RE: Re[2]: Big Whoops

1. Istead of using the backup window to copy to test, why don't you backup to tape, then restore from tape to test? Then you can take your time. I'm assuming the test database is not 24x7. (This is what we do at our shop).
2. If your production database is in archive log mode, you can put the tablespaces in backup mode and copy the files to test while production is still up, also increasing your window of opportunity so you can take your time.

You could also consider scripting the procedure. Test your scripts carefully, then each time you can just re-run scripts that you know work. Create a user that only has permission to read from the production database files, not write to them. This user would have write permissions to the test location. Run the scripts from this test user - it wouldn't be able to overwrite production.

HTH,
Sara Wasserman

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Smith, Ron L. [SMTP:rlsmith_at_kmg.com]
> Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2000 1:06 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
> Subject: RE: Re[2]: Big Whoops
>
> Question for everyone. We frequently do cold database copies from
> production to test, qual, etc... We have 5 hour window. If I took a
> backup
> (3 hours) before I did the copy, there would not be enough time remaining
> to
> do the copy. Yet if I make a mistake on the copy scripts I could easily
> lose a datafile. The question is, do I demand time to do it right and
> make
> a backup before I start or do I continue taking the chance that I won't
> make
> a mistake?
>
> Ron Smith
> Database Administration
Received on Thu May 25 2000 - 17:58:42 CDT