Commercial NXTract is available.

NXTract

NXTract is a conversion and data rescue utility. It reads Oracle EXP dump files and converts the internal data to a standard tab delimited format. This allows you to read Oracle tables with any program, database, or utility that accepts tab delimited data such as Sybase, SQL Server, DB2, Excel, Access, Ingres, MySQL, Informix, Lotus 123, dBASE, Visual Basic, Foxpro Powerbuilder, and other versions of Oracle, etc.

The data in the EXP files is your data. You should be able to load it into any database of your choosing including non-Oracle databases. The data does not belong to the database vendor.

NXTract gives you the ability to process all data in the Oracle EXP dump file. We plan to support all operating systems and platforms including OS/2, Windows, Unix, Linux, Solaris, OS/400, VMS, AIX/6000, and OS/390 (z/OS).

NXTract reads any Oracle table from any system and allows you to load the data into any other system. The current product runs on OS/2 Win32S, Windows NT, Windows 95/98, Windows ME, and Windows 2000.

NXTract solves an important part of the interoperability issue which includes endian, ASCII-EBCDIC, 7 bit ASCII-8 bit ASCII, code pages, binary data, numeric floating point and packed conversions, character sets, closed data formats, etc.

If you are considering a new Oracle implementation and are concerned that you will not be able to outload your data, NXTract may be the answer. You should test and license NXTract before you commit your data to Oracle.

We have closed the public Beta. The executables on this webpage accept common Oracle column types and will process several thousand rows. This will remain available as the free evaluation copy.

Caution: As an evaluation copy, this program is unwarranted and results are not guaranteed. While we have fixed all known problems and have many satisfied users, we cannot provide support to user sites that are not under paid maintenance. If you are using NXTract in a production environment, you should verify all data for reasonableness and correctness.

NXTsql

NXTsql retrieves the table attribute information from the .dmp file. NXTsql writes this information to a disk file as SQL statements.

NXTstats

NXTstats reports statistics on the dump contents, the number of bytes, the number of rows in each table. The output is optionally written to a comma delimited file for analysis. Use NXTstats to verify that your table export dumps were taken correctly.

NXTver

NXTver reports the Oracle version and the Table names in the .dmp file. Use NXTver to catalog your .dmp files.

Status

We continue to provide a free solution for small users. The free solution is the same as the commercial product but will process a restricted set of rows. If your export requirements are small, please use the free, evaluation version of NXTract.

Other products will follow and will address data conversion and data identification. Our products address the problem of interoperablity and will help move information between large data repositories.

We have released NXTract to commercial clients. This is a fully supported commercial product with enterprise-wide licensing.

NXTract Downloads - The Evaluation versions are limited to 5,000 rows per table.

Evaluation version of NXTract for Win32S, Windows 95/98, Windows 2000, Windows ME, NT, and XP
Evaluation version of NXTract for z/OS (recompile)
Evaluation version of NXTract for Linux. (recompile)
Evaluation version of NXTract for Solaris. (recompile)

Evaluation version of NXTract for Win32S, Window 95/98, Windows 2000, Windows ME, NT, and XP
Evaluation version of NXTract for z/OS (recompile)
Evaluation version of NXTract for Linux on the x86
Evaluation version of NXTract for Solaris 64 bit UltraSPARC, Enterprise 10000, E10K, and Sunfire 15000 - chmod 755 nxt8ss64r

The 8i version of NXTract for multi-table, Windows has been tested with an Oracle version 8.1.6 table export file. It creates tab delimited flat records. It extracts all tables in a multiple table dump which have the "INSERT INTO" command in the Oracle dump file.

NXTract supports the Oracle data types 1 (VARCHAR2, CHAR2), 2 (NUMBER), 8 (LONG), 12 (DATE), 23 (RAW), 24 (LONG RAW), and 96 (CHAR). Number support includes zero, large and small integers, large and small floating points, positives and negatives. We do not provide an IEEE representation for "Infinite" or negative "Infinite". Only AD or Common Era dates are implemented. This version does not support 11 (ROWID), 108 (USER_DEF), 111 (REF), 112 (CLOB), 113 (BLOB), and 208 (UROWID).

