Transfer or move an Oracle database between platforms

One of the most common things you might have to do with an Oracle database is to move it from one platform to another. For example, say you want to move a database from a Windows 2003 box that was set up for testing to a production Linux server. With Oracle 10g and below, you cannot do this by moving the datafiles since they are in a different format depending on the platform. This can even be done to get your data to different versions of Oracle as well. You must do a full export and import to the target machine. Here are some steps I have used recently which will accomplish this task:

1. On the target machine, use the DBCA or any creation script to create the blank database with the datafiles in the proper location.

2. Configure tnsnames.ora and listener.ora for the new database on the target machine.

3. On the old machine, run the following command to do a full export:
exp system/manager FULL=y FILE=exp_full.dmp LOG=exp_full.log

4. Copy the dmp file to the target machine in binary mode

5. On the new host, export your ORACLE_SID and then run the following command to do the import:
imp system/manager FULL=y FILE=exp_full.dmp LOG=imp_full.log IGNORE=y

That is it - now you have your database copied from your old server to the new server.