Re: newbie Q about 5.0 backups

Posted in 1994

Robert Colombo — 28 Sep 1994 14:53:14 GMT — source: Informix-list mailing list archive (1991-1998)

Mark, See comments inserted below. In article <1994Sep27.084043@news.ntrs.com> mbm1@ntrs.com (Mark Meredith 312.630.6295) writes: >I just inherited an Informix 5.0 Online project, server running under AIX. I >haven't tried any backups yet and was wondering... > >Can one use tptape to do the archives to a disk device (say, a jfs volume) >instead of to tape? We do our other RDBMs this way: we use their backup utils >to dump to a disk volume, and then use trusty ole system utility sysback to >perform the backup to tape. That makes our other RDBMs happy, our SysAdmin >happy, and our operators VERY happy as they have fewer tapes to mount. > This should be OK as long as you don't attempt to run >1 archive to the same device (i.e. file) before you move the original. It will not append to an existing archive (or logical log backup for that matter). Just overwrite. >Obviously, I haven't tried this. The manual does not even allude to non-tape >devices, other than /dev/null, and so I wondered if this was kosher. > >As an alternative, I thought about exporting the critical databases to disk >(again, where our standard backups would get them). The manual advises that >they don't recommend this approach; any idea as to why? I was thinking that I can think of 2 reasons: First, you can perform an archive while users are actively using the system without fear of locking them out of a table (as may happen when performing an export). Secondly, you will preserve the integrity of the data via the archive (tbtape/tbmonitor) which wouldn't necessarily be true w/unload (if attempted while users were processing). >perhaps one could first export the entire DB (schema and tables), perform an >archive to /dev/null, and then live happily ever after secure in the knowledge >that we have a good archive... err, I mean, backup. > >Your comments appreciated! > > > >-- >Mark B. Meredith | mbm1@ntrs.com >Northern Trust Co. | Voice: 312.630.6295 >Chicago, IL USA | FAX: 312.444.3951 Regards, Bob Colombo CSE, Informix Boston # Std. disclaimers apply.