Guidelines for when to use the onunload and onload utilities
You can use onunload and onload only when certain conditions are met.
You can use only onunload and onload if your answer to each of the following questions is yes. If your answer is no, you cannot use onunload and onload.
| Use onunload and onload only if your answer to each question is yes | My answer |
|---|---|
| Is the target database server on the same hardware platform? | |
| Do you want to move to another database server of the same version? | |
| Do you want to keep the existing database schema without modifying it? | |
| Do you want to move an entire database or an entire table? | |
| Are the page images compatible? | |
| Are the numeric representations the same? |
When you cannot use the onunload and onload utilities
Because the data is written in page-sized units, you cannot use onunload and onload to move data between UNIX™ or Linux™ and Windows™ because they use different page sizes. For example, the page size is 2 KB on some UNIX systems and 4 KB on Windows.
Additionally, you cannot use onunload and onload:
- To move data between GLS and non-GLS databases.
- To move compressed data from one database to another.
You must uncompress data in compressed tables and fragments before you use the onload and onunload utilities.
- To move external tables or databases that contain external
tables.
You must drop all the external tables before you use the onunload utility.
- To move tables and databases that contain extended or smart-large-object data types