Re: Archiving ORACLE database

<cai_at_chevron.com> >>
This one might go to the "BIG IRON" folks who have archive data for 20 years  or more. OK what types of suggestions do you have. Not just running an  export or a cold backup but preserving data that may be used as input to a  future database twenty years down the road should the data ever be needed. <<

There is no need to get fancy to create a reliable archieve process. Just  dump the data using sqlplus or write a Pro*C program to use as a skeleton for  other archieve programs. As long as you store the data in a simple text  (character format) file then you have all kinds of options for looking at it  later. If you only need to see certain records you may be able to use nawk,  sed, a plain c (or c++) program to report the data without having to re-insert  it into Oracle. It is pretty easy to use sqlplus to create sqlldr files for  re-inserting.

Copy the text file to tape for long tern storage. Be sure to include a file  layout on the tape either at the top of the archive file or as a separate  file. If the tape drive does not support hardware compression you may want to  store the uncompress utility on the tape also if you are not using the  standard Unix compress program. I would also suggest createing a file to  record the archive tapes if you do not have a tape management system ( and  reliable backups of its catalog ).

Also, always use a new or nearly new tape for archives. Older tapes can often  be written sucessfully, but read back successfully. A good tape management system keeps track of how many times a tape is used.  

Write Pro*C or use sqlplus select * to dump the data to a text file. It is  pretty easy to use sqlplus to extract the data into a form sqlldr can easily  re-insert. As long as the output is simple text you have a full range of  options on processing the data. Copy the text file to tape. Either include a  filelayout at the top of the file or as the first file on the tape. Mark Powell -- The only advise that counts is the advise that you follow so follow your own advise Received on Wed Oct 01 1997 - 00:00:00 CDT