NXTract 7 multi-table includes support for 23(RAW), 8 (LONG), and 24 (LONG RAW) with a 64 KByte constraint.

Support for CRLF and other illegal characters embedded in CHAR fields is supported using our CLEAN option. The CLEAN option to change to spaces all characters from hex 00 through hex 1F and from hex 7F through hex FF. In other words, all characters that do not print. Clean only works on varchar and char data types. The /c switch activates the CLEAN option.

We are working on the time component of date/time.

NXTsql downloads

The NXTsql beta for Win32S, Windows 95/98, Windows 2000, Windows ME, and Windows NT

Caution NXTsql is beta code.

NXTstats downloads

NXTstats will be available shortly. Please watch this space.

NXTver downloads

NXTver will be available shortly. Please watch this space.

NXTract Example

You have a table named members. Dump the table using the Oracle utility, EXP.

    EXP uid/pswd buffer=32767 file=members.dmp tables=members

uid/pswd are your Oracle database administrator's userid and password.

Use NXTract to convert the Oracle dump file into standard tab delimited format.

    nxtract members.dmp

    nxtract members.dmp /c 

There is no password or special access required in this step. You run the NXTract program with the filename as the only operand. You should be in the same directory as the file and the file must have .dmp as the filetype.

The original version of NXTract only handled single table dumps. It made a new file called members.out. This file contains the data from members.dmp but in a tab delimited format acceptable to most programs.

The curent verions of NXTract can read Multi-Table dumps. The current versions produce tab delimited files ready for loading into any application or database. The files are named tablename.txt

If the dump contains tables named:

skill_files
project
mailing_list_xref

NXTract will produce:

skill_files.txt
project.txt
mailing_list_xref.txt

NXTract will either write an error message or a "program completed normally" message.

Caution: the executables on the website are named nxtract7c.exe, nxtract8d.exe, etc. Use these names.

NXTsql Example

NXTsql anyfile.dmp.

NXTsql will find the "create table" commands contained in the dump and write them to a file called COLUMNS.TXT. The same executable works for Oracle 7 or Oracle 8 .dmp files.

There are several other CREATE commands in dump files: CREATE UNIQUE INDEX, CREATE SEQUENCE, for example. NXTsql does not extract these as yet. If this is of interest to you, please drop us an email. NXTsql does not yet print the number of table lines written. This will be fixed in the next version.

Debugging hint. NXTsql finds and prints the Oracle Version Number. This information and the Create Table commands identify the dump contents. This is a useful aid for your operations people who may ask, "What's in the .dmp file?"

From the 816.dmp file (with 33 file definitions snipped):
EXPORT:V08.01.06F

CREATE TABLE "ADMIN_USERS" ("ADMIN_ID" NUMBER(15, 0) NOT NULL ENABLE, "ACCESS_LEVEL" NUMBER(15, 0), "FIRST_NAME" VARCHAR2(40), "LAST_NAME" VARCHAR2(40), "USER_NAME" VARCHAR2(20), "PASSWORD" VARCHAR2(15), "EMAIL_ADDRESS" VARCHAR2(80), "CREATE_BY" VARCHAR2(20), "CREATE_DATE" DATE, "UPDATE_BY" VARCHAR2(20), "UPDATE_DATE" DATE) PCTFREE 10 PCTUSED 40 INITRANS 1 MAXTRANS 255 LOGGING STORAGE(INITIAL 286720 NEXT 286720 MINEXTENTS 1 MAXEXTENTS 505 PCTINCREASE 0 FREELISTS 1 FREELIST GROUPS 1 BUFFER_POOL DEFAULT) TABLESPACE "USERS"

CREATE TABLE "CATEGORY" ("CATEGORY_ID" NUMBER(15, 0) NOT NULL ENABLE, "CHANNEL_ID" NUMBER(15, 0), "CATEGORY_NAME" VARCHAR2(40), "CREATE_BY" VARCHAR2(20), "CREATE_DATE" DATE, "UPDATE_BY" VARCHAR2(20), "UPDATE_DATE" DATE) PCTFREE 10 PCTUSED 40 INITRANS 1 MAXTRANS 255 LOGGING STORAGE(INITIAL 286720 NEXT 286720 MINEXTENTS 1 MAXEXTENTS 505 PCTINCREASE 0 FREELISTS 1 FREELIST GROUPS 1 BUFFER_POOL DEFAULT) TABLESPACE "USERS"

