Onunload and onload
Andy Pistocchi asked how to copy an Informix 11.70 database between two identical HP-UX Integrity servers over the network, without tape, on a regular basis. Suggestions: pipe a level-0 ontape backup via STDIO over rsh into an ontape restore on the target (gzip or a crossover cable if bandwidth is tight); use ifxclone; use ontape-to-disk for a whole instance; or for single databases use dbexport/dbimport or Art Kagel's non-locking myexport/myimport or dbcopy tools. Marcus Haarmann suggested onmode -c block plus an LVM snapshot mounted by a second instance for consistent, lock-free exports. The poster planned to try ontape to disk, but no outcome is recorded.
Auto-generated by DrWatson from the posts below — may be imperfect; read the full thread.
I have an older HP Integrity server that I would like to use for R&D testing
for our Informix databases. I need assistance in copying a database from one
server to another. Both servers are Integrity servers running HPUX 11i v3 and
Informix 11.70.FC4. On the production server, I've used the onunload and
onload utilities to copy a live database to a train or dev database. This
works fine. Now I would like to copy a database from one server to the other
without using any tape devices. Both servers are on the same network. Both
servers have the same size dbspaces. The R&D server was restored from a HP
Ignite make_tape_recovery bootable tape so all the file systems, logical
volumes and dbspaces are the same on both servers.
I've also seen older posts on using dbexport / dbimport and other utilities.
What would be the best utility to do this on a regular basis? Thanks.
Andy Pistocchi
DBA / Systems Administrator
The University of Tampa
apistocchi@ut.edu<mailto:apistocchi@ut.edu>
Sounds like you want to copy one system to another system only using the
network
and avoid disk space. This is very simple. You can borrow the
methodology from
setting up a hdr server. For additional information see the manual under
"decrease setup time using ontape STDIO"
ontape -s -L 0 -t STDIO -F | rsh server2 ontape_restore.ksh
-----------------------ontape_restore.sh------------------------------
#!/bin/ksh
#Setup the informix environment then run ontape restore
. /home/informix/informix.env
# redirect stdout and stderr to avoid any output.
ontape -p -t STDIO >/dev/null 2>&1
John F. Miller III
ids-bounces@iiug.org wrote on 06/05/2013 10:35:47 AM:
> From: "ANDREW PISTOCCHI" <APISTOCCHI@UT.EDU>
> To: ids@iiug.org,
> Date: 06/05/2013 10:36 AM
> Subject: Onunload and onload [30432]
> Sent by: ids-bounces@iiug.org
>
> I have an older HP Integrity server that I would like to use for R&D
testing
> for our Informix databases. I need assistance in copying a database from
one
> server to another. Both servers are Integrity servers running HPUX 11i v3
and
> Informix 11.70.FC4. On the production server, I've used the onunload and
> onload utilities to copy a live database to a train or dev database. This
> works fine. Now I would like to copy a database from one server to the
other
> without using any tape devices. Both servers are on the same network.
Both
> servers have the same size dbspaces. The R&D server was restored from a
HP
> Ignite make_tape_recovery bootable tape so all the file systems, logical
> volumes and dbspaces are the same on both servers.
>
> I've also seen older posts on using dbexport / dbimport and other
utilities.
> What would be the best utility to do this on a regular basis? Thanks.
>
> Andy Pistocchi
> DBA / Systems Administrator
> The University of Tampa
> apistocchi@ut.edu<mailto:apistocchi@ut.edu>
>
>
>
*******************************************************************************
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
ifxclone is another option.
