So as a DBA, what should I do first? In the 8i database there are 450 tablespaces -- if I export and import that to 9i, how will I find the delta migration?
First, you should meet with your application support team and devise a migration strategy that will fit into your outage window and cause the least disruption to your user community. The method you agree on will depend on how large your database is, how long of an outage window you have to perform the migration, etc. A good place to start is to review the Oracle9i Release 2 (9.2) Database Migration guide.

The migration guide describes a number of different methods for migrating to Oracle9i. Keep in mind that a solid backout plan is very important in case the migration does not go well in the production environment.

Second, I would recommend testing this migration several times in a non-production environment; be sure to involve the application support team members, as well as business users. Each time the migration is completed in the test environment, everyone involved should test application functionality, batch jobs and other critical functions thoroughly.

With respect to your question about using export/import to perform the migration and then finding a delta, export/import essentially dumps your data and object definitions into a binary file which you then use to import into another database. It basically provides a 'snapshot' of your database (or schema or object) at the time the export is performed. There is really no way to then perform another export with only data that has changed since the last export. For more information on Oracle export and import utilities, you can review the Oracle9i Release 2 (9.2) Database Utilities guide.

12 Feb 2007