Thank Mark. I think Step 6 might be the missing component here for me. I'll fuss around with it some more. We're moving to ZFS and DirectNFS and I know there are a couple of snapshot/clone features there that we'll be looking to utilize once we're fully migrated. Thanks, Don. On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 4:29 PM, Mark Burgess < mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > We do this with a combination of ZFS snapshots and clones from the standby > database - no backupsets as such. > > The method we have implemented to have the correct controlfile in place is: > > 1. Stop media recovery on the standby database. > 2. Take the ZFS snapshot and clone of the relevant file systems. > 3. Mount the snapshot database - this needs the control_files parameter > pointing to the location of the clone file system. > 4. Rename the redo logs - SQL script does this. > 5. Rename the datafiles - we use RMAN to catalog the datafile copies and > then do a switch to copy. > 6. Backup the existing controlfile and restore the controlfile <-- this is > the important bit as it gives you a normal control file and not a standby > controlfile. > 7. Recover until cancel on the database using backup controlfile. > 8. Open database with reset logs. > > I have this scripted up - the database piece is independent of the method > used to provide the copy of the datafiles. > > I can send through the scripts if you are interested. > > Regards, > > Mark Burgess > > > > > On 11 February 2014 at 8:39:13 am, Don Seiler (don@xxxxxxxxx<//don@xxxxxxxxx>) > wrote: > > OK I've played a little more with the duplicate steps (using target-less > duplication with BACKUP LOCATION specification) and so far it seems to only > work with backups, not with datafile copies. I'd like to keep using the > datafile copy method as it saves time, and our database is nearly 25Tb. > Creating a "backup as copy" of the database and remounting the disks saves > us from having to backup and then restore the datafiles which would take > far too much time. > > Like I said, this method works great but so far requires a primary > controlfile. It's really only an extra step when we do the refresh from the > standby side but I'd like to see if we can do it without having to do that > step, just to simplify and script as much as possible. > > > On Sat, Feb 8, 2014 at 1:46 PM, Don Seiler <don@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > >> Version is 11.2.0.3. I'll explore the duplicate options. Anyone done it >> with data file copies target than backup set? I'd rather not do active our >> require connection to primary or standby other than the initial backup as >> copy. >> > -- Don Seiler http://www.seiler.us