Re: Why export is not a good archiving tool

From: Tim X <timx_at_nospam.dev.null>
Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 15:47:19 +1000
Message-ID: <874oi5n4m0.fsf_at_rapttech.com.au>

"keith.michaels_at_gmail.com" <keith.michaels_at_gmail.com> writes:

> I need to know why exporting a database periodically is not a suitable
> method for preserve access to historical data. A customer with 10-20
> year retentions is using this to "preserve access" for compliance
> reasons. I would like to push them towards IBM Optim, Outerbay,
> Solix, etc. but I don't know how to explain the shortcomings of their
> method. Apparently the existing records don't have a nice date field
> to identify old data and leaving it in place doesn't protect it from
> damage or loss.

L:ike most things, there is no hard rules here. Using export in some situations would be fine. It will depend on what you need, how often you need it and how quickly it needs to be made available when it is needed.

What export is NOT good for is ding regular backups. However, it may be fine for ad hoc snapshots, depending on database size, what you plan to do with the snapshot and your environment. For backups, there are far better solutions.

It is also likely that if we are talking a recent version of Oracle, running on enterprise hardware with enterprise level storage that there are much better solutions already provided by Oracle and whatever storage technology you are using. It is very likely that a 'native' Oracle solution will be far easier to integrate into their business processes than purchasing another solution from a 3rd party. I also wouldn't be surprised to find the company is already paying for that technology, so better to look there before adding yet another vendor and license nightmare.

Tim

-- 
tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au

Received on Tue May 18 2010 - 00:47:19 CDT