Differences between Data Pump impdp and import utility

Oracle Database Tips by Donald BurlesonJanuary 3, 2015

Question: What are the Differences between Data Pump impdp and import utility? I know that import does the same things as impdp, but I'm not clear on the differences.

Answer: The original import utility dates back to the earliest releases of Oracle, and it's quite slow and primitive compared to Data Pump. While the old import (imp) and Data Pump import (impdp) do the same thing, they are completely different utilities, with different syntax and characteristics.

Here are the major syntax differences between import and Data Pump impdp:

Data Pump does not use the BUFFERS parameter
Data Pump export represents the data in XML format
A Data Pump schema import will recreate the user and execute all of the associated security privileges (grants, user password history).
Data Pump's parallel processing feature is dynamic. You can connect to a Data Pump job that is currently running and dynamically alter the number of parallel processes.
Data Pump will recreate the user, whereas the old imp utility required the DBA to create the user ID before importing.

The Oracle docs list syntax differences between the traditional import (imp) and Data Pump (impdp):

Original Import Parameter	Comparable Data Pump Import Parameter
BUFFER	A parameter comparable to `BUFFER` is not needed.
CHARSET	A parameter comparable to `CHARSET` is not needed.
COMMIT	A parameter comparable to `COMMIT` is not supported.
COMPILE	A parameter comparable to `COMPILE` is not supported.
CONSTRAINTS	`EXCLUDE=CONSTRAINT`
DATAFILES	`TRANSPORT_DATAFILES`
DESTROY	`REUSE_DATAFILES`
FEEDBACK	`STATUS`
FILE	`DUMPFILE`
FILESIZE	Not necessary. It is included in the dump file set.
FROMUSER	`SCHEMAS`
FULL	`FULL`
GRANTS	`EXCLUDE=GRANT`
HELP	`HELP`
IGNORE	`TABLE_EXISTS_ACTION`
INDEXES	`EXCLUDE=INDEX`
INDEXFILE	`SQLFILE` with `INCLUDE` `INDEX`
LOG	`LOGFILE`
PARFILE	`PARFILE`
RECORDLENGTH	A parameter comparable to `RECORDLENGTH` is not needed.
RESUMABLE	A parameter comparable to `RESUMABLE` is not needed. It is automatically defaulted for privileged users.
RESUMABLE_NAME	A parameter comparable to `RESUMABLE_NAME` is not needed. It is automatically defaulted for privileged users.
RESUMABLE_TIMEOUT	A parameter comparable to `RESUMABLE_TIMEOUT` is not needed. It is automatically defaulted for privileged users.
ROWS=N	`CONTENT`=`METADATA_ONLY`
ROWS=Y	`CONTENT`=`ALL`
SHOW	`SQLFILE`
SKIP_UNUSABLE_INDEXES	`SKIP_UNUSABLE_INDEXES`
STATISTICS	A parameter comparable to `STATISTICS` is not needed. If the source table has statistics, they are imported.
STREAMS_CONFIGURATION	`STREAMS_CONFIGURATION`
STREAMS_INSTANTIATION	A parameter comparable to `STREAMS_INSTANTIATION` is not needed.
TABLES	`TABLES`
TABLESPACES	This parameter still exists, but some of its functionality is now performed using the `TRANSPORT_TABLESPACES` parameter.
TOID_NOVALIDATE	A command comparable to `TOID_NOVALIDATE` is not needed. OIDs are no longer used for type validation.
TOUSER	`REMAP_SCHEMA`
TRANSPORT_TABLESPACE	`TRANSPORT_TABLESPACES` (see command description)
TTS_OWNERS	A parameter comparable to `TTS_OWNERS` is not needed because the information is stored in the dump file set.
USERID	A parameter comparable to `USERID` is not needed. This information is supplied as the `username`/`password` when you invoke Import.
VOLSIZE	A parameter comparable to `VOLSIZE` is not needed because tapes are not supported.

For complete details, see the book "Advanced Oracle Utilities".

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