$INFORMIXDIR/backups - what is it used for?
User found old backup files in $INFORMIXDIR/backups directory (several GBs, ~1 year old). An Informix expert confirmed that Informix doesn't normally create files in this directory—it was likely a backup directory configured in onconfig during testing. The files appeared safe to delete, though the user couldn't definitively identify their origin from the directory structure shown.
Auto-generated by DrWatson from the posts below — may be imperfect; read the full thread.
We run daily full backups to external storage via ontape -t STDIO. Recently,
we noticed that we have a few GBs worth of files stored in
$INFORMIXDIR/backups, but they are all about a year old. The file structure is
something that looks generated, so I'm fairly certain this data was generated
by the servers (primary hdr, secondary hdr, rss). Where did these files come
from, and are they safe to delete?
-Justin
Informix doesn't normally create any files in $INFORMIXDIR/backups. AFAIK,
it doesn't even know that directory exists. Probably just some old backups
Art
Art S. Kagel, Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management
Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions
and do not reflect on the IIUG, nor any other organization with which I am
associated either explicitly, implicitly, or by inference. Neither do
those opinions reflect those of other individuals affiliated with any
entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the entities themselves.
On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 5:34 PM, Justin Killen <
jkillen@allamericanasphalt.com> wrote:
> We run daily full backups to external storage via ontape -t STDIO.
> Recently,
> we noticed that we have a few GBs worth of files stored in
> $INFORMIXDIR/backups, but they are all about a year old. The file
> structure is
> something that looks generated, so I'm fairly certain this data was
> generated
> by the servers (primary hdr, secondary hdr, rss). Where did these files
> come
> from, and are they safe to delete?
> -Justin
>
>
>
>
*******************************************************************************
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
>
--089e013d177c261b6604fc234984
Okay, so then that directory was probably a backup directory that we had in an
onconfig file during testing. The file structure looks like this:
<servername>
0
4
<servername>.1.1
<servername>.2.1
2
<servername>.1.1
<servername>.2.1
<servername>.3.1
With just the single 0 main directory, and about 150 sub directories. Is this
a common file hierarchy for one of the backup programs? It looks to me like
the files might be backups of logical logs?
I think I'm safe to delete the files, but I'd like to find out where they came
from so I can avoid having to delete them again in the future.
-Justin
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of Art
> Kagel
> Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 2:53 PM
> To: ids@iiug.org
> Subject: Re: $INFORMIXDIR/backups - what is it used for? [33236]
>
> Informix doesn't normally create any files in $INFORMIXDIR/backups. AFAIK,
> it doesn't even know that directory exists. Probably just some old backups
>
> Art
>
> Art S. Kagel, Principal Consultant
> ASK Database Management
>
> Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
>
> Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions
> and do not reflect on the IIUG, nor any other organization with which I am
> associated either explicitly, implicitly, or by inference. Neither do
> those opinions reflect those of other individuals affiliated with any
> entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the entities themselves.
>
> On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 5:34 PM, Justin Killen <
> jkillen@allamericanasphalt.com> wrote:
>
> > We run daily full backups to external storage via ontape -t STDIO.
> > Recently,
> > we noticed that we have a few GBs worth of files stored in
> > $INFORMIXDIR/backups, but they are all about a year old. The file
> > structure is
> > something that looks generated, so I'm fairly certain this data was
> > generated
> > by the servers (primary hdr, secondary hdr, rss). Where did these files
> > come
> > from, and are they safe to delete?
> > -Justin
> >
> >
> >
> >
> **************************************************************************
> *****
> > Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
> >
> >
>
> --089e013d177c261b6604fc234984
>
>
> **************************************************************************
> *****
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
Sorry - format didn't survive in email very well. Like this (pretend the .'s
are spaces):
<servername>
|----0
.....|----4
..........|----<servername>.1.1
..........|----<servername>.2.1
.....|----2
..........|----<servername>.1.1
..........|----<servername>.2.1
..........|----<servername>.3.1
-Justin
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of
> Justin Killen
> Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 3:09 PM
> To: ids@iiug.org
> Subject: RE: $INFORMIXDIR/backups - what is it used for? [33237]
>
> Okay, so then that directory was probably a backup directory that we had
> in an
> onconfig file during testing. The file structure looks like this:
>
> <servername>
>
> 0
>
> 4
>
> <servername>.1.1
>
> <servername>.2.1
>
> 2
>
> <servername>.1.1
>
> <servername>.2.1
>
> <servername>.3.1
>
> With just the single 0 main directory, and about 150 sub directories. Is
> this
> a common file hierarchy for one of the backup programs? It looks to me
> like
> the files might be backups of logical logs?
