Copy Oracle Home into another folder on same machine

[antzzz]

I'm using Oracle 9i Release 2 on Solaris 8. I would like to create another Oracle Home (same version as existing)on the same machine where I can play around with patches, etc. while leaving the original one intact.

Without doing another tedious CD Install, is it possible to just copy all the folders/files in the existing Oracle Home and put them into another folder?

What do I need to watch out for? What files do I need to update? Any Unix/Oracle parameters that need to be updated for the "new Oracle Home"?

Thanks for any help!

 

[alexhu]

I see no reason why you can't do this provided all your variables (ORACLE_HOME, ORACLE_BASE, ORACLE_SID) are set to the right values

Alex

 

[hoinz]

I agree with Alex, it should work.
But I would like to add two caveats:

1) If you are going to upgrade the new dateabase later on using OUI (Oracle Universal Installer), then you might get some problems, as there are no entries in oraInventory.

2) You max have to relink Oracle executables, as the path to some dynamic libraries or other files may be hardcoded.
(Though in your case, the old path should work as well, as it is on the same machine.)
I saw this in Tru64 Unix, not sure if Solaris is the same.

regards

 

[antzzz]

Thanks for your replies.

Is there any way to update the orainventory manually? And will I be able to patch the new Oracle Home?

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Are you trying to have another database instance or just a client?

If you plan to have another instance, the simple copying of files will not,of course,do it..You would need to create a new instance while using the new ORACLE_HOME or manually edit the control file(s) copied to the new location and make other changes so that it is seen as separate from your original instance.

 

[hoinz]

Hi,

one way to overcome possible problems with oraInventory could be this:
Copy oraInventory as well, i.e. use two inventories for your two databases.
I never tried it, but I think it should work.
One point you have to bear in mind:
When you start OUI, it first looks in a file, for me it's /var/opt/oracle/oraInst.loc, to see where the inventory is located.
You may edit this file to point to your currently needed inventory.
And then patching should work as well.

On the other hand:
When reading my replies, you see some 'should' or 'not sure'.
Not sure (once again) if this way really is faster than a 'normal' install.

regards