Question

Can the Aleph Upgrade Express Kit handle the transfer of data from a Solaris source instance to a Linux target instance?

Answer

Yes, Upgrade Express, with the Oracle Data Pump, can be used to do this.
* The Oracle Data Pump is platform-independent. This is confirmed by the following at
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/enterprise-edition/datapump-faq-082259.html#platforms : "Data Pump handles all the necessary compatibility issues between hardware platforms and operating systems."

* Upgrade Express Create Customer Data step on the Source instance uses the Data Pump to export the data and the Install Customer Data on the target instance loads it. These two steps (along with the Setting Upgrade parameters step) are all that needs to be done to move the data to an instance which is at the same level.

* Another option would be to use the native Oracle Data Pump commands to do this export/import.

Additional Information

Details of this specific case, where the following were tried rather than Upgrade Express (and failed):
* In migrating from Solaris to Linux, an attempt was made to migrate the database files by performing an RMAN recovery onto future Production, but that failed with a variety of errors.

* Then a cold backup of the current staging environment and porting those files to future Production was attempted. This failed too and there were errors suggesting that data files can’t just be copied from one OS platform to another without converting them.

* In addition, the How to Copy Aleph v20 document indicates that those instructions are only intended for copying to the same OS platform.

Category: System Management (500)

Subject: Oracle (500)

• Article last edited: 12/4/2013