>
> I think I'm safe to delete the files, but I'd like to find out where they
> came
> from so I can avoid having to delete them again in the future.
>
> -Justin
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of
> Art
> > Kagel
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 2:53 PM
> > To: ids@iiug.org
> > Subject: Re: $INFORMIXDIR/backups - what is it used for? [33236]
> >
> > Informix doesn't normally create any files in $INFORMIXDIR/backups.
> AFAIK,
> > it doesn't even know that directory exists. Probably just some old
> backups
> >
> > Art
> >
> > Art S. Kagel, Principal Consultant
> > ASK Database Management
> >
> > Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
> >
> > Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions
> > and do not reflect on the IIUG, nor any other organization with which I
> am
> > associated either explicitly, implicitly, or by inference. Neither do
> > those opinions reflect those of other individuals affiliated with any
> > entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the entities themselves.
> >
> > On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 5:34 PM, Justin Killen <
> > jkillen@allamericanasphalt.com> wrote:
> >
> > > We run daily full backups to external storage via ontape -t STDIO.
> > > Recently,
> > > we noticed that we have a few GBs worth of files stored in
> > > $INFORMIXDIR/backups, but they are all about a year old. The file
> > > structure is
> > > something that looks generated, so I'm fairly certain this data was
> > > generated
> > > by the servers (primary hdr, secondary hdr, rss). Where did these
> files
> > > come
> > > from, and are they safe to delete?
> > > -Justin
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> **************************************************************************
> > *****
> > > Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
> > >
> > >
> >
> > --089e013d177c261b6604fc234984
> >
> >
> >
> **************************************************************************
> > *****
> > Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
>
> **************************************************************************
> *****
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
None of the current backup systems use such a directory structure.
Art
Art S. Kagel, Principal Consultant
ASK Database Management
Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions
and do not reflect on the IIUG, nor any other organization with which I am
associated either explicitly, implicitly, or by inference. Neither do
those opinions reflect those of other individuals affiliated with any
entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the entities themselves.
On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 6:08 PM, Justin Killen <
jkillen@allamericanasphalt.com> wrote:
> Okay, so then that directory was probably a backup directory that we had
> in an
> onconfig file during testing. The file structure looks like this:
>
> <servername>
>
> 0
>
> 4
>
> <servername>.1.1
>
> <servername>.2.1
>
> 2
>
> <servername>.1.1
>
> <servername>.2.1
>
> <servername>.3.1
>
> With just the single 0 main directory, and about 150 sub directories. Is
> this
> a common file hierarchy for one of the backup programs? It looks to me like
> the files might be backups of logical logs?
>
> I think I'm safe to delete the files, but I'd like to find out where they
> came
> from so I can avoid having to delete them again in the future.
>
> -Justin
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of
> Art
> > Kagel
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 2:53 PM
> > To: ids@iiug.org
> > Subject: Re: $INFORMIXDIR/backups - what is it used for? [33236]
> >
> > Informix doesn't normally create any files in $INFORMIXDIR/backups.
> AFAIK,
> > it doesn't even know that directory exists. Probably just some old
> backups
> >
> > Art
> >
> > Art S. Kagel, Principal Consultant
> > ASK Database Management
> >
> > Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
> >
> > Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions
> > and do not reflect on the IIUG, nor any other organization with which I
> am
> > associated either explicitly, implicitly, or by inference. Neither do
> > those opinions reflect those of other individuals affiliated with any
> > entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the entities themselves.
> >
> > On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 5:34 PM, Justin Killen <
> > jkillen@allamericanasphalt.com> wrote:
> >
> > > We run daily full backups to external storage via ontape -t STDIO.
