Continuos logging procedures

We recently started doing continuos logging to tape. However, we have not come up with a good procedure to automate this process. We currently have a DBA start the logging at the beginning of the workday and then end of the day he/she interrupts the process, goes across town to the server, and labels the tape. Does anyone out there have a procedure worked out that keeps continuos logging running the entire time the instance is up, is automatically restarted after a crash of the instance or Unix box, and is able to provide the log ranges on the tape to an operator that can label and switch tapes? As you have probably suspected, we do not have any tape storage manager software at this time. TIA Rogers Patterson Ps. We are IDS 7.3 on DEC Unix 4.0D

In article <7c707i$t3k$1@news.xmission.com>, Rogers Patterson <rogers.patterson@mail.state.ar.us> wrote: > > We recently started doing continuos logging to tape. However, we have not > come up with a good procedure to automate this process. We currently have a > DBA start the logging at the beginning of the workday and then end of the > day he/she interrupts the process, goes across town to the server, and > labels the tape. > > Does anyone out there have a procedure worked out that keeps continuos > logging running the entire time the instance is up, is automatically > restarted after a crash of the instance or Unix box, and is able to provide > the log ranges on the tape to an operator that can label and switch tapes? > > As you have probably suspected, we do not have any tape storage manager > software at this time. > > TIA > Rogers Patterson > > Ps. We are IDS 7.3 on DEC Unix 4.0D > What archiving utility you use ? If ontape or onarchive - all your problems will be resolved by using alarm program (ALARMPROGRAM param in ONCONFIG file). For details, see " Adminstrators Guide,vol 2 ". With best regards, Juri Dovgart, Bank's "Ukraine" System Administrator;&#137; -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==---------- http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own

Rogers Patterson wrote in message <7c707i$t3k$1@news.xmission.com>... > >We recently started doing continuos logging to tape. However, we have not >come up with a good procedure to automate this process. We currently have a >DBA start the logging at the beginning of the workday and then end of the >day he/she interrupts the process, goes across town to the server, and >labels the tape. How many logical logs do you fill up in a day ?? If you don't know, modify the log_full.sh program to echo a line to a file every time a log fills ( an example is given below...) -------------------------------------------- EVENT_SEVERITY=$1 EVENT_CLASS=$2 EVENT_MSG="$3" EVENT_ADD_TEXT="$4" EVENT_FILE="$5" ALARM_FILE=$SA_HOME/ifal_alarm.out ' changed 26/10/98 DAILYLOGS=/home/informix/etc/dailylogs case "$EVENT_CLASS" in 23) ' Record each log that gets filled in a file which ' is created on a daily basis, so that we can monitor ' the number of logical logs that get filled each day. DATE=`date +%d%m%y` echo $EVENT_MSG >> $DAILYLOGS.$DATE ' onbar assumes no operator is present, ' so all messages are written to the activity ' log and there shouldn't be any output, but ' send everything to /dev/null just in case if [ -f /tmp/stoplogs ] then echo $EVENT_SEVERITY >>$ALARM_FILE echo $EVENT_CLASS >>$ALARM_FILE echo "Archive Tapes being changed. Archiving of logs has been temporarily suspended" >>$ALARM_FILE echo " " >>$ALARM_FILE ' Create 6 lines per incident echo " " >>$ALARM_FILE echo `date` >>$ALARM_FILE EXIT_STATUS=0 else $BACKUP_CMD 2>&1 >> /dev/null EXIT_STATUS=$? fi ;; ' One program is shared by all event alarms. If this ever gets expanded to ' handle more than just archive events, uncomment the following: *) case "$EVENT_SEVERITY" in 5) echo $EVENT_SEVERITY >>$ALARM_FILE echo $EVENT_CLASS >>$ALARM_FILE echo $EVENT_MSG >>$ALARM_FILE echo $EVENT_ADD_TEXT >>$ALARM_FILE echo $EVENT_FILE >>$ALARM_FILE echo `date` >>$ALARM_FILE EXIT_STATUS=1 ;; 4) echo $EVENT_SEVERITY >>$ALARM_FILE echo $EVENT_CLASS >>$ALARM_FILE echo $EVENT_MSG >>$ALARM_FILE echo $EVENT_ADD_TEXT >>$ALARM_FILE echo $EVENT_FILE >>$ALARM_FILE echo `date` >>$ALARM_FILE EXIT_STATUS=1 ;; 3) echo $EVENT_SEVERITY >>$ALARM_FILE echo $EVENT_CLASS >>$ALARM_FILE echo $EVENT_MSG >>$ALARM_FILE echo $EVENT_ADD_TEXT >>$ALARM_FILE echo $EVENT_FILE >>$ALARM_FILE echo `date` >>$ALARM_FILE EXIT_STATUS=1 ;; *) EXIT_STATUS=0 ;; esac EXIT_STATUS=1 ;; esac exit $EXIT_STATUS --------------------------------------------- If you aren't filling up that many ( 100 - 200 ) why not just create 300 logs then do a daily archive of the logical logs - we also have a script that monitors the number of logs that fill up and when it gets to 75%, an e-mail is raised to all support and admin staff so that the necessary action can be taken. > >Does anyone out there have a procedure worked out that keeps continuos >logging running the entire time the instance is up, is automatically >restarted after a crash of the instance or Unix box, and is able to provide >the log ranges on the tape to an operator that can label and switch tapes? We use onbar with the log_full.sh program ( as described above ). It works fine and have not had any (major) problems - granted, we are using Omniback and not ISM as we are using 7.24.UC7. You should definitely consider using onbar - ontape is fine but, as you said, it can be a pain when you have to stop and re-start it. A few good steps would be:- 1. Write a script to monitor the number of logs that get filled on a daily basis 2. Write a script that when the logs are 75% full, creates a warning of some description 3. Start using the log_full.sh program for what it was designed for 4. configure onbar to archive the logs to a specific tape device, used solely for archiving the logical logs - so a tape drive costs $4000 - ask your FD how much his data is worth. > >As you have probably suspected, we do not have any tape storage manager >software at this time. Not strictly true with the 7.3 release, you have ISM (Informix Storage Manager) which can be configured to perform onbar archives of the logical logs through the log_full.sh alarm program. > >TIA >Rogers Patterson > >Ps. We are IDS 7.3 on DEC Unix 4.0D Hope this helps Sean