If you are referring to ongoing/regular backups/restores from one platform to another, the answer is NO for both the questions. Just FYI....this is not a RMAN restriction or limitation but this is because of the fact that the data files and its format is OS dependent. Of course, you can use the Transportable Tablespace feature of Oracle10g for cross platform transfer of datafiles, but may be a good option to use for one time setup. Thanks Chandra Pabba _____ From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bala Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 5:01 PM To: oracle-l Subject: RMAN backup Basic question Excuse my ignorance -- Is RMAN Backup Platform/ OS independent ? would RMAN Backup taken on Solaris work on say HP Unix or AIX ? would RMAN Backup taken on Windows work on Unix ? Thank you for clearing up lingering doubts. -- Bala Rao