Re: Database and RAID

David Kosenko (davek@summitdata.com) wrote: <snip> : If your "alternate" backup is performed while Informix is on-line, then the contents : of that backup are most likely useless. Since the server will be writing to : different locations in your cooked file during the "alternate" backup, the backup : itself will contain the chunk in an inconsistent state. Part of Informix's : functionality with the backup utils is handling the changed data such that the backup : contents are consistent. There's another, sometimes more critical problem. If your "alternate" backup is done "hot" with the dB running, be sure that your backup program does not place a lock on the file. If so, and if you try to access data on the file, Informix will fail to read, decide that the disk is bad, and then mark the chunk as "down". This can range from a minor inconvenience in later engines to a major problem necessitating a call to Informix to come into your system and mark the chunk "up". I had this happen once on a client's system. joe -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Lumbley(jlumbley@netcom.com) author of: "INFORMIX DBA Survival Guide" Slaving away on "INFORMIX DBA Survival Guide, The SQL", available late 1998 from Prentice Hall/Informix Press. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------