tbtape verify, HOW?

> My first post of this received no response. I will try again, or does no one > know the answer? > > I am looking for a way to verify the integrity of an archive without restoring > the data. Does anyone know how to accomplish this with Online 5.x? 6.x? 7.x? > > Thanks, > > -------------------------------------------------------- > Rob McAllister rmcall@on-ramp.ior.com > Spokane, WA > "On all good programmers a little core must dump" I don't know of any way currently to verify an archive. You could, in theory, write a program that would perform the cross-checking of the current status of the db against the archive, but it would be pretty tedious and still would not give the warm, fuzzy feeling of acually, *really* going through all the steps of an archive and restore. The archive process is vastly different under the ODS versions (6,7,8) than under the older versions (4,5) of OnLine. The "Informix-OnLine Dynamic Server Archive and Backup Guide v7.1" dated 12-94 says on page 5-20: ON-Archive then goes on, however, to validate the tape (by rereading it) and update the ON-Archive catalog with the file information. If either of these activities results in failure, *onarchive* marks the status of the archive as failed. Do you know about this? Is it good enough for you? As a DBA who's been burned before, I don't sleep well unless I've *actually done* all the steps of the whole scenario, from start to finish. I don't trust the documentation, the man pages, or the wisdom of the net with my real-live data, and certainly not with my archives. The only way you *know* that it will work is if you've done it. And that doesn't mean it will work again! ;) That's my HK$0.02 worth, __________________________________________________________________ | Clem Akins Standard Disclaimers Apply | |Reynolds Metals Co, Alloys Plant "Climb High, Cave Deep!" | | Muscle Shoals, Alabama USA cwakins@leia.alloys.rmc.com | |________________________________________________________________|