ontape -c questions

Hi all, I'm using 'ontape -c' command to run the backup log manually to the cassette but I still confuse about it. I would like to make sure if my plan for backup log is good. Here are my questions: 1-I start the 'ontape -c' every morning and stop it before going home, so is it the 'ontape -c' command will overwrite the contents of the cassette every morning after I started the 'ontape -c'? 2-I have the full informix backup with 'ontape -s -L 0' every night from Monday to Friday with 5 cassettes rotation. The same for backup logs with 5 cassettes rotation in the days. Do I need 5 cassettes for backup logs from Monday to Friday or just use the same cassette which will be overwritten everyday....? How long the backup log should to be keep for recovery plan? I'm newbie in disaster recovery informix instant and I don't have chance to test it.....:-( I hope receiving some advises from you... Thanks in advance for any helps.... H.V

> > 1-I start the 'ontape -c' every morning and stop it before going home, so is > it the 'ontape -c' command will overwrite the contents of the cassette every > morning after I started the 'ontape -c'? Yes, you're right. Ontape overwrites tape every time when backup begins. > > 2-I have the full informix backup with 'ontape -s -L 0' every night from > Monday to Friday with 5 cassettes rotation. The same for backup logs with 5 > cassettes rotation in the days. > > Do I need 5 cassettes for backup logs from Monday to Friday or just use the > same cassette which will be overwritten everyday....? How long the backup > log should to be keep for recovery plan? IMHO you need 3 tapes at all : 1-st :Monday evening L 0 backup, then 2- nd tape for log backups during Tuesday. 3-rd tape for L 0 backup on Wednesday. Now, after L 0 backup on Wednwsday, you can recycle tapes 1 and 2. But remember - this is the case for small databases, that has backup time about 2-3 ours. For biggest databases, archive strategy depend on the availible archive devices, size of the database and many other factors. > > I'm newbie in disaster recovery informix instant and I don't have chance to > test it.....:-( > Don't have test system ? Poor, what would you do, if your system crashes ? -- With best regards, Yuri Dovgart, SAP R/3, Informix consultant, "Telecominvest" company. E-mail y_dovgart@tci.ukrtel.net Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Share what you know. Learn what you don't.