Re: Backup from 64 bit and restore to 32 bit

rinaldof_at_gmail.com wrote:
> Hi.
>
> We have an oracle 10g database running on a Windows 2003 64 bit server
> and another oracle 10g database running on a Windows 2003 32 bit
> server. The databases are identical, except from the fact that the 32
> bit version is used as a test server, so the data is different.
>
> We need to make the test server really identical to the production
> server. How can we export the data/structures from the 64 bit database
> to the 32 bit database? I have read some articles about backup policies
> and it seems that it is necessary to downgrade the 64 bit database to
> 32 bit. Is it the only way?
>
> Thanks,
> Rinaldo Ferreira Junior

No. It isn't. One would ask how much sense it makes have a test system on 32 bit and a production server on 64 bit. Both upgrading the test server to 64 bit or running 32 bit Oracle on both servers would be viable solutions.
However, as the endianness of 64-bit and 32-bit is different, you can't use a *backup* (export is not a backup) to sync the databases, you need to run export from the 64-bit server and import that export on the 32-bit server.
How to do that is documented, please consult the documentaution.

-- 
Sybrand Bakker
Senior Oracle DBA