New feature in expdp in 11g (R1?) that allows you to overwrite the file. Again, I've not tried the mknod, etc.... with expdp, but I think this might address the file exists issue. This maybe an R2 feature...as pointed out by others the docs are down right now... 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 3:44:25 PM Subject: Re: datapump export to pipe > But... what you are talking about was never an option Oracle offered. It was > just something we did by virtue of the OS, and UNIX in particular. I don't > think you can fault Oracle for changing the architecture and assign the > "They did it so we have to buy compression" blame to that effort. One might > apply the same argument to desupport of RAW file systems in an effort to > force us to use ASM (which fairly is not licensed separately). So there is no added value of ASM over RAW? And Oracle's not charging (LOTS!) extra for it, as you said, so I'm missing the point on that one. Oracle Corp charges for compressing datapump because they can. At least there's one third party alternative in HyperBAC, but if I have to do that, I might as well just use FS compression. It's already paid for and is one less vendor we have do deal with. > created in (the directory)... knowing all that, why can't I setup the > compression pipe just as we always did and start the export? Maybe I'm > missing something not having done it with expdp that should be obvious > here.... (probably and I'll be plenty embarassed when I figure out what it > is). The pipe must be created by the parent (or current) process of the task which will use the pipe. Since datapump is run from an Oracle background task, there is no (good!) way to setup the pipe for a separate as-yet-non-existent process. Think of this situation from my perspective: We rely on exp/imp for our regular database environment refreshes. The only way that can be accomplished today (and in the foreseeable future) is by using on-the-fly compression. If I can't do that anymore, I either need to request an estimated 10x more disk or $90K + $20K/annual for the one-size-fits-all "advanced" compression from Oracle. It makes Oracle Corp look bad and I believe it's also a reflection on me, as the certifiable Oracle bigot here. Although Oracle's doing their darnedest to change me. Rich -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l