I recently created a 10.2.0.2 database on an Itanium server. I then exported schemas from an 8.1.7.4 database into this database. Not whenever I try to do an export, I get the below error and Export stop unsuccessfully:

Exp-00056-Oracle error 932 encountered
Ora-00932: inconsistent datatypes; expected Blob, Clob got char

I looked at Metalink. It suggested several things:

1. Create the database again with the NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS= BYTE (The database was created in byte)
2. Change NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS to CHAR. I did this with no effect. However, I did not shut the database
down. I did not see any instructions to do this.
3. Deinstall and Reinstall XDB using Catnoqm.sql and Catqm.sql. This was also done with no effect.

Anyone have any thoughts before I write an SR.

Thanks,

John

Hi John,

Ah, can you help with this forms question?

http://dba.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=6297

In case you did not find these notes, what appears to be a complete solution, courtesy of Wilfred van der Deijl:

http://www.oratransplant.nl/2005/11/22/una...c-102-database/

Now it was time to open a Service Request (the new name for a TAR) on MetaLink. In the end the support engineer came with the solution. It all boiled down to two pieces of advice:

only switch to char semantics after database creation (that has no impact on the “char semantics support”, any SYS objects cannot be CHAR and that is what happened here) use a “startup migrate” when running any patch or catalog scripts

So I shouldn’t have set NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS=CHAR before creating the database. The second advice to always use STARTUP MIGRATE is also a good tip. This will force the system of doing anything in byte semantics.

Here are the steps to “repair” my database.

First check that the NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS is indeed set to CHAR. Then shutdown the database and restart as “startup migrate” You can see that the length semantics are now BYTE:

Thanks Don. I spotted that article. However, the changes didn't seem to work.

John

Thanks Don, that link saved my life!