One of my favorite Oracle Autonomous Database features for developers #JoelKallmanDay

Hi everyone,

One of my favorite features of Oracle Autonomous Database is the possibility to clone and/or move an Autonomous Database.

You can choose to create a full clone, create a metadata clone, or create a refreshable clone.

Clone Types on Autonomous Database:

Full Clone: creates a new database with the source database's data and metadata.

Refreshable Clone: creates a read-only full clone that can be easily refreshed with the data from the source database.

Metadata Clone: creates a new database that includes all of the source database schema metadata, but not the source database data.

You can:

Clone from a database instance: This creates a clone of a running database.

Clone from a backup: This creates a clone when you select a backup from a list of backups, or when you enter a backup point-in-time to clone.

Clone from the latest backup: This creates a clone where the Autonomous Database uses the most recent backup data that is available to create the clone.

And my favorite:

Utilize a refreshable clone as a test database. You have the flexibility to detach a refreshable clone from its source, enabling you to carry out Data Manipulation Language (DML) tasks or perform calculations, in addition to querying data. This grants you the capability to execute DML and implement changes even when the database is disconnected. Once your testing is complete, you can re-establish the connection to the source database, causing the clone to revert to its state at the time of disconnection.

Please note that the option to reconnect is available for a limited period of 24 hours following the disconnection. After this timeframe, the clone becomes permanently separated from the source database, and reconnection becomes unfeasible.

Source: https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/paas/autonomous-database/serverless/

Best

Alex Zaballa