Re: Informix database backups

In article <181269@pyramid.pyramid.com> echen@sword.eng.pyramid.com (Eric Chen) writes: +--------------- | The advantages of using tbtape command are: | | * On-line backup and databases are not locked. A must for commerical | environment. +--------------- Not exactly. The database gets locked if the archive doesn't fit on a single reel. The lock exists during the time the tape is rewinding and the operator is mounting a new reel. This can be several minutes, and is completely unacceptable. We had to solve this problem for our commercial customers. Our approach was to create a named pipe (/dev/tape) and point Informix at it in the tbconfig file. We lied to Informix about the size of the tape device (99999999...) and then wrote our own set of programs to read the pipe and write the tape. Our programs can toggle drives on systems that have more than one, and buffer to disk during the time the tape is not available. -- Chad R. Larson chad@anasazi.com or chad@anasaz.UUCP Anasazi, Inc. - 7500 North Dreamy Draw Drive, Suite 120, Phoenix, Az 85020 (602) 870-3330 "I read the news today, oh boy!" -- John Lennon