Refresh VDBs from related VDBs | Continuous Data 2026.5

Delphix allows a VDB to be refreshed from a related VDB. For example, a VDB which has the same origin dSource as the VDB being refreshed.

This procedure can only be performed via the CLI.

While VDBs can be refreshed from any related VDB, care should be taken to avoid complex dependencies which can be created by refreshing a VDB from one of its own decedents.

Prerequisites

The VDB being used to refresh from must be related (have the same origin dSource) to the VDB being refreshed.

Procedure

In this example, the VDB being refreshed is called MYPDB, and it will be refreshed from a VDB named SIBLING. Both VDBs are direct decedents of the dSource source.

Log into the Delphix command-line interface using the admin user or a user with admin privileges.
```
ssh admin@YOUR_ENGINE
```
Verify the VDB parentage.
```
mwdlpx-2025.4.0.2.dcol2 database> ls 

Objects 

NAME          PROVISIONCONTAINER  DESCRIPTION 

MYPDB         source              - 

SIBLING       source              - 

CDOMLOSRE21D  -                   - 

OtherSource   - 

UnRelated     OtherSource         - 

VCDB          CDOMLOSRE21D        - 

Grandchild    MYPDB               - 

source        - 
```
The PROVISIONCONTAINER column shows the direct parent of the database. If no value is displayed, it indicates that the database has no parentage (either it is a dSource or a replicated VDB where the dSource is not available on the engine).

In the example, the MYPDB and SIBLING are both directly provisioned from source. The Grandchild has been provisioned from MYPDB, meaning its origin is also source.

There is also the OtherSource dSource with a single descendent UnRelated. Since UnRelated is provisioned from a different dSource, it is considered to have no relationship to any VDBs descended from source.

As a graph, this looks like:
```
source 

  -> MYPDB 

     -> Grandchild 

  -> SIBLING 

OtherSource 

  -> UnRelated 
```
As the VDB can be refresh from any related VDB, it could refresh MYPDB from either SIBLING, Grandchild or (default option) source. It cannot however be refreshed from OtherSource or UnRelated, as it has no relationship to these databases.

In this example, MYPDB will be refreshed from SIBLING.

Refresh the VDB.

When refreshing from a related database, set the timeflowPointParameters.container to the related database. If no value is giving here the VDB will automatically refresh from the database it was originally provisioned from.

mwdlpx-2025.4.0.2.dcol2> /database 

mwdlpx-2025.4.0.2.dcol2 database> select MYPDB 

mwdlpx-2025.4.0.2.dcol2 database 'MYPDB'> refresh 

mwdlpx-2025.4.0.2.dcol2 database 'MYPDB' refresh *> ls 

Properties 

    type: OracleRefreshParameters 

    credential: (unset) 

    force: false 

    instanceNumber: (unset) 

    syncAfterReprovision: true 

    timeflowPointParameters: 

        type: TimeflowPointSemantic 

        container: (unset) 

        location: LATEST_POINT 

    username: (unset) 

mwdlpx-2025.4.0.2.dcol2 database 'MYPDB' refresh *> set timeflowPointParameters.container=SIBLING 

mwdlpx-2025.4.0.2.dcol2 database 'MYPDB' refresh *> commit 

    Dispatched job JOB-121 

    DB_REFRESH job started for "Untitled/MYPDB". 

... 

... 

    DB_REFRESH job for "Untitled/MYPDB" completed successfully.

Performing a relative refresh does not change the provisionContainer. If further refreshes are performed without specifying timeflowPointParameters.container, it will be from the original source database.

(optional) Verify VDB parentage.

To verify which database a VDB has been refreshed from, use the following procedure:

Find the current timeflow for the VDB in question.
Find the parentPoint for that timeflow.

Find the container for the parentPoint.timeflow.

mwdlpx-2025.4.0.2.dcol2 database 'MYPDB'> get currentTimeflow 

    'DB_REFRESH@2025-08-27T23:11:49' 

mwdlpx-2025.4.0.2.dcol2 database 'MYPDB'> /timeflow 

mwdlpx-2025.4.0.2.dcol2 timeflow> select  'DB_REFRESH@2025-08-27T23:11:49' 

mwdlpx-2025.4.0.2.dcol2 timeflow ''DB_REFRESH@2025-08-27T23:11:49''> get parentPoint 

    type: OracleTimeflowPoint 

    location: 4003113 

    timeflow: 'DB_REFRESH@2025-08-27T22:54:13' 

    timestamp: 2025-08-28T06:10:58.000Z 

mwdlpx-2025.4.0.2.dcol2 timeflow ''DB_REFRESH@2025-08-27T23:11:49''> cd .. 

mwdlpx-2025.4.0.2.dcol2 timeflow> select 'DB_REFRESH@2025-08-27T22:54:13' 

mwdlpx-2025.4.0.2.dcol2 timeflow ''DB_REFRESH@2025-08-27T22:54:13''> get container 

    SIBLING

Last updated

Oct 9, 2026