Import/Export issue on huge database

Hi all,

this is my first post to the group, so pleased to meet you :-)

We are running an application server we bought from a supplier. The application stores data in two 8.1.7.4 instances (Unix), summing up to roughly 1.5 terabytes and running on the same machine, connected to a storage unit that hosts the datafiles.

A new version of the software will be installed in June. The new version will use 9.2.0.6 and, since the application is mission critical, our management doesn't want to dismantle the old version until we are confident about the new one. To this end, the supplier will provide a server + connected storage to temporarily host the new version.

For political reasons I'm not going to explain here, the new server and storage will go back to the supplier when the old version is dismantled, that is, there is no way we can keep at least the storage unit.

Therefore, when we throw away the old version we'll need to fully migrate the db from the new server+storage to the old server+storage (after uninstalling 8i and installing 9i, of course). The storage supplier (not the same company that developed the software) says a low-level copy is not possible because the units are a different model. Transportable tablespaces are not an issue because none of the tablespaces is self-contained. Exporting and importing 1.5 terabytes scares the hell out of the management (up to now all upgrades have been carried out on the same machine, using catalog scripts). We have no clue how long the process would take.

Has anybody here performed such a big export/import?

Do we have any other options to migrate the db? Thanks a lot

Stefano Received on Wed Jan 26 2005 - 03:57:23 CST