@ Andrew, when you say " two boxes are on the same network", i share the same home network. these are merely just practice databases so i can practice on my desktop as well as my laptop. And what do you mean on the same domain? do you mean create exact same schema on my desktop? and am i using RMAN to backup and restore? or what tool because google says its not possible to back up and recover viz oracle sql developer.

Thanks for all your help Andrew.