True, but you could compress an export through a pipe, and also decompress it through a pipe when importing. You cannot do that with data pump. You can compress the metadata using datapump without buying the compression option. You cannot compress the data. So yes, the ability to compress the entire output using common tools has been lost. Ian -----Original Message----- From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Robert Freeman Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 1:50 PM To: rjoralist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: datapump export to pipe exp/imp never offered compression. You can use expdp/impdp without using compression and not have to buy any additional licensing... RF Robert G. Freeman Oracle ACE Ask me about on-site Oracle Training! RMAN, DBA, Tuning, you name it! Author: Oracle Database 11g RMAN Backup and Recovery (Oracle Press) - ON IT'S WAY SOON! OCP: Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certified Professional Study Guide (Sybex) Oracle Database 11g New Features (Oracle Press) Oracle Database 10g New Features (Oracle Press) Other various titles Blog: http://robertgfreeman.blogspot.com ----- Original Message ---- From: Rich Jesse <rjoralist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tue, October 6, 2009 7:46:43 AM Subject: Re: datapump export to pipe True. And I think it's reprehensible for Oracle Corp to take this functionality away when moving from exp to dp, and then turn around and charge extra for it in the next version. But I digress... One alternative may be to use a filesystem's internal compression, perhaps JFS or ZFS. For example, creating a new volume specifically for datapump exports, initializing it with a compression-enabled filessystem, and using that to store datapump exports. I haven't tried this. It's just a thought... Rich > The compression option in 11.1 (and 2) allows for compression of data pump > exports, but it costs $$ or €€ ... -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l