Workaround for ORA-39358 during import

When running import, you may sometimes run into the problem below:

impdp parfile=myparfile.par

Import: Release 12.2.0.1.0 - Production on Tue Jun 8 14:54:34 2021

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Connected to: Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.2.0.1.0 - 64bit Production
ORA-39002: invalid operation
ORA-39358: Export dump file version 18.0.0 not compatible with target version 12.2.0

Solution:

 oerr ora 39358
39358, 00000, "Export dump file version %s not compatible with target version %s"
// *Cause:    The Oracle Data Pump export job version was newer than the target
//            compatibility version.
// *Action:   Upgrade the target database to a compatibility level of at least
//            the export job version, or rerun the export job with a job
//            version that is lower than or equal to the compatibility version
//            of the target database.

The simplest way out for me was to downgrade the export. On the source database server, add the following parameter to your export file:

VERSION=12.2

So that my complete parameter file looked as follows:

userid=system/passwd
DIRECTORY=DATA_PUMP_DIR
DUMPFILE=HR.dmp
LOGFILE=exp_HR.log
JOB_NAME=HR
EXCLUDE=STATISTICS
schemas=HR
VERSION=12.2

Rerun the export:

expdp parfile=myparfile.par

Transfer the newly generated dumpfile to your destination server, and rerun the import. This time around, you shouldn't see any errors relating to incompatible versions.