As you saw in yesterday’s announcement, E-Business Suite environments running the 10gR2 Database users can now use the Transportable Database
(TDB) feature to migrate their database between platforms that share the same “endian” format. But what if you need to migrate a database between platforms that use different endian formats? That’s the case for using Cross-Platform
Transportable Tablespaces (XTTS). It isn’t certified with the E-Business Suite yet, but we’re now actively seeking customers who might be interested in participating in a short Early Adopter Program for this feature.
What is the Cross-Platform Transportable Tablespace Feature?
The Cross-Platform Transportable Tablespace feature allows users to move a user tablespace across Oracle databases. It’s an efficient way to move bulk data between databases.
If the source platform and the target platform are of different endianness, then an additional conversion step must be done on either the source or target platform to convert the tablespace being transported to the target format. If they are of the same
endianness, then no conversion is necessary and tablespaces can be transported as if they were on the same platform.
Moving data using transportable tablespaces can be much faster than performing either an export/import or unload/load of the same data. This is because transporting a tablespace only requires the copying of datafiles from source to the destination and then
integrating the tablespace structural information. You can also use transportable tablespaces to move both table and index data, thereby avoiding the index rebuilds you would have to perform when importing or loading table data.
Technical Prerequisites
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i version 11.5.10.2
EBS database upgraded to Oracle Database 10g Release 2 according to MetaLink Note 362203.1
Not Supported in this Early Adopter Program
Use in production environments
The nature of this particular feature of the database where data is transferred from one system to another lends itself to significant risk if bugs are found in the process of migrating data. As a result, Early Adopter Program customers are not to use
this feature to transfer data for the intention of use in production environments.Customers are expected to wait till certification is announced before using the latest certified builds to migrate their production environments.
Use of RAC
The use of this feature with Real Application Clusters (RAC) and EBS 11i is currently not supported. While this restriction may be eased in a future build, we would currently like to isolate all issues independent of any that may arise from the use of RAC.
Built-in Limitations of XTTS
These are documented in the Oracle Database Administrator’s Guide 10g Release 2 (10.2).
One important limitation outlined in this document that is relevant for EBS is that the source and target databases must have the same character set and national character set.
Early Adopter Program Participation Criteria
Licencing: You are licenced for the Oracle E-Business Suite 11i.
Commitment: You are committed to testing this feature of 10gR2 with 11i.
Expertise: You have strong E-Business Suite 11i DBA and technology stack expertise and are comfortable with debugging and reproducing undocumented issues.
Account Management: You have strong and proactive Oracle account management support
Risk Tolerance: You have reasonable tolerance for unexpected technical issues.
Flexible Schedules: You have flexible deadlines with sufficient time to investigate unexpected technical issues.
Configuration Coverage: You have cross platform testbeds to provide the test coverage across the various 11i supported platforms.
Test Coverage: You are able to perform a reasonably large number of tests across as wide a product range as possible.
What Required of Early Adopter Program Participants?
We make significant investments in ensuring the success of Early Adopter program participants. In return, participants are asked:
To file detailed service reports (SRs) via Metalink with well-formed problem descriptions, logs, and error messages
To provide feedback on the quality of documentation and patches
To provide periodic updates on progress via conference calls and/or status reports
To ensure that skilled DBA and systems administration staff are assigned to the project
To participate in post-implementation reviews or other working sessions to assess quality and issues encountered
To participate in customer reference-related activities such as OracleWorld or Radio Oracle programs after a successful implementation (optional)
To upgrade to the latest certified configuration using the latest patches as soon as possible
How Does the Early Adopter Program Work?
We deliver an Early Adopter Program build to you
You install and configure the Early Adopter Build
You report any issues through the Early Adopter Program support process
You provide periodic updates on your progress
Oracle Development releases documentation updates and new Builds based on ongoing internal certification tests and participant feedback
The Early Adopter Program concludes when participant feedback validates all of our program objectives
Early Adopter participants upgrade to the latest certified Builds (whose documentation will be published in MetaLink, and scripts made available as a patch) and transition to regular support channels.
Interested in Participating?
Effective immediately, we’re accepting nominations for this Early Adopter Program. If you’re interested in participating, send me an email with the following information:
Your organization’s name and location of data center where implementation will take place
Your contact information
Frequency of Oracle account management meetings
Desired timeline for implementation
Ability to sustain schedule slippage
Your risk tolerance for product defects, incomplete documentation, undocumented steps for unusual configurations
Names of Oracle Consulting staff (if any) engaged on-site
Operating system platform and version of source and target systems.
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i Rapid Install release
Number of Release 11i environments to be tested with Early Adopter software
Products that are targeted for testing, and the extent of testing planned.
Number of registered users for test environment
Special configuration requirements (e.g. Real Applications Clusters, firewalls, demilitarized zones, software or hardware-based load balancing, multiple application-tier nodes, distributed architectures)
Reasons for interest in this Early Adopter program
Your understanding of the requirement to upgrade from the Early Adopter configuration to the latest Builds available after the Early Adopter Program concludes
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