Oracle version 8.1.7 We bought an appl from some other firm. They had a procedure for making a back-up: copy all dbf files, throw away ctl files etc etc. This works, but the problem is, that on any db instance we have ( prod, test, dev etc) we have the same name for global_name ( select global_name from global_name). ( And that name is the name of the original inst from the firm that made the original appl) This give a nice problem: any db link we create gives a 'circular reference' error. Because I'm a developer and there is no DBA in the house (no money; public healthcare...), I do not know how to handle this. We now back up by a job that does a hot-backup at night, but still the same global_name. Is there any way to change this name? Thanks, Rob -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l