# Working with tempfiles in RDS for Oracle
<a name="Appendix.Oracle.CommonDBATasks.using-tempfiles"></a>

## Adding a tempfile to the instance store on a read replica
<a name="Appendix.Oracle.CommonDBATasks.adding-tempfile-replica"></a>

When you create a temporary tablespace on a primary DB instance, the read replica doesn't create tempfiles. Assume that an empty temporary tablespace exists on your read replica for either of the following reasons:
+ You dropped a tempfile from the tablespace on your read replica. For more information, see [Dropping tempfiles on a read replica](Appendix.Oracle.CommonDBATasks.dropping-tempfiles-replica.md).
+ You created a new temporary tablespace on the primary DB instance. In this case, RDS for Oracle synchronizes the metadata to the read replica.

You can add a tempfile to the empty temporary tablespace, and store the tempfile in the instance store. To create a tempfile in the instance store, use the Amazon RDS procedure `rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.add_inst_store_tempfile`. You can use this procedure only on a read replica. The procedure has the following parameters.


****  

| Parameter name | Data type | Default | Required | Description | 
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | 
|  `p_tablespace_name`  |  varchar  |  —  |  Yes  |  The name of the temporary tablespace on your read replica.  | 

In the following example, the empty temporary tablespace *temp01* exists on your read replica. Run the following command to create a tempfile for this tablespace, and store it in the instance store.

```
EXEC rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.add_inst_store_tempfile(p_tablespace_name => 'temp01');
```

For more information, see [Storing temporary data in an RDS for Oracle instance store](CHAP_Oracle.advanced-features.instance-store.md).

# Dropping tempfiles on a read replica
<a name="Appendix.Oracle.CommonDBATasks.dropping-tempfiles-replica"></a>

You can't drop an existing temporary tablespace on a read replica. You can change the tempfile storage on a read replica from Amazon EBS to the instance store, or from the instance store to Amazon EBS. To achieve these goals, do the following:

1. Drop the current tempfiles in the temporary tablespace on the read replica.

1. Create new tempfiles on different storage.

To drop the tempfiles, use the Amazon RDS procedure `rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util. drop_replica_tempfiles`. You can use this procedure only on read replicas. The `drop_replica_tempfiles` procedure has the following parameters.


****  

| Parameter name | Data type | Default | Required | Description | 
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | 
|  `p_tablespace_name`  |  varchar  |  —  |  Yes  |  The name of the temporary tablespace on your read replica.  | 

Assume that a temporary tablespace named *temp01* resides in the instance store on your read replica. Drop all tempfiles in this tablespace by running the following command.

```
EXEC rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.drop_replica_tempfiles(p_tablespace_name => 'temp01');
```

For more information, see [Storing temporary data in an RDS for Oracle instance store](CHAP_Oracle.advanced-features.instance-store.md).