snapshots/data warehousing

I'm setting up an Oracle based data warehouse, and would like to know if anyone has experience with Oracle snapshots. We are running 7.1.6 and due to an Oracle bug, I'm unable to create a snapshot against a remote view that accesses multiple tables. (Oracle tells me this is fixed in 7.2.3). In the meantime, I'm using copy to move the data to the system where the data warehouse resides, but this is time consuming.

1. Is it faster to create a snapshot than a copy?
2. Do indexes against snapshots work well?
3. Have you used the scheduled refresh option of snapshots?

Thanks.

David Pelinka - Programmer/Analyst	Direct/Voice: (503)-977-4379
Portland Community College, SY CC 224	Fax: (503)-977-4987
PO Box 19000 Portland, OR. 97280-0990	Internet: dpelinka_at_pcc.edu


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