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Cross-Platform Transportable TablespaceCase Study

Minimizing Data Migration Time,


Using Cross-Platform Transportable Tablespace

"With Oracle Database 10g’s Cross-Platform Transportable Tablespace feature, we were able to
reduce the data migration time (8X faster) and move database from one platform to another
quickly.”
---May Yuan
Application Architect, Oracle Global IT

INTRODUCTION
Oracle is the largest enterprise software company in the world, and its Global IT
(GIT) group supports 55,000 users worldwide. Like any Fortune 500 IT
Oracle Corporate Profile organization, Oracle GIT is always looking for ways to streamline operations and
• The world's largest enterprise reduce cost while improving operational efficiency and performance.
software company, Oracle's
business is information—how to Oracle has been advocating the Grid architecture, where standard-based, low-cost
manage it, use it, share it,
protect it. computing resources can be easily added or re-allocated as required while
• Over 55,000 employees computing performance and data availability is maintained. The Grid architecture
• http://www.oracle.com/
enables IT organizations to reduce infrastructure cost, maintain deployment
flexibility and improve overall utilization.

Cross-Platform Transportable
Tablespace (XTTS)
DATABASE MIGRATION PROJECT
• Oracle’s XTTS feature provides Oracle GIT migrated Oracle database development group’s mail system from large
the fastest way for a DBA to 64-bit SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processor) servers and monolithic disk arrays to Dell
move large amount of data from
one platform to another 32-bit Linux servers and Network Appliance filers.
According to May Yuan, the application architect who implemented the mail
system migration, there were a number of requirements for the database migration
project:
• Support Oracle’s Linux Initiative
• Continue the IT Consolidation Effort
• Cost Savings
• Minimize Downtime
One of the key project requirements is to complete the data migration with
minimum amount of downtime, and Oracle Database 10g’s Cross-Platform
Transportable Tablespace (XTTS) feature provides the fastest way for a DBA to
move large amounts of data from one platform to another. Moving data using
transportable tablespaces is very fast because transporting a tablespace only requires
the copying of datafiles and integrating the tablespace structural information. The
GIT team decided to use the XTTS feature for the database migration project.

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Cross-Platform Transportable TablespaceCase Study
CONFIGURATIONS
The Oracle database development group’s mail system was on three SMP servers
(20-CPU and 32GB memory) running 64-bit Unix. The database size was about
460GB located on seven monolithic disk arrays.
After the migration, the mail system migrated to three Dell 2650 servers (2-CPU,
6GB memory) running 32-bit Linux, and the storage was consolidated into one
Network Appliance 960 filer.
The old environment supported 800 users con-currently. After the migration and
additional hardware upgrades, the new environment now support up to 8,000 users.

PROCEDURES
The Oracle GIT team came up with the following migration steps:
• Install Oracle Database 10g software (32-bit) on the Dell servers
• Create a 32-bit database on the Dell server
• Export database (definition only) from Oracle Database 10g (64-bit) on
Unix server to get user object system-definitions (e.g. packages and
procedures)
• Export Transportable Tablespaces from Oracle Database 10g (64-bit) on
Unix server
• Convert the datafiles from ‘Unix 64’ to ‘Linux 32’ on Unix server with
Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) to resolve endian compatibility
• Import database into Oracle Database 10g (32-bit) on Dell server to
implement the user object system-definitions
• Import Transportable Tablespaces into Oracle Database 10g on Dell server

MIGRATION CONSIDERATIONS
Below are some useful information discovered during GIT’s mail system database
migration across different platforms.
Create a 32-bit database on the Dell server
The DBA needs to make sure that the system tablespace type (dictionary-managed
or locally managed) is consistent for both source and target databases.
Export database (definition only) from Oracle Database 10g (64-bit) on Unix
server to get user object system-definitions (e.g. packages and procedures)
A database export was performed to pre-create required meta-data prior to XTTS
import. The database export also pre-created users, all privileges, database links,
public synonyms, etc. The export only exported system definitions and meta-data,
and not data.
It is very important that the correct character set and national character set on both
target and source match.

