Migration Tools

Grab a cup of tea and kick back and prepare to "research" migration technologies without reading 1 doc or white paper. ehhh , ok theres one doc, or you could wait a few weeks till I get a viewlet together

Migrate Sybase table definitions, indexes, primary and foriegn keys, constraints, triggers, functions, views, procedures and data to Oracle using SQL Developer
http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/migration/workbench/viewlets/sqlserver.html

The above uses JDBC to pump the data from Sybase to Oracle.
This has its limitations, so why not use SQL Developers automatically generated BCP and SQL*Loader scripts to pump data from Sybase to Oracle
http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/migration/workbench/viewlets/ofdm.html

Still , you would have to take your database down for some time while the data move was acomplised. Thats where Oracle GoldenGate comes in. It allows real time data move without taking down your Sybase database , and ... even when your apps running on Oracle you can keep the data updated on your Sybase system until your happy to turn it off.

http://www.goldengate.com/solutions/migrations.html
Sorry youll have to read that page. Ill put together a viewlet soon.
GoldenGate also offer an impressive data comparison tool.

SQL Developer is free to download off OTN
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/sql_developer/index.html

Oracle Golden Gate is not free
http://www.oracle.com/goldengate/index.html

Scope of Migrating to Oracle

My wife hates spiders and after heroically saving her last week from one she asked through her fingers how big it was. My best description was
"It was bigger than a small spider, but smaller then a big spider".

I dont know if that desciption fits here, but let me try and jam it into a incredibly weak analogy.

Migrating from Sybase to Oracle is not simple yet its not incredibly difficult.

Hmm , not great is it. Lets start again.

Here are the parts (I can think of) you need to think about when migrating

• Database : Data + Stored Programs


• Scripts : ETL and Backup/Restore


• Applications : Custom Apps and 3rd Party Apps


• Hardware : You may want new hardware / storage


• DBAs and Developers : May need training


• Users : May need training if the application changes. For Example you may write a Application Express App.

Performing a migration by hand is possible but there are tools available for free from Oracle which help along the way.

Why Migrate To Oracle

Ask an Oracle Sales Guy/Gal!

Im not Sybase user as such , nor am I a Sales person, but the following make sense to me.

Why have some of your data on Sybase and some on Oracle.

I would imagine that is painful for a few reasons
a)You need both Sybase and Oracle dbas & developers.
b)You cant run neat queries between the two systems without lots of messing about. When your looking at Oracle data, your Sybase data may as well be on the moon and vice versa.
c)You have to own 2 licenses / support contracts.
d)Your data, processes, applications,.. are not one standard.
e)If you consolidate to one platform or database, you can have 1 operation to backup/failover/upgrade/.....


So why not migrate to Sybase?
This is an easy question. Oracle is way cooler.
I rest my case.

The list of Oracle features , products, services , tools and partners is seriously impressive.
Visit otn.oracle.com

This Blog

This blog will outline what I currently know and what I will learn about making the jump between Sybase and Oracle.

Im an Oracle employee for the last ten years , working on the OMWB (Oracle Migration Workbench) and SQL Developer.
As Im involved in developing the tooling required in migrations rather than performing migrations, I am always one step away from customers and their projects.

Hopefully this blog will save someone some time and give me a place to share some ideas.

Feel free to post questions as I will probably never see them and never answer them :)

Dermot.