JW wrote:
> On Tue, 03 Oct 2006 10:00:40 +0200, Jerome Vitalis
> <vitalismanREMOVETHAT_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> JW wrote:
>>> Hi there,
>>>
>>> I would like to find out the difference between these two method to
>>> clone a database for testing. I am using Oracle 9iR2 under window
>>> 2000 server platform.
>>>
>>> 1. Use 'DUPLICATE DATABASE' command to duplicate a Target database to
>>> the Aux database in remote server.
>>>
>>> 2. Use the RMAN backup files from Target database to clone the
>>> database in another server.
>>>
>>> I believe the directory structure of the Aux server for both
>>> situations has to be the same as the target server, at least for the
>>> the RMAN backup location. I think The data files could be relocated
>>> using 'configure auxname'.
>>>
>>> For my testing, there are 20 to 30 data files spreaded across 3 to 4
>>> drives, I wonder if we can remap the drive designation instead, say D,
>>> E, F to C drive.
>>>
>>> I don't have access to metalink and I having been searching the web
>>> for steps in doing item 2, but could not find a good description of
>>> it. Could someone give me a little more detail ?
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance.
>>>
>>> JW
>> Hi,
>>
>> You're right. You can use "configure auxname" to rename the datafiles. I
>> guess it wouldn't be a problem if you have to use this command to remap
>> drives.
>> But if you use the duplicate method, you have a better solution: the
>> auxiliary instance parameters DB_FILE_NAME_CONVERT and
>> LOG_FILE_NAME_CONVERT that allow you to define global mapping patterns
>> for *all* files. That's one of the many reasons why a duplication is
>> better than a restore operation if you want to clone a database.
>>
>> Jerome
>
> Thanks Jarome for the reply. I have another question here.
>
> When I used RMAN to backup to a mapped drive, it failed. It appeared
> that RMAN didn't know the existence of the mapped drive. I wonder if
> I can use this mapped drive to restore the database.
>
> If this cannot be done, it could be a challenge to restore the
> database when probelms arise. It is not always possible to rebuild a
> new window server with the same drive architecture.
>
> Please advise.
>
As Sybrand said, backing up and restoring through UNC paths is not
supported with RMAN. You had better not use them. Not only they can lead
to impossible restore operation as you described, but also they can
cause really bad backup/restore throughput performances.
Get shot of them if you can. Of course, this leaves us with a big
problem when we want to backup to a remote disk on Windows with RMAN. I
haven't found any solution to this problem yet.
Received on Wed Oct 04 2006 - 01:19:23 CDT
