Level 0 Archive size

I have called Informix support and they tell me that the size of a level 0 archive of an online engine is limited to 2 gig. Once the level 0 reaches 2 gig on a tape, the engine will prompt you to input an additional tape to complete the archive. 1) I know this is not true, as I have customers completing level 0 archives that are larger than 2 gig, and the archive goes to 1 tape. 2) Informix tells me that the level 0 archive size is one-to-one for the number or pages used in the online environment. I am trying to research this, and would like to know what anyone else thinks or knows about this. Thanks! tls

Tracy Sweeney wrote: > > I have called Informix support and they tell me that the size of a level 0 archive of an online engine is limited to 2 gig. > Once the level 0 reaches 2 gig on a tape, the engine will prompt you to input an additional tape to complete the archive. > > 1) I know this is not true, as I have customers completing level 0 archives that are larger than 2 gig, and the archive goes to 1 tape. > 2) Informix tells me that the level 0 archive size is one-to-one for the number or pages used in the online environment. > > I am trying to research this, and would like to know what anyone else thinks or knows about this. > > Thanks! > tls We routinely get 5-8 GB on 4mm (120M DDS-2) tapes. I believe the only real limit form the informix side is the value of TAPESIZE. 2GB may be the default size. On DLT we do a level 0 of an entire 40GB configuration or numerous smaller configs ranging from 4-5 GB to 20+GB. -Rich

You've been misinformed, as you realise. The trigger for a "mount a new tape" message comes either from hitting the end of the physical tape (although Informix generally doesn't handle end-of-media very well) or, more usually, hitting the TAPESIZE value. We back up a 100GByte production database onto 3 DLTs. There is a limit of 2GBytes to a file system file. Perhaps this is what the Tech Support agent meant. Even this can be circumvented by archiving to raw disk. Only pages with data in them will be archived. Therefore, adding a new 2GByte chunk to your server will incurr no additional archiving overhead (well, three pages actually!) so long as it remains empty. Neil Truby Londis Stores Hampton Hill, UK Tracy Sweeney wrote in message <8c34m5$smf$1@news.xmission.com>... > >I have called Informix support and they tell me that the size of a level 0 archive of an online engine is limited to 2 gig. >Once the level 0 reaches 2 gig on a tape, the engine will prompt you to input an additional tape to complete the archive. > >1) I know this is not true, as I have customers completing level 0 archives that are larger than 2 gig, and the archive goes to 1 tape. >2) Informix tells me that the level 0 archive size is one-to-one for the number or pages used in the online environment. > >I am trying to research this, and would like to know what anyone else thinks or knows about this. > >Thanks! >tls > >

In article <38E6B1AF.168E@theramp.net>, Rich Hall <rhall@theramp.net> writes >Tracy Sweeney wrote: >> >> I have called Informix support and they tell me that the size of a level 0 >archive of an online engine is limited to 2 gig. >> Once the level 0 reaches 2 gig on a tape, the engine will prompt you to input >an additional tape to complete the archive. >> >> 1) I know this is not true, as I have customers completing level 0 archives >that are larger than 2 gig, and the archive goes to 1 tape. >> 2) Informix tells me that the level 0 archive size is one-to-one for the >number or pages used in the online environment. >> >> I am trying to research this, and would like to know what anyone else thinks >or knows about this. >> >> Thanks! >> tls > >We routinely get 5-8 GB on 4mm (120M DDS-2) tapes. I believe the only >real limit form the informix side is the value of TAPESIZE. 2GB may be >the default size. On DLT we do a level 0 of an entire 40GB configuration >or numerous smaller configs ranging from 4-5 GB to 20+GB. > >-Rich Depends upon version. I think there was a bug in early v7 engines where >2Gb did not work. Certainly in 7.30 and above the limit is 2Gb of pages, each page is 2Kb hence the limit is 2Tb! -- David Williams

David Williams wrote: > In article <38E6B1AF.168E@theramp.net>, Rich Hall <rhall@theramp.net> > writes > >Tracy Sweeney wrote: > >> > >> I have called Informix support and they tell me that the size of a level 0 > >archive of an online engine is limited to 2 gig. > >> Once the level 0 reaches 2 gig on a tape, the engine will prompt you to input > >an additional tape to complete the archive. > >> > >> 1) I know this is not true, as I have customers completing level 0 archives > >that are larger than 2 gig, and the archive goes to 1 tape. > >> 2) Informix tells me that the level 0 archive size is one-to-one for the > >number or pages used in the online environment. > >> > >> I am trying to research this, and would like to know what anyone else thinks > >or knows about this. > >> > >> Thanks! > >> tls > > > >We routinely get 5-8 GB on 4mm (120M DDS-2) tapes. I believe the only > >real limit form the informix side is the value of TAPESIZE. 2GB may be > >the default size. On DLT we do a level 0 of an entire 40GB configuration > >or numerous smaller configs ranging from 4-5 GB to 20+GB. > > > >-Rich > > Depends upon version. I think there was a bug in early v7 engines > where >2Gb did not work. Certainly in 7.30 and above the limit is > 2Gb of pages, each page is 2Kb hence the limit is 2Tb! Informix has NEVER had a problem writing to tape sets >2GB. We backup to a 5 DLT4000 drive RAID5 tape array and tell TAPESIZE that a single tapeset is 89GB (4 * 20GB minus some). No problems in all versions of 5/6/7. Art S. Kagel