Restoring Oracle prod backup to test server with new database name I need to restore an Oracle production database (aaprod) to a test server that already is home to a test database (aatest) under a new name (bbtest).  I have a cold backup of the production database

Questions:  What is the appropriate approach to restoring this production database to a test server under a new database name using the cold backup?  

Easy to do with SQL Server, Oracle is a new gig.
rule #1) use rman for backup, recovery and cloning of databases.

since this was a user managed backup, and you need your datafiles on a different location, there are a few things to do.


1) copy the file to where you want
2) create a pfile.ora that references your control_files
3) startup mount your database


at this moment you have control_files that still refer to the original datafiles locations. They need to be redirected.


4) for all your files in v$datafile, issue "alter database rename
file '/old/name' to '/new/name';
5) for all your members in v$logfile, issue "alter database rename
file '/old/name' to '/new/name';


now you should be able to open your database.


6) alter database open;


If you get problems before or during mount, it is probably because of wrong dbname, db_unique_name. Set them as they were/are in prod.