RE: Informix Online Table Recovery: How?

Depending on the size and the way the tables are laid out across = dbspaces, an easier solution may exist. In 7.x, dbspace level restore is supported through not only on-archive, = but also ontape. If this may be useful, I suggest consulting TFM, in = particular the "Archive and Backup Guide" Jon ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Jon C. Vemo jvemo@cyberspace.com Bothell, WA USA ---------- From: David Williams[SMTP:djw@smooth1.demon.co.uk] Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 1996 1:30 PM To: informix-list@rmy.emory.edu Subject: Re: Informix Online Table Recovery: How? In article <4v8mj2$u6t@netnews.upenn.edu>, John Eichelberger <jon@pathol ogy.dental.upenn.edu> writes >Scenario: A user has accidentally removed 20 rows from a table and = needs >to get them back. You are running Informix Online 7.12 with raw = partitions >(not cooked files). > >Question: How? > >Informix's suggestion was: >(1) Save your whole db to a tape (I would be using level-0 onarchive). >(2) Restore an archive that had the 20 rows that were lost. >(3) Unload the 20 rows. >(4) Restore the db you just dumped to tape. > >There has to be an easier way. Basically, what I am looking for is the >ability to restore a single table, under a different name if possible. > >In Informix-SE with cooked files we would do the following: >(1) Get a dbschema of the table currently in the database (e.g., = realtab). >(2) Change the name of the table (e.g., faketab) on the dbschema output = file. >(3) Create the table realtab using the dbschema's sql. >(4) Restore the realtab.dat and realtab.idx file from a backup tape of = the > db to a scratch directory. >(5) Rename (in a different directory) the realtab.dat and realtab.idx > to faketab.dat and faketab.idx. >(6) Move faketab.??? to the db directory and run bcheck on it. >(7) Extract the data we want from faketab and put into realtab. >(8) Drop faketab. > >So what about Online with raw partitions? > >Thanks. > >Jon Eichelberger >P.S. Please don't tell me about something in a future release of = Online. Not possible since OnLine stores the data as chunks of raw disk with it's own internal structure. i.e. tables are store in a propriertary format. Informix's suggestion is correct - restore from backup to get the rows back. To decode the contents of a level-0 archive and then apply level-1's / level 2's on top would be a nightmare.=20 That is the price you pay for greater performance/ being able to guarantee data gets written to disk.=20 Currently there is nothing available. Hhhm sounds like an idea for a=20 pet project!! Anyone know the format for an tbtape style archive?? Maybe I could write something to treat a level-0 archive as if it were a = collection of chunks and dump a table to a file? --=20 David Williams