Here's one table from the EXPDAT.DMP, dumped from the Oracle test data base:

EXPORT:V07.00.12

CREATE TABLE "EMP" ("EMPNO" NUMBER(4, 0), "ENAME" VARCHAR2(10), "JOB" VARCHAR2(9), "MGR" NUMBER(4, 0), "HIREDATE" DATE, "SAL" NUMBER(7, 2), "COMM" NUMBER(7, 2), "DEPTNO" NUMBER(2, 0), CONSTRAINT PK_EMP PRIMARY KEY ("EMPNO")) PCTFREE 10 PCTUSED 40 INITRANS 1 MAXTRANS 255 STORAGE(INITIAL 10240 NEXT 10240 MINEXTENTS 1 MAXEXTENTS 121 PCTINCREASE 50 FREELISTS 1 FREELIST GROUPS 1) TABLESPACE "SYSTEM"

Evaluation Program

Comments on the evaluation program? Contact us by emailing to HHResCo@ATTGlobal.net

We have had several fabulous successes in the Alpha, private Beta, and public Beta.

One surprise were two firms that had shut down older versions of Oracle, 5/6. After a few years they decided that they needed the data. They could not find their original copy of Oracle 5/6 and couldn't read the .dmp file with Oracle 8.

NXTract read the old dump and converted it to a format that they could read.

Several Beta testers used NXTract to export data to non-database platforms such as spreadsheets and flatfiles for use with applications programs.

If you need a supported copy with unlimited capacity you may purchase a license to use the NXTract commercial product.

Satisfied Users

The NXTract program has recovered or migrated critical production data for many users, here are few successes.

National University of Ireland: "The program worked fine" http://www.mis.nuigalway.ie

FGM Corp

University of Palermo, Italy

KPMG Consulting: "The utility worked very well. I have been telling anyone who might have a use for it about how quick and easy it works."

k+n Informationssysteme GmbH: "many thanks for providing nxtract8"

University of Kansas

A U.S. Government Agency

Licenses.

Small users are encouraged to download and use the restricted versions of NXTract. Although limited in capacity, the limit is generously high and should serve most small business and home users.

We expect larger users to purchase licenses.

Unlimited or unrestricted versions are available when you purchase a license.

Before purchasing a license, you should verify that NXTract works on your data in your environment by using the evaluation programs.

The unrestricted executables have the same capabilities and limitations as the evaluation executables.

The license includes full email maintenance support and software upgrades.

We provide NXTract and database consulting at standard commercial consulting rates.

Consultants, Resellers, and Remarketers.

We are developing support programs for you.

Independent consultants, especially those doing small Access, mySQL, or Excel export/import jobs, may be able to use the restricted "demo" NXTract. If so, we ask that youcharge your client a fair fee. You may set the price depending upon your local market conditions. Do not send this fee to us. If you use NXTract in a job, please add it to your web based capabilities statement and link to our page.

Let us know each time you use NXTract, which version of Oracle, how you plan to use the data, and especially report any anomalies or problems. We want to continue improving and refining NXTract. Subscribe to the NXTract Information listserv.

If you are proposing NXTract on a bid, email us for pre-bid pricing and teaming information. We will join your team as a team member.

If you are an independent consultant or a small IT or database consulting business, we will work with you to add NXTract to your suite of tools. We will provide a "loaner" copy of NXTract for you to use in your work. This is contingent on you linking back to this site and agreeing to pay a nominal royalty based on your consulting rate after each production NXTract job.

We will offer reciprocal links to consultants, resellers and remarketers.

Additional Information?

We will sent occasional brief technical newsletters through the NXTract Information listserv.

Subscribe to the NXTract newsletter at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NXTract_Information

Here is a write up of an SQL technique to extract data. http://osi.oracle.com/~tkyte/flat/index.html Note the restrictions.

NXTract solves some of these limitations.

Email: HHResCo@ATTGlobal.net