command syntax:
ifxclone --source=<production server> --sourceIP=<production server ip
address> --sourcePort=<production server port number> --target=<test
server name> --targetIP=<test server ip address> --targetPort=<test server
port number> --useLocal
Thanks & Regards,
Nagaraju
From: John Miller iii/Menlo Park/IBM@IBMUS
To: ids@iiug.org,
Date: 06/05/2013 01:05 PM
Subject: Re: Onunload and onload [30433]
Sent by: ids-bounces@iiug.org
Sounds like you want to copy one system to another system only using the
network
and avoid disk space. This is very simple. You can borrow the
methodology from
setting up a hdr server. For additional information see the manual under
"decrease setup time using ontape STDIO"
ontape -s -L 0 -t STDIO -F | rsh server2 ontape_restore.ksh
-----------------------ontape_restore.sh------------------------------
#!/bin/ksh
#Setup the informix environment then run ontape restore
.. /home/informix/informix.env
# redirect stdout and stderr to avoid any output.
ontape -p -t STDIO >/dev/null 2>&1
John F. Miller III
ids-bounces@iiug.org wrote on 06/05/2013 10:35:47 AM:
> From: "ANDREW PISTOCCHI" <APISTOCCHI@UT.EDU>
> To: ids@iiug.org,
> Date: 06/05/2013 10:36 AM
> Subject: Onunload and onload [30432]
> Sent by: ids-bounces@iiug.org
>
> I have an older HP Integrity server that I would like to use for R&D
testing
> for our Informix databases. I need assistance in copying a database from
one
> server to another. Both servers are Integrity servers running HPUX 11i
v3
and
> Informix 11.70.FC4. On the production server, I've used the onunload and
> onload utilities to copy a live database to a train or dev database.
This
> works fine. Now I would like to copy a database from one server to the
other
> without using any tape devices. Both servers are on the same network.
Both
> servers have the same size dbspaces. The R&D server was restored from a
HP
> Ignite make_tape_recovery bootable tape so all the file systems, logical
> volumes and dbspaces are the same on both servers.
>
> I've also seen older posts on using dbexport / dbimport and other
utilities.
> What would be the best utility to do this on a regular basis? Thanks.
>
> Andy Pistocchi
> DBA / Systems Administrator
> The University of Tampa
> apistocchi@ut.edu<mailto:apistocchi@ut.edu>
>
>
>
*******************************************************************************
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
*******************************************************************************
Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
If the disks for dbspaces are the same, then if you want to copy the entire
server instance, using ontape to disk is easiest. If you just need to copy
a single database, then yes, you can use dbexport/dbimport just note that
dbexport will require an exclusive lock on the source database so no other
users can be connected to the database while dbexport is running. If you
need to make an export while the server is being accessed, you can download
my package, myexport, which contains compatible replacements for dbexport
and dbimport (myexport and myimport respectively). Myexport does not lock
the database, however, in order to avoid constraint violations problems at
import time, you should use the myexport -p option to export all tables
concurrently in parallel.
Myexport/myimport also requires my dbschema replacement utility myschema
which is in the package utils2_ak. Myexport/myimport can use any or three
different methods for moving the data out of and back into the database.
In order of increasing speed these are:
1. Use Jonathan Leffler's sqlcmd (default, -U option). To use this
method you will also need the latest sqlcmd package.
2. Use the HPLoader (-D, -C, -S options). This requires Ravi Krishna's
myonpload package.
3. Use external tables (-E option). This does not require any other
packages.
With exceptions discussed in the README.1st file, the exported files and
schema myexport creates can be reloaded with dbimport and dbexport files
can be imported using myimport.
Another alternative would be to create an empty database on the target
machine, and use my dbcopy utility (in the utils2_ak package) to copy the
data directly from one server to the other. Dbcopy is very fast between
servers and if you can separate ranges of rows by key ranges you can run
multiple copies of dbcopy to move larger tables VERY quickly (dbschema -hd
<table> is the easiest way to determine a good set of key ranges). You can
use the mkdbcopy.awk script in my utils4_ak package to postprocess dbschema
(or myschema) output into a shell script that will copy every table using
dbcopy (you may have to reorder some of the tables in the resulting script
to avoid constraint violations if the constraints and indexes are already
in place at the time you copy the data).
