Copying a database file from the primary server to a specified directory
If the directory that the secondary server uses for the database is visible to the primary server, you can use the hotstandby copy command to copy the database from the primary server to the secondary server.
This task is only possible in cases where the primary and secondary servers can see some of the same disk drives and therefore can read and write some of the same directories.
Important Before you run the hotstandby copy command, shut down the secondary server. The secondary server must not try to access the database file while the primary server is writing to the file.
Note The primary server must be in PRIMARY ALONE state when you run the hotstandby copy command, and the primary server remains in that state during (and after) the command.
The key difference between the hotstandby copy command and thehotstandby netcopy command is that the netcopy command can be used only when the secondary server is running. The copy command can be used only when the secondary server is not running. Performance-wise, there is no significant difference between the two database copy methods.
Procedure
1 To copy the database file by using hotstandby copy, run the following command on the primary server:
ADMIN COMMAND 'hotstandby copy[directory_name]';
where directory_name is the name of the directory to which you want to copy the file.
The format of the directory name is operating system dependent. The directory name is optional. If you do not specify a directory name, then the server uses the value that is specified by the HotStandby.CopyDirectoryparameter.
When you run the hotstandby copy command, the server creates a checkpoint and makes a copy of the primary database before it sends the copy to the secondary server.
Since the primary server is in PRIMARY ALONE state, transaction processing on the primary server continues normally during the copy command, and the primary server stores the transactions in the transaction log so that they can be forwarded to the secondary server later.
2 After a copy operation, the secondary server is still shut down. You must start the server and then run the hotstandby connect command to connect the two servers.
When the primary server is connected to the secondary server by using the administrative command hotstandby connect, the primary and secondary servers automatically perform "catchup" to bring the secondary database up-to-date.