Dick, > I beg your pardon. The following is from my alert log and is was a > "shutdown immediate": Jolly nice of you to do that for our discussion. Did your users mind? I think we should report the web page author to the Web Accuracy Police (WAP). I think the main point is that there are lots of web pages that show this simple technique for moving databases. A novice DBA should carefully examine several web pages, and understand the points of each. A list like Oracle-L can clarify any lingering uncertainties. And TEST first. Dennis Williams -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l