Art
Art S. Kagel
Advanced DataTools (www.advancedatatools.com)
Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions
and do not reflect on my employer, Advanced DataTools, the IIUG, nor any
other organization with which I am associated either explicitly,
implicitly, or by inference. Neither do those opinions reflect those of
other individuals affiliated with any entity with which I am affiliated nor
those of the entities themselves.
On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 1:35 PM, ANDREW PISTOCCHI <APISTOCCHI@ut.edu> wrote:
> I have an older HP Integrity server that I would like to use for R&D
> testing
> for our Informix databases. I need assistance in copying a database from
> one
> server to another. Both servers are Integrity servers running HPUX 11i v3
> and
> Informix 11.70.FC4. On the production server, I've used the onunload and
> onload utilities to copy a live database to a train or dev database. This
> works fine. Now I would like to copy a database from one server to the
> other
> without using any tape devices. Both servers are on the same network. Both
> servers have the same size dbspaces. The R&D server was restored from a HP
> Ignite make_tape_recovery bootable tape so all the file systems, logical
> volumes and dbspaces are the same on both servers.
>
> I've also seen older posts on using dbexport / dbimport and other
> utilities.
> What would be the best utility to do this on a regular basis? Thanks.
>
> Andy Pistocchi
> DBA / Systems Administrator
> The University of Tampa
> apistocchi@ut.edu<mailto:apistocchi@ut.edu>
>
>
>
>
*******************************************************************************
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
>
--047d7b34330e84ba5a04de6c336c
If bandwidth is an issue then stick a gzip/gunzip in the command lines.
If the servers are close and have a spare NIC just use a cross over cable
Cheers
Paul
-----Original Message-----
From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of John
Miller iii
Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2013 1:03 PM
To: ids@iiug.org
Subject: Re: Onunload and onload [30433]
Sounds like you want to copy one system to another system only using the
network
and avoid disk space. This is very simple. You can borrow the
methodology from
setting up a hdr server. For additional information see the manual under
"decrease setup time using ontape STDIO"
ontape -s -L 0 -t STDIO -F | rsh server2 ontape_restore.ksh
-----------------------ontape_restore.sh------------------------------
#!/bin/ksh
#Setup the informix environment then run ontape restore
.. /home/informix/informix.env
# redirect stdout and stderr to avoid any output.
ontape -p -t STDIO >/dev/null 2>&1
John F. Miller III
ids-bounces@iiug.org wrote on 06/05/2013 10:35:47 AM:
> From: "ANDREW PISTOCCHI" <APISTOCCHI@UT.EDU>
> To: ids@iiug.org,
> Date: 06/05/2013 10:36 AM
> Subject: Onunload and onload [30432]
> Sent by: ids-bounces@iiug.org
>
> I have an older HP Integrity server that I would like to use for R&D
testing
> for our Informix databases. I need assistance in copying a database from
one
> server to another. Both servers are Integrity servers running HPUX 11i v3
and
> Informix 11.70.FC4. On the production server, I've used the onunload and
> onload utilities to copy a live database to a train or dev database. This
> works fine. Now I would like to copy a database from one server to the
other
> without using any tape devices. Both servers are on the same network.
Both
> servers have the same size dbspaces. The R&D server was restored from a
HP
> Ignite make_tape_recovery bootable tape so all the file systems, logical
> volumes and dbspaces are the same on both servers.
>
> I've also seen older posts on using dbexport / dbimport and other
utilities.
> What would be the best utility to do this on a regular basis? Thanks.
>
> Andy Pistocchi
> DBA / Systems Administrator
> The University of Tampa
> apistocchi@ut.edu<mailto:apistocchi@ut.edu>
>
>
>
****************************************************************************
***
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
****************************************************************************
***
Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
Thanks for the input everyone. I will try the ontape to disk tonight to see
how long it takes. This looks like the best option going from one machine to
another and will be great to test all our databases on our R&D server.
