There are other methods or products like dataguard for database failover. The main reason to make a clone (copy) of a database is to test something on it that you can't do on production. Donald Freeman Database Administrator II Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Health Bureau of Information Technology 2150 Herr Street Harrisburg, PA 17103 <mailto:dofreeman@xxxxxxxxxxx> ________________________________ From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of nilesh kumar Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 9:33 AM To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: what is the main purpose of cloning a database. Hello All, Good Morning!! Hope every one is doing great this Morning. As I am a new DBA, a simple question strikes me this morning. What is the main purpose of cloning a database. Is the main purpose of the database is to provide a database failover ?? If that is case then we can go for a dataguard. Then why should we clone. ?? Thanks Nilesh 10g OCA -- Soni Temples & Softwares are more or less the same, first we build them and then we pray ;)