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NetApp and Delphix are in different worlds. NetApp is storage hardware and Delphix is software. NetApp is awesome technology and with a proven track record of reliability, scalability and flexibility. Of all the methods for thin cloning Oracle databases, the method I hear about most often, besides Delphix, is using NetApp FlexClone, and the question often arises “What does Delphix offer over NetApp?” Delphix offers quite a bit, and in fact many Delphix customers use NetApp for storage, but use Delphix for thin cloning and database virtualization.

Oracle OEM 12c introduces a new feature that enables the creation of Oracle database thin clones by leveraging file system snapshot technologies from either Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance or Netapp.  The OEM adds a graphic interface to the process of making database thin clones. The feature that enables database thin cloning in OEM is called Snap Clone and is part of OEM’s Cloud Control Self Service for data cloning. Snap Clone is available via the feature Database as a Service (DBaaS). Snap clone leverages the copy on write technologies available in some storage systems for database cloning.  Support is initially available for NAS storage and specifically on Oralce ZFS Storage Appliacen and NetApp Storage.

I should stress that this is all well covered in the documentation, but it was something I stumbled upon just recently.

Its common knowledge that you can lock a table:

SQL> create table T 
  2   ( x int ) 
  3  partition by range ( x ) 
  4  ( 
  5    partition p1 values less than (10), 
  6    partition p2 values less than (20), 
  7    partition p3 values less than (30) 
  8  );

Table created.

SQL> lock table T in exclusive mode;

Table(s) Locked.

However, you can also selectively lock just partitions of a table as well, using the standard partition clause, for example:

Session 1

SQL> lock table T partition ( p1 ) in exclusive mode;

Table(s) Locked.

whilst the following is still possible in session 2:

This post is part of an ongoing series:

This post is part of an ongoing series:

• Part I: Database Thin Cloning, clonedb (oracle)
• Part II : Database Thin Cloning: Copy on Write (EMC)
• Part III: Database Thin Cloning: WAFL (Netapp)
• Part IV: Database Thin Cloning: Allocate on Write (ZFS)
• Database Thin Cloning: Summary

Summary

These blog posts on thin cloning have covered a number of ways to create database thin clones, yet there are still some challenges:

Database-managed Cloning with Oracle Clonedb

This post is part of an ongoing series:

• Part I: Database Thin Cloning, clonedb (oracle)
• Part II : Database Thin Cloning: Copy on Write (EMC)
• Part III: Database Thin Cloning: WAFL (Netapp)
• Part IV: Database Thin Cloning: Allocate on Write (ZFS)
• Part V: Database Thin Cloning: Summary

(very interested in real life experiences and alternative strategies to using ZFS for thin cloning. Please comment and or email me at kylelf@gmail.com)

This post is part of an ongoing series:

• Part I: Database Thin Cloning, clonedb (oracle)
• Part II : Database Thin Cloning: Copy on Write (EMC)
• Part III: Database Thin Cloning: WAFL (Netapp)
• Part IV: Database Thin Cloning: Allocate on Write (ZFS)
• Part V: Database Thin Cloning: Summary

(very interested in real life experiences and alternative strategies to using Netapp for thin cloning. Please comment and or email me at kylelf@gmail.com)

This post is part of an ongoing series:

• Part I: Database Thin Cloning, clonedb (oracle)
• Part II : Database Thin Cloning: Copy on Write (EMC)
• Part III: Database Thin Cloning: WAFL (Netapp)
• Part IV: Database Thin Cloning: Allocate on Write (ZFS)
• Part V: Database Thin Cloning: Summary

(very interested in real life experiences and alternative strategies to using EMC for thin cloning. Please comment and or email me at kylelf@gmail.com)

This post is part of an ongoing series:

• Part I: Database Thin Cloning, clonedb (oracle)
• Part II : Database Thin Cloning: Copy on Write (EMC)
• Part III: Database Thin Cloning: WAFL (Netapp)
• Part IV: Database Thin Cloning: Allocate on Write (ZFS)
• Part V: Database Thin Cloning: Summary

(very interested in real life experiences and alternative strategies to using EMC, Netapp, cloned, ZFS or other for thin cloning. Please comment and or email me at kylelf@gmail.com)