Art....I would definitely like to try the myexport and myimport utilities for
copying databases on our production server. On our production blade HPUX
Integrity server we have 3 databases; Live, train and dev all in separate
dbspaces. The dev database is exclusively for the developers and programmers.
Our users have the ability to test in the train database. We have an
increasing need for the train and dev databases to be updated frequently from
live. Twice a year, I would use our scheduled downtime to copy live to train
and dev using onunload / onload.
Now, developers and users want the train and dev databases on our production
server refreshed from live a few times a year and possibly every month. Each
database is about 33 GB. Our university runs Jenzabar CX on Informix. Our
databases are larger than most Jenzabar CX schools but probably small from
Informix standards. It sounds like the myexport / myimport utilities would
work great for this process.
Andy P.
-----Original Message-----
From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of Art Kagel
Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2013 2:18 PM
To: ids@iiug.org
Subject: Re: Onunload and onload [30435]
If the disks for dbspaces are the same, then if you want to copy the entire
server instance, using ontape to disk is easiest. If you just need to copy a
single database, then yes, you can use dbexport/dbimport just note that
dbexport will require an exclusive lock on the source database so no other
users can be connected to the database while dbexport is running. If you need
to make an export while the server is being accessed, you can download my
package, myexport, which contains compatible replacements for dbexport and
dbimport (myexport and myimport respectively). Myexport does not lock the
database, however, in order to avoid constraint violations problems at import
time, you should use the myexport -p option to export all tables concurrently
in parallel.
Myexport/myimport also requires my dbschema replacement utility myschema which
is in the package utils2_ak. Myexport/myimport can use any or three different
methods for moving the data out of and back into the database.
In order of increasing speed these are:
1. Use Jonathan Leffler's sqlcmd (default, -U option). To use this
method you will also need the latest sqlcmd package.
2. Use the HPLoader (-D, -C, -S options). This requires Ravi Krishna's
myonpload package.
3. Use external tables (-E option). This does not require any other
packages.
With exceptions discussed in the README.1st file, the exported files and
schema myexport creates can be reloaded with dbimport and dbexport files can
be imported using myimport.
Another alternative would be to create an empty database on the target
machine, and use my dbcopy utility (in the utils2_ak package) to copy the data
directly from one server to the other. Dbcopy is very fast between servers and
if you can separate ranges of rows by key ranges you can run multiple copies
of dbcopy to move larger tables VERY quickly (dbschema -hd <table> is the
easiest way to determine a good set of key ranges). You can use the
mkdbcopy.awk script in my utils4_ak package to postprocess dbschema (or
myschema) output into a shell script that will copy every table using dbcopy
(you may have to reorder some of the tables in the resulting script to avoid
constraint violations if the constraints and indexes are already in place at
the time you copy the data).
Art
Art S. Kagel
Advanced DataTools (www.advancedatatools.com)
Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions and
do not reflect on my employer, Advanced DataTools, the IIUG, nor any other
organization with which I am associated either explicitly, implicitly, or by
inference. Neither do those opinions reflect those of other individuals
affiliated with any entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the
entities themselves.
On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 1:35 PM, ANDREW PISTOCCHI <APISTOCCHI@ut.edu> wrote:
> I have an older HP Integrity server that I would like to use for R&D
> testing for our Informix databases. I need assistance in copying a
> database from one server to another. Both servers are Integrity
> servers running HPUX 11i v3 and Informix 11.70.FC4. On the production
> server, I've used the onunload and onload utilities to copy a live
> database to a train or dev database. This works fine. Now I would like
> to copy a database from one server to the other without using any tape
> devices. Both servers are on the same network. Both servers have the
> same size dbspaces. The R&D server was restored from a HP Ignite
> make_tape_recovery bootable tape so all the file systems, logical
> volumes and dbspaces are the same on both servers.
>
> I've also seen older posts on using dbexport / dbimport and other
> utilities.
