Importing data into Oracle on Amazon RDS
How you import data into an Amazon RDS for Oracle DB instance depends on the following:
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The amount of data you have
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The number of database objects in your database
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The variety of database objects in your database
For example, you can use the following tools, depending on your requirements:
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Oracle SQL Developer – Import a simple, 20 MB database.
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Oracle Data Pump – Import complex databases, or databases that are several hundred megabytes or several terabytes in size. For example, you can transport tablespaces from an on-premises database to your RDS for Oracle DB instance. You can use Amazon S3 or Amazon EFS to transfer the data files and metadata. For more information, see Migrating using Oracle transportable tablespaces, Amazon EFS integration, and Amazon S3 integration.
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AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS) – Migrate databases without downtime. For more information about AWS DMS, see What is AWS Database Migration Service and the blog post Migrating Oracle databases with near-zero downtime using AWS DMS
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Important
Before you use the preceding migration techniques, we recommend that you back up your database. After you import the data, you can back up your RDS for Oracle DB instances by creating snapshots. Later, you can restore the snapshots. For more information, see Backing up, restoring, and exporting data.
The following table compares the import methods available for RDS for Oracle DB instances.
| Method | Best for | Downtime impact | Complexity | Limitations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oracle SQL Developer | Simple schemas under 100 MB | High | Low | Not suitable for large or complex databases |
| Data Pump via Amazon S3 | 100 MB to 5 TB without a network link to the source | Medium | Medium | 5 TB maximum per dump file |
| Data Pump via database link | Any size with network connectivity to the source | Medium | Medium | Requires VPC or VPN connectivity to the source database |
| Transportable tablespaces | Multi-TB migrations requiring minimum downtime | Low | High | Enterprise Edition only |
| SQL*Loader | Flat file loads and ETL workflows | Varies | Medium | Manual DDL required; data must be in flat file format |
| Materialized views | Ongoing synchronization before cutover | Very low | Medium | Requires a database link to the source database |
For many database engines, ongoing replication can continue until you are ready to switch over to the target database. You can use AWS DMS to migrate to RDS for Oracle from either the same database engine or a different engine. If you migrate from a different database engine, you can use the AWS Schema Conversion Tool to migrate schema objects that AWS DMS doesn't migrate.
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