Since the objective is to not physically move data, we would need to keep the Source database structures intact and find a way of literally plugging the Source database into the Target. Therefore, we won't be moving or merging the Source database files or ASM diskgroups into the Target mounts. Instead, we'll be creating new mount points. In case the database is on a file system, that will mean a new file system mount point, whereas for ASM, it'll mean new ASM disk groups.
The ASM case is a little more complicated and needs a few extra steps, so that's the one we will use for demonstration in this article.
At a high level, we will be performing the following actions:
- Create database file rename scripts
- Rename disk groups
- Start Source database in mount mode and execute file rename scripts
- Rename ASMLib disk labels
- Rename ASM disks
- Open database in read-only mode, and create XML file using DBMS_PDB.DESCRIBE
- Take a protection group snapshot on the Source
- Create new volumes from snapshot, and connect them to the Target host
- Check the compatibility of Source with Target and if OK, create the pluggable database using Source XML spec
- Run the dictionary conversion script - noncdb_to_pdb.sql and open the pluggable database.