ontape level zero format
A user asked whether IBM documents the internal format of an ontape level-0 backup written to STDIO, because he wanted to apply his own compression to the backup file. The reply was that the archive format is not documented; others pointed to the IBM Infocenter pages on ontape to STDIO and noted that gzip already shrinks an ontape backup to roughly 10% of its size. The practical resolution offered: set the BACKUP_FILTER environment variable so ontape pipes its output through a compression program (gzip, bzip2, or pigz for parallel/faster compression), and set RESTORE_FILTER to decompress on restore.
Auto-generated by DrWatson from the posts below — may be imperfect; read the full thread.
Can anyone point me to any documentation of the level zero using ontape going
to STDIO? I am saving this to disk, and wonder if IBM has anything on the
format of the output. Thanks.
The format of the archive file is not documented. What do you want to
know? Why?
Art
Art S. Kagel
Advanced DataTools (www.advancedatatools.com)
Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions
and do not reflect on my employer, Advanced DataTools, 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 Thu, Nov 3, 2011 at 12:26 PM, JOHN CALLICOTTE <john.callicotte@ottawa.edu
> wrote:
> Can anyone point me to any documentation of the level zero using ontape
> going
> to STDIO? I am saving this to disk, and wonder if IBM has anything on the
> format of the output. Thanks.
>
>
>
>
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> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
>
--14dae9340773bd701804b0d7a94b
I am wanting to do custom data compression on the file.
Hi John,
You can look at the following link for some quick information on ontape STDIO.
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/idshelp/v117/topic/com.ibm.bar.doc/ids_
bar_100.htm
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/idshelp/v117/topic/com.ibm.bar.doc/ids_
bar_099.htm
These documents are for 11.70 but this should be the same for IDS 10.00 and
later version of the server.
Regards,
Ken
Gzip or Compress isn't good enough? Gzip compresses an ontape backup down to
nearly 10% of its original size.
Jonathon Wyza
CX & CBORD System Administrator
CX Programmer/Analyst
Administrative Computing
Bethel College
(574)-807-SQL5(7755)
AIM: Iamwyza
Google+ Profile
jonathon.wyza@bethelcollege.edu
===============================
SLES 11x64 & IDS 11.50.FC6
JICS 7.4.3 & Cognos 8
"Don't document the problem, fix it."
- Atli Björgvin Oddsson
-----Original Message-----
From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of JOHN
CALLICOTTE
Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2011 1:13 PM
To: ids@iiug.org
Subject: Re: ontape level zero format [25358]
I am wanting to do custom data compression on the file.
*******************************************************************************
Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
If you set the BACKUP_FILTER environment variable in the server's
environment or the environment when running ontape, you can put a
compression filter like gzip or bzip2 in there and ontape will pipe its
output through that filter setting the pipe's output to the output file or
stdout. On restore the RESTORE_FILTER variable is used to decompress the
archive.
Art
Art S. Kagel
Advanced DataTools (www.advancedatatools.com)
Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions
and do not reflect on my employer, Advanced DataTools, 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 Thu, Nov 3, 2011 at 1:12 PM, JOHN CALLICOTTE
<john.callicotte@ottawa.edu>wrote:
> I am wanting to do custom data compression on the file.
>
>
>
>
*******************************************************************************
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
>
--e89a8f3ba85d7b550d04b0d92e63
... or you can use pigz (parallel gzip) for BACKUP_FILTER if you want to
speed up level zero, using all CPU-s on server for compression data ...
On 03.11.2011 19:59, Art Kagel wrote:
> If you set the BACKUP_FILTER environment variable in the server's
> environment or the environment when running ontape, you can put a
> compression filter like gzip or bzip2 in there and ontape will pipe its
> output through that filter setting the pipe's output to the output file or
> stdout. On restore the RESTORE_FILTER variable is used to decompress the
> archive.
>
> Art
>
> Art S. Kagel
> Advanced DataTools (www.advancedatatools.com)
> Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
>
> Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions
> and do not reflect on my employer, Advanced DataTools, 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 Thu, Nov 3, 2011 at 1:12 PM, JOHN CALLICOTTE
> <john.callicotte@ottawa.edu>wrote:
>
>> I am wanting to do custom data compression on the file.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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>> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>>
>>
> --e89a8f3ba85d7b550d04b0d92e63
>
>
>
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> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.