RMAN backup/recovery across different OSs

I've been searching this forum for some firm answers whether I can backup a DB on Solaris and restore it to Linux/Win2k but came up with different answers:

In thread 39980, it said a backup from one OS can not be restored to another OS. ( I suppose this means even backing up from Solaris and restoring to Linux is impossible?)

However, in thread 31634, it said it's possible.

My concerns is if I were to backup from Solaris and restore to Windows, how does file paths get converted from one OS to another. It seems the control files will need to be changed in a major way.

What about backup from Solaris and restore to Linux, which are both based on UNIX? Is there any dependency on the OS binary in any way when the backups are created? Thus preventing the above scenerios from working?

Finally, I plan to use RMAN on Win2k to back up DBs on Solaris. Assuming my goal is to be able to restore back to a Solaris box, will it work to run RMAN on Win2k with target DBs on Solaris?

We use Oracle on Solaris/Linux/Win2k so I am trying to see if I can use one RMAN catalog to back up all databases on all platforms.

Any suggestions are very much appreciated!

Nope, don't work.

Jeff,

Quote:

---

Finally, I plan to use RMAN on Win2k to back up DBs on Solaris. Assuming my goal is to be able to restore back to a Solaris box, will it work to run RMAN on Win2k with target DBs on Solaris?

---

He is using RMAN backup not physical file backup. Why he can't make a auxillary database to a different OS? It will be RMAN who builds the database in physical level and not directly copying from the physical data files. So will you please explain what is the problem?

Say,
original database in Sun Solaris
Catalog database is in NT
backup using rman

Need to create an auxillary database in IBM AIX => you mean to say this is not possible..? Sorry don't have multiple OS to check the possibility..!!

Thanks

Revoking my claim. Whoops. Escaped froma possible fire!

Jeff,

Thanks. I can understand backing up from one target DB and restoring to another on different OS won't work.

What about using RMAN on Win2k to backup from and restore to Solaris based systems? That is, if I want to use RMAN to back up and restore DBs on Solaris, does it mean the RMAN must reside on a Solaris system as well?

Thanks,

No, the repository can be on any platform - its just metadata residing in a database.