19.1 What is the Cloud Premigration Advisor Tool

The Cloud Premigration Advisor Tool (CPAT) is a migration assistant that analyzes database metadata in an Oracle Database, and provides information to assist you to move data to Oracle Autonomous Database in Oracle Cloud.

The purpose of the Cloud Premigration Advisor Tool (CPAT) is to help plan successful migrations to Oracle Databases in the Oracle Cloud or on-premises. It analyzes the compatibility of the source database with your database target and chosen migration method, and suggests a course of action for potential incompatibilities. CPAT provides you with information to consider for different migration tools.

Running the Cloud Premigration Advisor Tool does not require any changes to the source database. It does not require adding users, or granting roles, or loading packages.

How the Cloud Premigration Advisor Tool Works

The Cloud Premigration Advisor Tool performs source database metadata checks, and provides you with information for your migration. It does not perform the actual migration. You use that information as part of your migration plan. CPAT runs using Java 7 or later releases, Java 8 Java Runtime Environment ( JRE) preferred.

Note:

Installing and running CPAT does not modify Oracle Database. CPAT does not create any users, any packages, or require granting any roles or privileges. CPAT treats the database as READ ONLY.

A check is something that can be determined programmatically about a database, database object, user, or component. Checks are intended to determine the suitability of the database and database schema for moving to a particular Oracle Cloud Database deployment option. For example: Oracle Autonomous Database on Shared Exadata Infrastructure (ADB-S), using a particular migration method, such as Oracle Data Pump.

The source database is the database that you want to analyze for suitability to migrate to an Oracle Autonomous Database. The target is either a particular Oracle Autonomous Database, or a generic Oracle Autonomous Database deployment option that you can select when you run CPAT.

You start CPAT by running it either as Java command-line tool, or as a SQL command-line tool, using SQLcl. You then specify a source database and an Oracle Autonomous Database target, or specify DEFAULT for other Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) target databases, such as Exadata Cloud@Customer, Exadata Cloud Service, or an on-premises database. CPAT performs a number of checks on the source database and schema contents. These checks are guided by the target that you select, and your intended migration option.

After CPAT completes the source database checks, it generates a report indicating what was found. Reports contain both summary information and details for each check including the check result: Passing, Review Suggested, Review Required, or Action Required. In addition, CPAT identifies additional metadata in the source database that can be relevant for the migration.

The check results are compiled and presented in a report. The report can be a machine-readable report (JSON), a human-readable format (plain text)These reports can also be used directly by other Oracle migration products and features, such as Oracle Zero Downtime Migration (ZDM) Cloud Service, and the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Database Migration Service.

Premigration Advisor Tool Properties

You can specify how CPAT runs, and what checks it performs, by specifying properties in the command line to provide information for its analysis checks.

Cloud Premigration Advisor Tool Reports

CPAT recommends any relevant actions, such as using certain migration commands, setting certain database parameters, or performing SQL scripts on either the source or target instance, Because the checks can be performed on target deployment options, as well as actual database targets, the reports use the term "Locus" instead of "Target" when something needs to be completed on either the Source or Target database. When the report recommends that you use particular parameters and commands, Oracle strongly recommends that you follow the guidance in the report.