Trying to convert Interval Partitioned Table to Range..Exchange Partition..

Question

Requirement:
Replace Interval partitioned Table by Range Partitioned Table
DROP TABLE A;
CREATE TABLE A
   a              NUMBER,
   CreationDate   DATE
PARTITION BY RANGE (CreationDate)
   INTERVAL ( NUMTODSINTERVAL (30, 'DAY') )
   (PARTITION P_FIRST
       VALUES LESS THAN (TIMESTAMP ' 2001-01-01 00:00:00'));
INSERT INTO A
     VALUES (1, SYSDATE);
INSERT INTO A
     VALUES (1, SYSDATE - 30);
INSERT INTO A
     VALUES (1, SYSDATE - 60);I need to change this Interval Partitioned Table to a Range Partitioned Table. Can I do it using EXCHANGE PARTITION. As if I use the conventional way of creating another Range Partitioned table and then :
DROP TABLE A_Range
CREATE TABLE A_Range
a NUMBER,
CreationDate DATE
PARTITION BY RANGE (CreationDate)
   (partition MAX values less than (MAXVALUE));
Insert  /*+ append */  into A_Range Select * from A; --This Step takes very very long..Trying to cut it short using Exchange Partition.Problems:
I can't do
ALTER TABLE A_Range
  EXCHANGE PARTITION MAX
  WITH TABLE A
  WITHOUT VALIDATION;
ORA-14095: ALTER TABLE EXCHANGE requires a non-partitioned, non-clustered table
This is because both the tables are partitioned. So it does not allow me.
If I do instead :
create a non partitioned table for exchanging the data through partition.
  Create Table A_Temp as Select * from A;
   ALTER TABLE A_Range
  EXCHANGE PARTITION MAX
  WITH TABLE A_TEMP
  WITHOUT VALIDATION;
  select count(*) from A_Range partition(MAX);
-Problem is that all the data goes into MAX Partition.
Even after creating a lot of partitions by Splitting Partitions, still the data is in MAX Partition only.
So:
-- Is it that we can't Replace an Interval Partitioned Table by Range Partitioned Table using EXCHANGE PARTITION. i.e. We will have to do Insert into..
-- We can do it but I am missing something over here.
-- If all the data is in MAX Partition because of "WITHOUT VALIDATION" , can we make it be redistributed in the right kind of range partitions.

Answer 1

You will need to pre-create the partitions in a_range, then exchange them one by one from a to a tmp then then to arange. Using your sample (thanks for proviing the code by the way).
SQL> CREATE TABLE A
  2  (
  3     a              NUMBER,
  4     CreationDate   DATE
  5  )
  6  PARTITION BY RANGE (CreationDate)
  7     INTERVAL ( NUMTODSINTERVAL (30, 'DAY') )
  8     (PARTITION P_FIRST
  9         VALUES LESS THAN (TIMESTAMP ' 2001-01-01 00:00:00'));
Table created.
SQL> INSERT INTO A VALUES (1, SYSDATE);
1 row created.
SQL> INSERT INTO A VALUES (1, SYSDATE - 30);
1 row created.
SQL> INSERT INTO A VALUES (1, SYSDATE - 60);
1 row created.
SQL> commit;
Commit complete.You can find the existing partitions form a using:
SQL> select table_name, partition_name, high_value
  2  from user_tab_partitions
  3  where table_name = 'A';
TABLE_NAME PARTITION_NAME HIGH_VALUE
A          P_FIRST        TO_DATE(' 2001-01-01 00:00:00', 'SYYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS', 'NLS_CALENDAR=GREGORIA
A          SYS_P44        TO_DATE(' 2013-01-28 00:00:00', 'SYYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS', 'NLS_CALENDAR=GREGORIA
A          SYS_P45        TO_DATE(' 2012-12-29 00:00:00', 'SYYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS', 'NLS_CALENDAR=GREGORIA
A          SYS_P46        TO_DATE(' 2012-11-29 00:00:00', 'SYYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS', 'NLS_CALENDAR=GREGORIAYou can then create table a_range with the apporopriate partitions. Note that you may need to create additional partitions in a_range because interval partitioning does not create partitions that it has no data for, even if that leaves "holes" in the partitioning scheme. So, based on the above:
SQL> CREATE TABLE A_Range (
  2     a NUMBER,
  3     CreationDate DATE)
  4  PARTITION BY RANGE (CreationDate)
  5     (partition Nov_2012 values less than (to_date('30-nov-2012', 'dd-mon-yyyy')),
  6      partition Dec_2012 values less than (to_date('31-dec-2012', 'dd-mon-yyyy')),
  7      partition Jan_2013 values less than (to_date('31-jan-2013', 'dd-mon-yyyy')),
  8      partition MAX values less than (MAXVALUE));
Table created.Now, create a plain table to use in the exchanges:
SQL> CREATE TABLE A_tmp (
  2     a              NUMBER,
  3     CreationDate   DATE);
Table created.and exchange all of the partitions:
SQL> ALTER TABLE A
  2    EXCHANGE PARTITION sys_p44
  3    WITH TABLE A_tmp;
Table altered.
SQL> ALTER TABLE A_Range
  2    EXCHANGE PARTITION jan_2013
  3    WITH TABLE A_tmp;
Table altered.
SQL> ALTER TABLE A
  2    EXCHANGE PARTITION sys_p45
  3    WITH TABLE A_tmp;
Table altered.
SQL> ALTER TABLE A_Range
  2    EXCHANGE PARTITION dec_2012
  3    WITH TABLE A_tmp;
Table altered.
SQL> ALTER TABLE A
  2    EXCHANGE PARTITION sys_p46
  3    WITH TABLE A_tmp;
Table altered.
SQL> ALTER TABLE A_Range
  2    EXCHANGE PARTITION nov_2012
  3    WITH TABLE A_tmp;
Table altered.
SQL> select * from a;
no rows selected
SQL> select * from a_range;
         A CREATIOND
         1 23-NOV-12
         1 23-DEC-12
         1 22-JAN-13John