migration

I'm about to migrate all the database to another server, and I found that (at least thats what I saw) dbexport - dbimport are the utilitys to use. Now, as I saw, I have to do this with every database I have on the server, right? Now, the big question would be (and may really silly) sysmaster and sysutils don't need to be touched, right? Those are system (informix system) specific databases? The other question would be if there is a way to make a whole (BIG) export of all the databases, all at once, or I have to do it one by one? Saludos... :-) -- System Administration: It's a dirty job, but someone told I had to do it. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Mart'n Marqu's email: martin@math.unl.edu.ar Santa Fe - Argentina http://math.unl.edu.ar/~martin/ Administrador de sistemas en math.unl.edu.ar -----------------------------------------------------------------

In the year of Our Lord Tue, 16 Jan 2001 17:42:06 -0300, "Martin A. Marques" <martin@math.unl.edu.ar> spake, saying: >I'm about to migrate all the database to another server, and I found that (at >least thats what I saw) dbexport - dbimport are the utilitys to use. Now, as >I saw, I have to do this with every database I have on the server, right? >Now, the big question would be (and may really silly) sysmaster and sysutils >don't need to be touched, right? Those are system (informix system) specific >databases? >The other question would be if there is a way to make a whole (BIG) export of >all the databases, all at once, or I have to do it one by one? I would certainly recommend dbexport/dbimport, you have to do it for each database separately, and you don't need to worry about sysmaster and sysutils.

1) sysmaster and sysutils are system databases 2) dbexport and dbimport are the right things to do ;o) I would recommend that you write to disk the sql file that allows you to re-create the databases, in case you want / have to modify something (type "dbexport --" for syntaxe, and have a look at the -X -ss options) If you migrate from one machine to the same othe machine (same informix instance, version, configuration, dbspaces), you could : a) - turn ON mirroring, that would perform an exact copy of your databases OR b) - do a full archive (Ontape -s -L 0) and restore it to the new server .... but i guess this is another version of informix ... so forget a) and b) !!!! Jean-Gabriel (Paris-France) http://perso.club-internet.fr/jgdaprem "Martin A. Marques" <martin@math.unl.edu.ar> a 'crit dans le message news: 942dkp$qtn$1@news.xmission.com... > > I'm about to migrate all the database to another server, and I found that (at > least thats what I saw) dbexport - dbimport are the utilitys to use. Now, as > I saw, I have to do this with every database I have on the server, right? > Now, the big question would be (and may really silly) sysmaster and sysutils > don't need to be touched, right? Those are system (informix system) specific > databases? > The other question would be if there is a way to make a whole (BIG) export of > all the databases, all at once, or I have to do it one by one? > > Saludos... :-) > > -- > System Administration: It's a dirty job, > but someone told I had to do it. > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Mart'n Marqu's email: martin@math.unl.edu.ar > Santa Fe - Argentina http://math.unl.edu.ar/~martin/ > Administrador de sistemas en math.unl.edu.ar > -----------------------------------------------------------------

Martin, there's another way of doing this provided your instance isn't gigantic (i.e. spanning lots of tapes). Do a level 0 archive via ontape. Then, on the new server, lay out your disk partitions EXACTLY the same as you have it on your current server. That means if your root dbspace is in /ifx/rootdb, then lay out a partition of the same size named /ifx/rootdb on the new server. Do the same for all chunks and dbspaces. Then install Informix on the new server but DO NOT initialize a new instance. Once Informix is installed, do a ontape -r which will in effect restore your instance with the same configuration you had running on your current server. It'll even initialize the instance for you. It's a neat trick that a lot of people don't know about, and can save time if you have a lot of databases on one instance. If your databases are less than 2GB, you might want to use onunload/onload instead of dbexport/dbimport. Onunload/onload is a binary copy rather than an ascii copy and is very fast. The catch is that you have to have the OS and version of informix running on both servers. In other words, you can't use onunload from a solaris server and then expect to use onload onto an NT server. Another neat trick is to use onunload/onload to disk rather than to tape. Touch a file and then specify the file as the device in which to unload the database to. Then you can ftp the file(s) over to the new server without having to deal with a lot of tapes. Oh, and one last thing, you don't have to worry about sysmaster or sysutils. Just export the ones you want and leave sysmaster and sysutils alone. Best of luck. "Martin A. Marques" wrote: > I'm about to migrate all the database to another server, and I found that (at > least thats what I saw) dbexport - dbimport are the utilitys to use. Now, as > I saw, I have to do this with every database I have on the server, right? > Now, the big question would be (and may really silly) sysmaster and sysutils > don't need to be touched, right? Those are system (informix system) specific > databases? > The other question would be if there is a way to make a whole (BIG) export of > all the databases, all at once, or I have to do it one by one? > > Saludos... :-) > > -- > System Administration: It's a dirty job, > but someone told I had to do it. > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Martín Marqués email: martin@math.unl.edu.ar > Santa Fe - Argentina http://math.unl.edu.ar/~martin/ > Administrador de sistemas en math.unl.edu.ar > ----------------------------------------------------------------- -- Phillip Tien Database Administrator Whole Foods Market, Inc. Children need encouragement. If a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way he develops a good, lucky feeling.