> What would be the best utility to do this on a regular basis? Thanks.
>
> Andy Pistocchi
> DBA / Systems Administrator
> The University of Tampa
> apistocchi@ut.edu<mailto:apistocchi@ut.edu>
>
>
>
>
*******************************************************************************
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
>
--047d7b34330e84ba5a04de6c336c
*******************************************************************************
Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
Let me know how it goes.
Art
Art S. Kagel
Advanced DataTools (www.advancedatatools.com)
Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions
and do not reflect on my employer, Advanced DataTools, the IIUG, nor any
other organization with which I am associated either explicitly,
implicitly, or by inference. Neither do those opinions reflect those of
other individuals affiliated with any entity with which I am affiliated nor
those of the entities themselves.
On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 3:53 PM, ANDREW PISTOCCHI <APISTOCCHI@ut.edu> wrote:
> Thanks for the input everyone. I will try the ontape to disk tonight to see
> how long it takes. This looks like the best option going from one machine
> to
> another and will be great to test all our databases on our R&D server.
>
> Art....I would definitely like to try the myexport and myimport utilities
> for
> copying databases on our production server. On our production blade HPUX
> Integrity server we have 3 databases; Live, train and dev all in separate
> dbspaces. The dev database is exclusively for the developers and
> programmers.
> Our users have the ability to test in the train database. We have an
> increasing need for the train and dev databases to be updated frequently
> from
> live. Twice a year, I would use our scheduled downtime to copy live to
> train
> and dev using onunload / onload.
>
> Now, developers and users want the train and dev databases on our
> production
> server refreshed from live a few times a year and possibly every month.
> Each
> database is about 33 GB. Our university runs Jenzabar CX on Informix. Our
> databases are larger than most Jenzabar CX schools but probably small from
> Informix standards. It sounds like the myexport / myimport utilities would
> work great for this process.
>
> Andy P.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of Art
> Kagel
> Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2013 2:18 PM
> To: ids@iiug.org
> Subject: Re: Onunload and onload [30435]
>
> If the disks for dbspaces are the same, then if you want to copy the entire
> server instance, using ontape to disk is easiest. If you just need to copy
> a
> single database, then yes, you can use dbexport/dbimport just note that
> dbexport will require an exclusive lock on the source database so no other
> users can be connected to the database while dbexport is running. If you
> need
> to make an export while the server is being accessed, you can download my
> package, myexport, which contains compatible replacements for dbexport and
> dbimport (myexport and myimport respectively). Myexport does not lock the
> database, however, in order to avoid constraint violations problems at
> import
> time, you should use the myexport -p option to export all tables
> concurrently
> in parallel.
>
> Myexport/myimport also requires my dbschema replacement utility myschema
> which
> is in the package utils2_ak. Myexport/myimport can use any or three
> different
> methods for moving the data out of and back into the database.
> In order of increasing speed these are:
>
> 1. Use Jonathan Leffler's sqlcmd (default, -U option). To use this
>
> method you will also need the latest sqlcmd package.
>
> 2. Use the HPLoader (-D, -C, -S options). This requires Ravi Krishna's
>
> myonpload package.
>
> 3. Use external tables (-E option). This does not require any other
>
> packages.
>
> With exceptions discussed in the README.1st file, the exported files and
> schema myexport creates can be reloaded with dbimport and dbexport files
> can
> be imported using myimport.
>
> Another alternative would be to create an empty database on the target
> machine, and use my dbcopy utility (in the utils2_ak package) to copy the
> data
> directly from one server to the other. Dbcopy is very fast between servers
> and
> if you can separate ranges of rows by key ranges you can run multiple
> copies
> of dbcopy to move larger tables VERY quickly (dbschema -hd <table> is the
> easiest way to determine a good set of key ranges). You can use the
> mkdbcopy.awk script in my utils4_ak package to postprocess dbschema (or
> myschema) output into a shell script that will copy every table using
> dbcopy
> (you may have to reorder some of the tables in the resulting script to
> avoid
> constraint violations if the constraints and indexes are already in place
> at
> the time you copy the data).