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Cross-Platform Transportable TablespaceCase Study
Export Transportable Tablespaces from Oracle Database 10g (64-bit) on
Unix server
The DBA must understand which pieces of the database to move and by which
methods. Since there’s a time gap between the database export (definition only)
and transportable tablespaces export, the datafiles of the tablespaces to be exported
must be consistent with the XTTS dmp file. Also the tablespaces to be transported
must meet all the XTTS requirements as documented in the Oracle Database
Administrator Guide. For example the tablespace must be self-contained without
any reference to objects outside of the tablespace, and some data types are not
supported with XTTS and must be handle manually.
Convert the datafiles from ‘Unix 64’ to ‘Linux 32’ on Unix server with Oracle
RMAN to resolve endian compatibility
The Unix and Dell Linux have different endianess, which means data conversion
was required. RMAN Convert can be done either at the source or the target
platform. GIT chose to do the conversion at the target platform to minimize
impact to the production systems and used the three Dell 2650 servers to perform
the data conversion. Each server ran 1-2 conversions simultaneously.
One issue GIT ran into is that conversion can’t be done in-place and requires an
interim staging area for the datafiles, and there was not enough storage to transport
all the tablespaces at once. So a phased approach was used -- a set of datafiles
were converted at a time, then the original set was deleted.
Import database into Oracle Database 10g (32-bit) on Dell server to
implement the user object system-definitions
A database import was performed to pre-create required meta-data prior to XTTS
import. This also pre-created users, all privileges, database links, public synonyms,
etc. This import only imported system definitions and meta-data, and not data.
Import Transportable Tablespaces into Oracle Database 10g on Dell server
This step was the core step of the migration process. It required several
preparatory steps to be completed. The new Oracle Database 10g should have
already been properly created and set. System-definition user objects should have
been imported. Datafiles should have been converted.
GIT created interim tablespaces on the target database for testing and validation
purposes. To prepare for the XTTS import, the interim tablespaces that were
previously created were dropped.

RELATED PROJECTS
Oracle Websites Migration Project
After the success of the mail system database migration, GIT used the same
procedure on a number of other projects. For example, GIT migrated Oracle
Websites content from 64-bit Unix to 32-bit Linux environment. Oracle Websites

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Cross-Platform Transportable TablespaceCase Study
is a tool used by Oracle internal groups to host and maintain their internal and
external web sites.

Resilient Low-cost Storage


After successfully migrating the mail system database to lower cost Linux servers,
GIT decided to further reduce cost by migrating mail system’s storage to low-cost,
modular, ATA-based disk arrays. By leveraging Oracle Database 10g’s Automatic
Storage Management (ASM) feature with low-cost storage, GIT was able lower
storage cost and maintain application performance and data availability. Using
Oracle ASM with modular storage arrays makes the storage part of the Grid
architecture; a DBA now can easily allocate and re-allocate storage based on the
application requirements. There are a number of low-cost storage case studies on
Oracle’s OTN web site.

CONCLUSION
The Oracle GIT team learned a number of valuable lessons from the mail system
database migration project and considers the project a success. GIT was able to
migrating a large database from Unix to Dell Linux environment with minimal
amount of down time. The total migration time took less than 5 hours. GIT
estimated that the traditional import and export method would have taken longer
than 40 hours.
According to Raymond Ordona and May Yuan who worked on the database
migration project, understanding the database content (tablespaces that needed to
be migrated) and careful planning was key to the success of database migration.
Application specific migration tool is also available to migrate databases with
minimal amount of down time. However, the XTTS method is generic and can
work with any applications.

REFERENCES
1. Oracle Cross Platform Transportable Tablespace
http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/availability/htdocs/xtts.htm
2. Oracle Resilient Low-Cost Storage Initiative
http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/availability/htdocs/lowcostst
orage.html

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Cross-Platform Transportable TablespaceCase Study

Oracle Global IT: Case Study


August 2006
Authors: Paul Tsien, Product Manager, Oracle
Corporation
Contributing Authors: May Yuan, Application Architect,
Oracle
Raymond Ordona, Consulting Application Engineer,
Oracle

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may be trademarks of Oracle Corporation. All other
product and service names mentioned may be
trademarks of their respective owners.

Copyright © 2005 Oracle Corporation

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