Exports from a READ ONLY standby database

[Mike Donovan]

Question:
I have a question about exporting data from standby database.

Is it possible to export data from a standby database if it is in READ-ONLY mode ?

Answer:
Yes, it is possible to perform an export from an Oracle database when that instance is in READ ONLY mode.

I have just tested this, to verify that this was the case, and it worked successfully on an Oracle database running 11g on Windows.

Since 10g Oracle have improved their import/export functionality with the 'new' Data Pump utility. You could also use this (expdp) for a read-only database, but you must use Data Pump Export's network_link mechanism, initiating the process on the target database. This is because Oracle Data Pump won't be able to create the necessary master table on a 'local' read-only database. I mention it because this is another option, and Data Pump significantly reduces the time taken to perform exports in comparison to the older (deprecated) exp utility.