>
> Art
>
> Art S. Kagel
> Advanced DataTools (www.advancedatatools.com)
> Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
>
> Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions
> and
> do not reflect on my employer, Advanced DataTools, the IIUG, nor any other
> organization with which I am associated either explicitly, implicitly, or
> by
> inference. Neither do those opinions reflect those of other individuals
> affiliated with any entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the
> entities themselves.
>
> On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 1:35 PM, ANDREW PISTOCCHI <APISTOCCHI@ut.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > I have an older HP Integrity server that I would like to use for R&D
> > testing for our Informix databases. I need assistance in copying a
> > database from one server to another. Both servers are Integrity
> > servers running HPUX 11i v3 and Informix 11.70.FC4. On the production
> > server, I've used the onunload and onload utilities to copy a live
> > database to a train or dev database. This works fine. Now I would like
> > to copy a database from one server to the other without using any tape
> > devices. Both servers are on the same network. Both servers have the
> > same size dbspaces. The R&D server was restored from a HP Ignite
> > make_tape_recovery bootable tape so all the file systems, logical
> > volumes and dbspaces are the same on both servers.
> >
> > I've also seen older posts on using dbexport / dbimport and other
> > utilities.
> > What would be the best utility to do this on a regular basis? Thanks.
> >
> > Andy Pistocchi
> > DBA / Systems Administrator
> > The University of Tampa
> > apistocchi@ut.edu<mailto:apistocchi@ut.edu>
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
*******************************************************************************
> > Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
> >
> >
>
> --047d7b34330e84ba5a04de6c336c
>
>
>
>
*******************************************************************************
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
>
>
>
*******************************************************************************
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
>
--e89a8f83aa378f357104de6dd8f4
Hi,,
if you have snapshot capability for your devices, there is an easy option to
shortly block the DB (onmode -c block), take a snapshot,
unblock the DB again (onmode -c unblock).
We do this for nightly exports to have a clean basepoint. Taking a snapshot
using lvm2 does not take more than
some seconds. We are using Linux, not sure about HPUX.
We then set some symbolic links to the snapshot devices in a chroot
environment and start a second instance,
which is then working on the snapshot devices. Separate onconfig with own tcp
listener, much less buffer space
to not overload the machine.
Then, you can dbexport/onunload without any problem, having a consistent
environment as base,
including the ability to lock the databases in exclusive mode. After doing
that, simply shut down the separate instance
and drop the snapshot.
We are also using this mechanism to make a level 1 backup of our big documents
database (800 GB), which ist build
on smartblobs. This is necessary to prevent too long locks during backup. The
smartblobs are being searched
for modified pages for Level 1 backup, which takes about an hour. During this
time, the original instance
would be blocked. Level 0 has to be done on the original instance and Level 2
is not possible in this setup.
Marcus Haarmann
----- Ursprüngliche Mail -----
Von: "Art Kagel" <art.kagel@gmail.com>
An: ids@iiug.org
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 5. Juni 2013 22:14:50
Betreff: Re: Onunload and onload [30438]
Let me know how it goes.
Art
Art S. Kagel
Advanced DataTools (www.advancedatatools.com)
Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions
and do not reflect on my employer, Advanced DataTools, the IIUG, nor any
other organization with which I am associated either explicitly,
implicitly, or by inference. Neither do those opinions reflect those of
other individuals affiliated with any entity with which I am affiliated nor
those of the entities themselves.
On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 3:53 PM, ANDREW PISTOCCHI <APISTOCCHI@ut.edu> wrote:
> Thanks for the input everyone. I will try the ontape to disk tonight to see
> how long it takes. This looks like the best option going from one machine
> to
> another and will be great to test all our databases on our R&D server.
