Any experience with log restore from disk

Hello, I just setup my log backups to run continuously to disk using "ontape -a" and got it working with the ALARMPROGRAM in the onconfig file. So that each time a log fills, a new disk log file is created with the time stamp by changing the LTAPEDEV value in onconfig. I haven't tested it with a restore yet though. But I now realise that there could be a problem when trying to restore the logical logs. How do I restore the logs from multiple disk log files? After I point LTAPEDEV to the first disk log file and I restore this, does ontape then prompt if there are more logical logs to restore? How would I restore the other disk logs? Since the ontape session is already running, I doubt that I can dynamically change the LTAPEDEV value!! Does anyone have any ideas? Samuel Lee. Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

Sam, You can make your LTAPEDEV constant (/.../backup/log) and in your ALARMPROGRAM copy the file /.../backup/log to one with time stamp after the log backup gets completed. While restore, you can copy your time-stamp file to /.../backup/log as needed through another session when prompted for old log tape/file. I've not tested this, but I think, it should work. Regards, Nick. <sleesingchan@my-deja.com> wrote in message news:8gk6dp$ti4$1@nnrp1.deja.com... > Hello, > > I just setup my log backups to run continuously to disk using > "ontape -a" and got it working with the ALARMPROGRAM in the onconfig > file. > So that each time a log fills, a new disk log file is created with the > time stamp by changing the LTAPEDEV value in onconfig. > > I haven't tested it with a restore yet though. > But I now realise that there could be a problem when trying to restore > the logical logs. How do I restore the logs from multiple disk log > files? After I point LTAPEDEV to the first disk log file and I restore > this, does ontape then prompt if there are more logical logs to restore? > > How would I restore the other disk logs? Since the ontape session is > already running, I doubt that I can dynamically change the LTAPEDEV > value!! > > Does anyone have any ideas? > > Samuel Lee. > > > > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ > Before you buy.

Just point LTAPEDEV to a link. At archive time the script links the name to the next file to be written. At restore time you manually link it to the oldest file you need to restore and when ontape prompts you to change the tape just break the link and relink to the next file. It is tedious but it works like a charm. If your naming is sane you could write an expect script to manage the restore. For example my ALARMPROGRAM executable names the backup files "logfile.<lognum>" where <lognum> is the number of the first log number the file contains (derived from the ontape output and the event message). At restore time ontape will prompt for the file/tape containing log <lognum> and you can parse that and create ln -s command to make the proper link. Art S. Kagel sleesingchan@my-deja.com wrote: > > Hello, > > I just setup my log backups to run continuously to disk using > "ontape -a" and got it working with the ALARMPROGRAM in the onconfig > file. > So that each time a log fills, a new disk log file is created with the > time stamp by changing the LTAPEDEV value in onconfig. > > I haven't tested it with a restore yet though. > But I now realise that there could be a problem when trying to restore > the logical logs. How do I restore the logs from multiple disk log > files? After I point LTAPEDEV to the first disk log file and I restore > this, does ontape then prompt if there are more logical logs to restore? > > How would I restore the other disk logs? Since the ontape session is > already running, I doubt that I can dynamically change the LTAPEDEV > value!! > > Does anyone have any ideas? > > Samuel Lee. > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ > Before you buy.

I watch over several systems which do log backups as described by Nick and it works quite nicely. We did extensive testing of restores before commiting to this approach and have had a couple of occasions to actually do restores with logs in the production environment. It's been a while since we had to do this, but if I recall we were even able to concatenate multiple log files into a single file (you've got to get the order right) to save time and keystrokes in doing the restore. In any case I would recommend thorough testing in your environment before committing any production systems to this backup approach. -- Irwin Goldstein Objective Software Systems, Inc. http://www.objectsoft.com In article <8gkgv7$bqu$1@news.cnf.com>, "Nick Kataria" <kataria.nick@emeryworld.com> wrote: > Sam, > You can make your LTAPEDEV constant (/.../backup/log) and in your > ALARMPROGRAM copy the file /.../backup/log to one with time stamp after the > log backup gets completed. > > While restore, you can copy your time-stamp file to /.../backup/log as > needed through another session when prompted for old log tape/file. I've not > tested this, but I think, it should work. > > Regards, > Nick. > <sleesingchan@my-deja.com> wrote in message > news:8gk6dp$ti4$1@nnrp1.deja.com... > > Hello, > > > > I just setup my log backups to run continuously to disk using > > "ontape -a" and got it working with the ALARMPROGRAM in the onconfig > > file. > > So that each time a log fills, a new disk log file is created with the > > time stamp by changing the LTAPEDEV value in onconfig. > > > > I haven't tested it with a restore yet though. > > But I now realise that there could be a problem when trying to restore > > the logical logs. How do I restore the logs from multiple disk log > > files? After I point LTAPEDEV to the first disk log file and I restore > > this, does ontape then prompt if there are more logical logs to restore? > > > > How would I restore the other disk logs? Since the ontape session is > > already running, I doubt that I can dynamically change the LTAPEDEV > > value!! > > > > Does anyone have any ideas? > > > > Samuel Lee. > > > > > > > > > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ > > Before you buy. > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.