> > > Recently,
> > > we noticed that we have a few GBs worth of files stored in
> > > $INFORMIXDIR/backups, but they are all about a year old. The file
> > > structure is
> > > something that looks generated, so I'm fairly certain this data was
> > > generated
> > > by the servers (primary hdr, secondary hdr, rss). Where did these files
> > > come
> > > from, and are they safe to delete?
> > > -Justin
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> **************************************************************************
> > *****
> > > Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
> > >
> > >
> >
> > --089e013d177c261b6604fc234984
> >
> >
> >
> **************************************************************************
> > *****
> > Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
>
>
>
*******************************************************************************
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
>
--089e0160b420ecc02404fc23cce9
I figured it out - this seems to be the default setup for backing up logical
logs via alarmprogram.sh, which has defaults of BACKUP_CMD="onbar -b -l" and
using IBM PSM as the storage manager (PSM had no configuration or setup
prior). Why PSM uses that directory for backups I'm not sure, but we don't
normally use it in production anyway, so I'm not going to worry about it.
Thanks for the help,
-Justin
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of
> Justin Killen
> Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 3:14 PM
> To: ids@iiug.org
> Subject: RE: $INFORMIXDIR/backups - what is it used for? [33238]
>
> Sorry - format didn't survive in email very well. Like this (pretend the
> .'s
> are spaces):
>
> <servername>
> |----0
> ......|----4
> ...........|----<servername>.1.1
> ...........|----<servername>.2.1
> ......|----2
> ...........|----<servername>.1.1
> ...........|----<servername>.2.1
> ...........|----<servername>.3.1
>
> -Justin
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of
> > Justin Killen
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 3:09 PM
> > To: ids@iiug.org
> > Subject: RE: $INFORMIXDIR/backups - what is it used for? [33237]
> >
> > Okay, so then that directory was probably a backup directory that we had
> > in an
> > onconfig file during testing. The file structure looks like this:
> >
> > <servername>
> >
> > 0
> >
> > 4
> >
> > <servername>.1.1
> >
> > <servername>.2.1
> >
> > 2
> >
> > <servername>.1.1
> >
> > <servername>.2.1
> >
> > <servername>.3.1
> >
> > With just the single 0 main directory, and about 150 sub directories. Is
> > this
> > a common file hierarchy for one of the backup programs? It looks to me
> > like
> > the files might be backups of logical logs?
> >
> > I think I'm safe to delete the files, but I'd like to find out where
> they
> > came
> > from so I can avoid having to delete them again in the future.
> >
> > -Justin
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of
> > Art
> > > Kagel
> > > Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 2:53 PM
> > > To: ids@iiug.org
> > > Subject: Re: $INFORMIXDIR/backups - what is it used for? [33236]
> > >
> > > Informix doesn't normally create any files in $INFORMIXDIR/backups.
> > AFAIK,
> > > it doesn't even know that directory exists. Probably just some old
> > backups
> > >
> > > Art
> > >
> > > Art S. Kagel, Principal Consultant
> > > ASK Database Management
> > >
> > > Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
> > >
> > > Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own
> opinions
> > > and do not reflect on the IIUG, nor any other organization with which
> I
> > am
> > > associated either explicitly, implicitly, or by inference. Neither do
> > > those opinions reflect those of other individuals affiliated with any
> > > entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the entities
> themselves.
> > >
> > > On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 5:34 PM, Justin Killen <
> > > jkillen@allamericanasphalt.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > We run daily full backups to external storage via ontape -t STDIO.
> > > > Recently,
> > > > we noticed that we have a few GBs worth of files stored in
> > > > $INFORMIXDIR/backups, but they are all about a year old. The file
> > > > structure is
> > > > something that looks generated, so I'm fairly certain this data was
> > > > generated
> > > > by the servers (primary hdr, secondary hdr, rss). Where did these
> > files
> > > > come
> > > > from, and are they safe to delete?
> > > > -Justin
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> **************************************************************************
> > > *****
> > > > Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > > --089e013d177c261b6604fc234984
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> **************************************************************************
> > > *****
> > > Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
> >
> >
> >
> **************************************************************************
> > *****
> > Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
>
> **************************************************************************
> *****
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.