Zero Downtime Migration – Logical Online Migration

Zero Downtime Migration (ZDM) 5 Minutes

You can migrate a database with Zero Downtime Migration (ZDM) using the Logical Online method. The migration will happen with a combination of Data Pump and Oracle GoldenGate. This way even very large databases can be migrated with very little downtime.

In the introduction blog post I covered the basic characteristics of this approach and explained that Oracle GoldenGate can be used at no extra license cost and it is really simple to use.

Migrate your Oracle Database with Zero Downtime Migration ZDM using Data Pump and GoldenGate

With the Logical Online method, you can even target Autonomous Databases. Both Oracle Autonomous Transaction Processing (ATP) and Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse (ADW) and also shared and dedicated. When you target an Autonomous Database, you don’t have access to the underlying database host, so instead of SSH access, ZDM will require SQL*Net connectivity.

Benefits

  • First and most important, you don’t need a license for Oracle GoldenGate to use this approach. Yes, that’s right! You are allowed to use a marketplace edition of Oracle GoldenGate 19c for 183 days to migrate your database with ZDM.

Oracle GoldenGate for Oracle – Database Migrations can be used for 183 days to perform migrations into Oracle databases located in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure using the following tools: Oracle Zero Downtime Migration and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Database Migration

  • Even if you don’t have any GoldenGate experience, you can still use this approach. For example, you don’t need to install and configure GoldenGate yourself. The marketplace image creates the GoldenGate installation for you. Afterwards, ZDM configures GoldenGate and will eventually clean up as well.
  • You can migrate directly into a higher release. For example, if your source database is 12.1.0.2, you can migrate into 19c directly. This avoids the extra downtime normally needed to perform an upgrade.
  • You can migrate directly into a PDB. For example, if you source database is a non-CDB, you can migrate directly into a PDB. This avoids the extra downtime normally needed to convert the database into a PDB using the script noncdb_to_pdb.sql.
  • You can use the full power of Data Pump and GoldenGate to transform your data. By default, ZDM will convert any old BasicFile LOBs into SecureFile LOBs during import. But you can apply other transformations as well. You can partition the table in the target database, you can change the tablespace layout, you can apply compression and anything else that is possible with Data Pump.
  • You can migrate into a different character set (Data Pump and GoldenGate restrictions apply).
  • Your Data Pump export is automatically compressed if the source database is Enterprise Edition. Normally, Data Pump compression would require a license for the Advanced Compression Option. But when you migrate with ZDM to OCI, Oracle allows you to use Data Pump compression without having the Advanced Compression Option.
  • Your Data Pump export is automatically encrypted if the source database is Enterprise Edition. Normally, Data Pump encryption would require a license for the Advanced Security Option. But when you migrate with ZDM to OCI, Oracle allows you to use Data Pump encryption without having the Advanced Security Option.
  • You get recommendations on the migration before it is actually started. ZDM includes the Cloud Premigration Advisor Tool (CPAT) which analyzes your database and give you specific recommendations that matches the target database. For example, if you target an Autonomous Database, CPAT will warn if you have unsupported objects.
  • You can migrate a SE2 database into OCI using this approach as well.
  • You can build your target database in advance and configure backup upfront as well. You can test your backup/recovery strategy before you complete the migration.
  • You can build a standby database in advance as well. Your new OCI target database can be protected by Data Guard from the very second you perform the switch-over. I would recommend doing the initial Data Pump load first, and then build the standby database. This ensures that a minimum of changes has to be applied via redo.

Considerations

  • The time zone file in the OCI target database must be higher than that in the source database. Typically, this is not a problem if you provision a brand-new DB System. But if you plan to use an existing CDB in OCI do check the time zone file upfront:
SQL> select * from v$timezone_file;
  • In My Oracle Support you can find a list of recommended patches to apply on the source database when using Oracle GoldenGate. There is one for 11g and one for 12c and newer. You don’t have to apply those patches, but it is a recommendation. However, if you run into issues, you potentially have to patch your source database.
  • Most databases can be migrated with Oracle GoldenGate. Only very exotic data types are not supported. Be sure to check the documentation.
  • When you use Data Pump to migrate you will lose a lot of the information that is stored in the data dictionary, like
    • AWR
    • SQL Plan Baselines
    • SQL Profiles
    • SQL Patches
  • You can still transfer that information, but you need to use other tools. If this is relevant to you, I suggest that you watch our webinar Performance Stability, Tips and Tricks and Underscores where it is covered in detail.
  • Depending on whether you use a full or schema mode export you need to take care of your public objects afterwards. It could be synonyms or database links.
  • For a huge database you should be prepared for the time it takes to perform the Data Pump export and import. No need to worry too much because GoldenGate will keep track of the changes. But for a 100 TB database you should not start the job the day before the switchover is supposed to take place.
  • It is not recommended to execute DDL statements when GoldenGate is replicating changes. The extract and replicat processes that are created by GoldenGate does not replicate DDL statements. If you for example add a table after the initial Data Pump load, it will not get replicated by GoldenGate. However, GoldeGate is a very powerful tool and you can configure it to replicate DDL as well. But you will need to adjust the GoldenGate user privileges and change the parameter files. In the documentation you can read more about the possibilities of DDL replication and how to configure it.

Fallback

Using this approach there is no straight forward way of falling back to the source on-prem database. You could use GoldenGate to reverse the replication when you switch over to the OCI target database. However, it is not configured automatically by ZDM. So, this is very you would need to know GoldenGate and do the required configuration.

Conclusion

You get a lot more options when you use the Logical Online method to migrate your database. Especially, the possibility of migrating directly into a higher release or into a PDB is very attractive. Plus, you can use GoldenGate during the migration at no extra license cost.

However, the flexibility comes at a cost. There is a little more configuration and it is not as straight-forward as the Physical Online method. But it is not complicated.

Want to Know More

If you want to know more about using Data Pump and GoldenGate for database migrations, I suggest that you take a look at our webinar Migration Strategies – Insights, Tips and Secrets

In addition, these links contain additional useful information:

Other Blog Posts in This Series

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