fileNameConversionSpec

Purpose

Use the fileNameConversionSpec subclause to specify one or more patterns to be used in generating new file names based on old file names. Used with BACKUP, CONVERT, and DUPLICATE as one way of generating output file names.

Usage Notes

The rules for string patterns and how they affect file naming are the same as those for the initialization parameter DB_FILE_NAME_CONVERT. In parentheses, provide an even number of string patterns.

When RMAN generates a new file name based on an old one, it compares the original file name to the first member of each pair of string patterns. The first time that RMAN finds a pattern that is a substring of the original file name, RMAN generates the new file name by substituting the second member of the pair for the substring that matched.

The pattern does not have to match at the beginning of the file name. The following command creates an image copy of data file /disk1/dbs/users.dbf as /disk1/newdbs/users.dbf:

BACKUP AS COPY
    DB_FILE_NAME_CONVERT = ('dbs','newdbs');
    TABLESPACE users;

When multiple possible matches exist for a given file name being converted, RMAN uses the first match in the list of patterns to generate the new file name. The following command has the same effect as the previous example because the pattern dbs matches the file name, so that the file name is never compared to the second pattern /disk1:

BACKUP AS COPY
    DB_FILE_NAME_CONVERT = ('dbs','newdbs','/disk1','/newdisk')
    TABLESPACE users;

For the CONVERT TABLESPACE, CONVERT DATABASE, and BACKUP AS COPY commands, if the source files for these operations are Oracle-managed files, then you cannot use fileNameConversionSpec to convert the source file names into new output file names. For Oracle-managed files, either in Automated Storage Management (ASM) or in ordinary file system storage, the database must be allowed to generate the file names for the output files. For example, an OMF file name for a data file in non-ASM storage might be of the following form:

/private/boston/datafile/01_mf_system_ab12554_.dbf

An OMF file name in ASM storage might be of the following form:

+DISK/boston/datafile/system.256.4543080

Only the database can generate and manage OMF file names. Typically, substituting the name of a different disk group or a different OMF location into an OMF file name does not produce a valid file name in the new destination. To convert OMF file names for storage in another OMF location, use an alternative such as a FORMAT clause with these commands to specify the new output location and allow the database to manage the specific output file names.

Syntax

fileNameConversionSpec::=

Description of the illustration filenameconversionspec.gif

Semantics

Syntax Element Description

Syntax Element	Description
`string_pattern`	Specifies pairs of strings used to convert the file names. You can use as many pairs of primary and standby replacement strings as required. For example, you could set the string pattern to a value such as: `DB_FILE_NAME_CONVERT = ('str1','str2','str3', 'str4' ...)` In this example, `str1` is a pattern matching the original file name, `str2` is the pattern replacing `str1` in the generated file name, `str3` is a pattern matching the original file name, and `str4` is the pattern replacing `str3` in the generated file name.

string_pattern

Specifies pairs of strings used to convert the file names. You can use as many pairs of primary and standby replacement strings as required. For example, you could set the string pattern to a value such as:

DB_FILE_NAME_CONVERT = ('str1','str2','str3', 'str4' ...)

In this example, str1 is a pattern matching the original file name, str2 is the pattern replacing str1 in the generated file name, str3 is a pattern matching the original file name, and str4 is the pattern replacing str3 in the generated file name.

Examples

Example 4-17 Using DB_FILE_NAME_CONVERT with a Single Conversion Pair

In this example, the tablespace users contains data files in directory /disk1/oradata/prod/, whereas tablespace tools contains data files in /disk1/oradata/prod/. For each data file to be converted, if disk1/oradata/prod is a substring of the data file name, then the image copy name is created by replacing the string with disk2.

BACKUP AS COPY 
  DB_FILE_NAME_CONVERT = ('disk1/oradata/prod','disk2')
  TABLESPACE users, tools;

Example 4-18 Using DB_FILE_NAME_CONVERT with Multiple Conversion Pairs

This example creates image copies of the same data files described in Example 4-17. The first string in each pair specifies a pattern to match in the name of the source data files. The second string in each pair is the substitution pattern to use when generating the names of the image copies.

BACKUP AS COPY 
    DB_FILE_NAME_CONVERT=('/disk1/oradata/prod/users','/disk2/users',
                          '/disk1/oradata/prod/tools','/tmp/tools')
    TABLESPACE tools, users;

The following sample output for this command demonstrates how RMAN uses the conversion pairs to name the output image copies:

Starting backup at 08-MAR-07
using channel ORA_DISK_1
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting datafile copy
input datafile file number=00027 name=/disk1/oradata/prod/tools01.dbf
output file name=/tmp/tools01.dbf tag=TAG20070308T143300 RECID=33 STAMP=616689181
channel ORA_DISK_1: datafile copy complete, elapsed time: 00:00:01
channel ORA_DISK_1: starting datafile copy
input datafile file number=00028 name=/disk1/oradata/prod/users01.dbf
output file name=/disk2/users01.dbf tag=TAG20070308T143300 RECID=34 STAMP=616689182
channel ORA_DISK_1: datafile copy complete, elapsed time: 00:00:01
Finished backup at 08-MAR-07
 
Starting Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 08-MAR-07
piece handle=/disk2/PROD/autobackup/2007_03_08/o1_mf_s_616689184_2z13s1kx_.bkp comment=NONE
Finished Control File and SPFILE Autobackup at 08-MAR-07