To check Oracle Data Pump dump files for validity, you can now use checksums that are added to the dump file.

Oracle Data Pump is used for migrating application data from on-premises Oracle Database instances into the Oracle Cloud, and also for copying dump files to on-premises.

In this release, a checksum is now added to the dump file. You can use the checksum to help to confirm that the file is valid after a transfer to or from the object store and also after saving dump files on on-premises and that it has no accidental or malicious changes.

Related Topics

• Oracle® Database Database Utilities

Starting with this release, Oracle Data Pump can perform exports from Oracle Autonomous Database into dump files in a cloud object store.

Oracle Data Pump supports dump file export from cloud services to the object store. You can now migrate data from services you manage in Oracle Autonomous Database.

Related Topics

• Oracle® Database Database Utilities

Starting with this release, Oracle Data Pump can include and exclude objects in the same export or import operation.

Oracle Data Pump provides powerful, flexible inclusion and exclusion of objects for a job. Now, Oracle Data Pump commands can include both INCLUDE and EXCLUDE parameters in the same operation. By enabling greater specificity about what is being migrated, this enhancement makes it easier to migrate to Oracle Cloud, or to another on-premises Oracle Database.

Related Topics

• Oracle® Database Database Utilities

Starting with this release, Oracle Data Pump improves Transportable Tablespace metadata operations with parallelism.

Oracle Data Pump now supports parallel export and import operations for Transportable Tablespace (TTS) metadata. This is the information that associates the tablespace data files with the target database in a TTS migration. Parallelism improves TTS export and import performance, especially when there are millions of database objects in the data files, including tables, indexes, partitions, and subpartitions.

Related Topics

• Oracle® Database Database Utilities

In this release, Oracle Data Pump supports optional index compression on imports, including for Oracle Autonomous Database.

Oracle Data Pump supports adding, changing and eliminating table compression. Oracle Database 21c supports index compression as well by introducing a new TRANSFORM parameter clause, INDEX_COMPRESSION_CLAUSE. This clause enables you to control whether index compression is performed during import. Adding this clause also enables you to specify index compression on import with the autonomous services.

Related Topics

• Oracle® Database Database Utilities

Starting with this release, Oracle Data Pump resumes transportable tablespace export and import jobs that are stopped.

Oracle Data Pump has the capacity to resume transportable tablespace export and import jobs. Due to errors, or other problems, you can find that transportable tablespace export or import jobs are stopped. Oracle Data Pump's capacity to resume these stopped jobs helps to save you time, and makes the system more available.

Related Topics

• Oracle® Database Database Utilities

Starting with Oracle Database 21c, Oracle Data Pump expdp and impdp support use of object store URIs for the DUMPFILE parameter.

To use this feature for exports or imports from an object store, the CREDENTIAL parameter must be set. This feature eases migration to and from Oracle Cloud, because it relieves you of the extra step of transferring a dumpfile to or from the object store. Note that export and import performance is slower when accessing the object store, compared to local disk access, but the process is simpler. In addition, the process should be faster than running two separate export operations from Oracle Cloud, and transferring the dumpfile from the object store to an on premises location, or transferring the dumpfile from on premises to the object store, and then importing into Oracle Cloud.

Related Topics

• Oracle® Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference

In this release, Oracle Data Pump enables export and import of Oracle Database native JSON objects.

Oracle Data Pump supports export and import of the new native JSON datatype in Oracle Database. This includes conventional and Transportable Tablespace (TTS) export and import of tables containing the JSON Datatype in full, tablespaces and table modes.

Starting with this release, Oracle SQL*Loader accesses data in an object store by presenting user-defined credentials.

Oracle SQL*Loader now enables you to to specify credentials that you define, so that you can access and read data from files in an object store into Oracle Database.

Related Topics

• Oracle® Database Database Utilities

Oracle SQL*Loader enables JSON file data loading into Oracle Database native JSON objects.

Starting with this release, SQL*Loader conventional and direct path supports loading JSON data into the new native JSON data type in Oracle Database.

Related Topics

• Oracle® Database Database Utilities

Starting with Oracle Database 21c, AutoUpgrade automates the steps necessary to upgrade a database in an Oracle Data Guard configuration.

Steps that AutoUpgrade automates includes disabling and re-enabling the Data Guard Broker (if present), and deferring log file transport while the upgrade takes place. Automation of these Oracle Data Guard operations in the context of a database upgrade eliminates the need for manual or scripted steps that you otherwise would have to perform yourself. This in turn makes it easier to automate upgrades of databases in Oracle Data Guard configurations. This feature particularly helps to automate upgrades in high-end environments, where there can be many hundreds of such databases that you upgrade as part of your upgrade project.

Related Topics

• Oracle® Database Database Upgrade Guide

AutoUpgrade automates all the steps needed to upgrade an Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) database.

AutoUpgrade automates steps that previously had to be performed manually or scripted. Steps that AutoUpgrade automates include the SRVCTL commands to stop and restart instances on multiple nodes, handling of CLUSTER_DATABASE, updating initialization parameter files, and restarting services, where appropriate.

This feature reduces the possibility of manual errors and decreases the work needed for DBAs to perform routine maintenance and upgrade activities.

Related Topics

• Oracle® Database Database Upgrade Guide

To simplify upgrades to Oracle Database 21c, AutoUpgrade automates steps to convert a database from a non-CDB to a PDB as part of a database upgrade.

Oracle Database 21c requires multitenant architecture. With this release, you can use AutoUpgrade for non-CDB to PDB upgrades from Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2) and later releases. Using the automation features of AutoUpgrade reduces both the effort required of DBAs for upgrades, and the risk associated with typographical errors in a manual process.

Related Topics

• Oracle® Database Database Upgrade Guide

AutoUpgrade automates unplugging a PDB from a CDB, plugging it into a higher version CDB, and upgrading the PDB to that new target version.

As part of the process to simplify upgrade, you can upgrade pluggable databases (PDBs) using an unplug/plug, where the upgrade occurs when you plug the PDB into the target release container database (CDB). This feature adds another scenario in which AutoUpgrade can automate the entire database upgrade process.

Related Topics

• Oracle® Database Database Upgrade Guide

Oracle Database AutoUpgrade enables you to upgrade one or many databases without human intervention, all with one command, and with a single configuration file.

AutoUpgrade enables you to upgrade one or many Oracle Database instances at the command-line, using a single command and a single configuration file. AutoUpgrade runs the preupgrade tasks, performs automated fix-ups where needed, runs the database upgrade, and finishes by completing post-upgrade tasks. It includes automatic retry and fallback, the option to schedule upgrades for future points in time, and the ability to set, change, or remove initialization parameters as desired. Using AutoUpgrade can save you time and money by enabling you to upgrade hundreds of databases with one command, and avoid the need for high-maintenance upgrade solutions.

Related Topics

• Oracle® Database Database Upgrade Guide
• Hitchhiker's Guide for Upgrading to Oracle Database 19c Workshop