Binary dump and load ok for platform and version migration

[pinne65]

We are planing on migrating OE 10.1B03/AIX 5.3 to OE 11.X/(RHEL /CentOS 6.5).

I was under the impression that a text dump and load was required for this operation. But I seem to remember having seen here or elsewhere that's not the case. Does anyone know?

Also, if both are possible, which one would be the preferred method? I'm thinking a binary would be faster and produce less bloated output.

Cheers!

 

[Rob Fitzpatrick]

In general yes you can use binary dump and load for platform migration. Certainly it will be faster than ASCII D&L for tables of a meaningful size.

If I remember correctly there was a bug in the 10.1B timeframe where binary dump files were not compatible across architecture changes (32-bit -> 64-bit) but I think that was Linux-specific. I'll see if I can find a KB article about that. Unless you are affected by that bug, go binary. And be sure to use all the new idxbuild parameters available to you in 11.3, especially -TF and -datascanthreads.

 

[TomBascom]

Aside from bugs (I've never actually been bitten by such) binary is perfectly usable for such a purpose and will usually perform best.

Testing is, of course, always a very good idea. Regardless of the method you use.

 

[pinne65]

Thanks!

In this case we have the luxury of being able to perform full dry-runs well ahead of time