Re: exp and archive available.... recover table

On Jul 9, 3:46 pm, DA Morgan <damor..._at_psoug.org> wrote:
> Steve Howard wrote:
> > I think we have too strict a definition of "backup" at times. We have
> > used exp (and now datapump) to take a single table backup (yes, I
> > think that term is appropriate) when mass data changes will be made
> > to it and we want to be able to go back to it at that exact point in
> > time (without worrying about having enough undo to flashback the
> > table). We like the way the table looks, have taken into account any
> > constraints, and a quick and dirty export allows us to put it back to
> > that point with a minimum of fuss/muss.
>
> > In that sense, yes, it is a backup for us.
>
> I totally disagree.
>
> What you did was move objects and data from point A to point B. That
> has essentially no relationship to the purposes served by taking a real
> backup.

Oddly enough, today I was doing the same thing as Steve describes. It is much more reasonable than any "proper" backup/recover scenario for repeated testing of an ETL update routine I was working on. Truncate the table in test, import from big production export file, make a _much smaller_ export from that, then iterate with truncate and the small export as much as I need to clean up the data coming from elsewhere. Oh yeah, it's a korn shell script using awk almost entirely to generate the final sql. I think it would be stupid to use any other language for what is a pattern matching problem (well, I've had perl on the back burner for so long, I really should do something about that, sorry Mladen).

>
> Let me prove it to you. You come to my lab and I'll set you up on a
> server. You use export or datapump to do whatever it is you think it
> is doing. I'll send you out of the room for five minutes and use vi
> to do a bit of damage. What are you willing to bet that you will be
> able to "restore and recover" with your export?

That proves something else [no sarcasm intended].

jg

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