Upgrading a database from 8.1.7.2 to 10gR2 on another machine

Question

Hello all,
We have database DB1 (in version 8.1.7.2) on MACH1 (AIX 4.3) and I'd like to move this database to another machine called MACH2 (AIX 5.3) as Oracle10gR2 version (Oracle8.1.7.4 and Oracle10gR2 bianries are already installed on MACH2).
MACH1 will be scrapped after this operation.
Since I don't need to upgrade the Oracle binaries of MACH1 and I just would like to upgrade the database DB1 from 8.1.7.2 to 10gR2, can I do the following to achieve this:
On MACH2, there is a 8.1.7.4 database called DB2: I do an export of DB1 and import it into DB2.
Then, I create a new database DB3 in version 10gR2 on MACH2.
Then, I export DB2 and import it into DB3.
Is this enough to finally have the database DB1 change version from 8.1.7.2 to version 10gR2, or are there other steps to take care of?
Thanks a lot for your feedbacks.
Cheers

Answer 1

while for "full" exp/imp we have to pass by 8174 as an intermediate stage.That's not true, you need at least 8.1.7.4 for a direct upgrade using DBUA, export/import doesn't have such a prerequisite.
Despite of this I always prefer schema export/import of pure user data, especially from 8i to 10g there are so many changes (as one example think of the new tablespace SYSAUX,which now holds objects earlier located in the SYSTEM tablespace). That makes a full export not useless, but - let's say - less useful.
Werner