Migrating data for large Oracle databases - Strategies for Migrating Oracle Databases to AWS

Migrating data for large Oracle databases

For larger databases, use one of the methods described in this section rather than one of the methods described in Migrating Data for small Oracle Databases. For the purpose of this whitepaper, define a large database as any database 10 GB or more.

This section describes three methods for migrating large databases:

  • Data migration using Oracle Data Pump – Oracle Data Pump is an excellent tool for migrating large amounts of data, and it can be used with databases on either Amazon RDS or Amazon EC2.

  • Data migration using Oracle external tables – The process involved in data migration using Oracle external tables is very similar to that of Oracle Data Pump. Use this method if you already have processes built around it; otherwise, it is better to use the Oracle Data Pump method.

  • Data migration using Oracle RMAN – Migration using RMAN can be useful if you are already backing up the database to AWS, or using the AWS Import/Export service to bring the data to AWS. Oracle RMAN can be used only for databases on Amazon EC2, not Amazon RDS.