>
> Art....I would definitely like to try the myexport and myimport utilities
> for
> copying databases on our production server. On our production blade HPUX
> Integrity server we have 3 databases; Live, train and dev all in separate
> dbspaces. The dev database is exclusively for the developers and
> programmers.
> Our users have the ability to test in the train database. We have an
> increasing need for the train and dev databases to be updated frequently
> from
> live. Twice a year, I would use our scheduled downtime to copy live to
> train
> and dev using onunload / onload.
>
> Now, developers and users want the train and dev databases on our
> production
> server refreshed from live a few times a year and possibly every month.
> Each
> database is about 33 GB. Our university runs Jenzabar CX on Informix. Our
> databases are larger than most Jenzabar CX schools but probably small from
> Informix standards. It sounds like the myexport / myimport utilities would
> work great for this process.
>
> Andy P.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of Art
> Kagel
> Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2013 2:18 PM
> To: ids@iiug.org
> Subject: Re: Onunload and onload [30435]
>
> If the disks for dbspaces are the same, then if you want to copy the entire
> server instance, using ontape to disk is easiest. If you just need to copy
> a
> single database, then yes, you can use dbexport/dbimport just note that
> dbexport will require an exclusive lock on the source database so no other
> users can be connected to the database while dbexport is running. If you
> need
> to make an export while the server is being accessed, you can download my
> package, myexport, which contains compatible replacements for dbexport and
> dbimport (myexport and myimport respectively). Myexport does not lock the
> database, however, in order to avoid constraint violations problems at
> import
> time, you should use the myexport -p option to export all tables
> concurrently
> in parallel.
>
> Myexport/myimport also requires my dbschema replacement utility myschema
> which
> is in the package utils2_ak. Myexport/myimport can use any or three
> different
> methods for moving the data out of and back into the database.
> In order of increasing speed these are:
>
> 1. Use Jonathan Leffler's sqlcmd (default, -U option). To use this
>
> method you will also need the latest sqlcmd package.
>
> 2. Use the HPLoader (-D, -C, -S options). This requires Ravi Krishna's
>
> myonpload package.
>
> 3. Use external tables (-E option). This does not require any other
>
> packages.
>
> With exceptions discussed in the README.1st file, the exported files and
> schema myexport creates can be reloaded with dbimport and dbexport files
> can
> be imported using myimport.
>
> Another alternative would be to create an empty database on the target
> machine, and use my dbcopy utility (in the utils2_ak package) to copy the
> data
> directly from one server to the other. Dbcopy is very fast between servers
> and
> if you can separate ranges of rows by key ranges you can run multiple
> copies
> of dbcopy to move larger tables VERY quickly (dbschema -hd <table> is the
> easiest way to determine a good set of key ranges). You can use the
> mkdbcopy.awk script in my utils4_ak package to postprocess dbschema (or
> myschema) output into a shell script that will copy every table using
> dbcopy
> (you may have to reorder some of the tables in the resulting script to
> avoid
> constraint violations if the constraints and indexes are already in place
> at
> the time you copy the data).
>
> Art
>
> Art S. Kagel
> Advanced DataTools (www.advancedatatools.com)
> Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
>
> Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions
> and
> do not reflect on my employer, Advanced DataTools, the IIUG, nor any other
> organization with which I am associated either explicitly, implicitly, or
> by
> inference. Neither do those opinions reflect those of other individuals
> affiliated with any entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the
> entities themselves.
>
> On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 1:35 PM, ANDREW PISTOCCHI <APISTOCCHI@ut.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > I have an older HP Integrity server that I would like to use for R&D
> > testing for our Informix databases. I need assistance in copying a
> > database from one server to another. Both servers are Integrity
> > servers running HPUX 11i v3 and Informix 11.70.FC4. On the production
> > server, I've used the onunload and onload utilities to copy a live
> > database to a train or dev database. This works fine. Now I would like
> > to copy a database from one server to the other w