rsync for migrating oracle datafiles

[2CUrious]

Mark Edwards wrote:

Hi don't you have any business copy options available like storage 
business copying or volume management ?
Is your database running in archivelog mode ? Because you could then use 
RMAN of Oracle hot backup to perform an online copy.
After copying the files you must be able to open the database and do a 
complete recovery with all the archived log files.


> Hi - a question for all ye rsync guru's out there...
> 
> I have a need to migrate some fairly large Oracle datafiles from a UFS filesystem to VxFS (VERITAS), however I am not being allowed nearly enough outage time to perform a standard file copy migration. The datafiles (of which there are about 4 are about 50GB each in size and on separate UFS filesystems.
> 

> I am considering instigating a local rsync copy between the two filesystems (From UFS to VxFS) while the database is active and then ...
> 
> 1. shutting the database down 
> 2. letting the rsync migration complete
> 3. unmounting the UFS filesystems
> 4. remounting the VxFS filesystems in place of the old UFS filesystems.
> 
> this - I am hoping - will allow me to migrate these oracle datafiles mostly while the database is still online, and would then require only a small outage to finish off the synchronisation and to remount the new filesystems and restart the database.
> 
> Both these filesystems would be on the same box.
> 
> I am yet to commence experimentation with this technique, but would appreciate some input from anyone who has performed this before, or a similar kind of operation. Is the concensus that this will work, or are there some issues that perhaps I have missed.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Mark