Re: Informix/TSM Point In Time Restore

ptitchuisse wrote: > Hello, > I am using Informix IDS 9.4 and TDP as a backup solution (on an AIX 5.1 > server). > > Our database contains: > - rootdbs > - ste_tmp as a temporary dbspace > - ste_dbs as an intraday application dbspace > - ste_e01_dbs as an archive application dbspace > - ste_r01_dbs as an archive application dbspace > . > . > . > - ste_e07_dbs as an archive application dbspace > - ste_r07_dbs as an archive application dbspace > > Then, we have have 20 tables which are fragmented on the ste_dbs and > ste_e*, ste_r* depend on a dbspace_id field in each table. 0 for ste_dbs, > 1 for ste_e01_dbs, ste_r01_dbs. > > During the intraday traffic, messages are created in these table with the > dbspace_id field to 0. > During the night, we have a process with set this field to [1-7], depend > of the current dbspace to use. > It allows to move automatically messages fron the intraday ste_dbs to an > archive dbspace. > > In order to implement a point in time recovery, we made the choice to only > backup criticals dbspaces and the intraday's one: > each archive dbspace are 36Gb chunk and in the case of a crash, it will > take ages to restore. > > Then, we have defined a "onbar -b rootdbs ste_dbs" in the crontab to run > it each night after our "archiving process" > > As described in the "IBM Informix Backup and Restore Guide pg 6-6 and > 6-21" if you use the onbar -r -t time command, you must restore all > storage spaces to specific time in a cold restore. > > I try to : > - oninit -i to reinitialise the instance > - onmode -BC 1 to activate huge chunk > - onspaces to recreate only the ste_dbs > - onbar -r -p -t "time1" rootdbs ste_dbs to do a physical point in time > restore of only the critical and the intraday dbspaces > - onbar -r -l -t "time1" to replay the logs > > and it failed with : > Unable to start the logical log restore: A Point-In-Time Logical Restore > is only permitted during a Full Restore. > DBSpace 'ste_e01_dbs' was not recovered during this restore.. > > Using the onstat -d command, I was surprised to see my 14 archive dbspaces > automatically recreated !!! > > Is somebody already met this issue and was in the same startegy ? > > Any help would be much appreciated > > Regards > David > > > > > > > What are you trying to do?? You have an instance. That instance has : rootdbs datadbs1 datadbs2_archive datadbs3_archive What do you want to be able to restore to "a point in time?" > As described in the "IBM Informix Backup and Restore Guide pg 6-6 and > 6-21" if you use the onbar -r -t time command, you must restore all > storage spaces to specific time in a cold restore. > So, are you saying that you are quite happy to "lose" the archive dbspaces in case of a failure? Well, let's say on Monday you backup : rootdbs datadbs1 on Tuesday you backup : rootdbs datadbs1 On Wednesday, you want to restore rootdbs and datadbs1 to 2005-09-14 00:00:00 : With the engine offline, issue onbar -r -p -t "2005-09-14 00:00:00" rootdbs datadbs1 Which will do a physical restore of the rootdbs and the datadbs. The instance is now expecting you to warm restore the remaining dbspaces (datadbs2_archive and datadbs3_archive), but you can roll forward rootdbs and datadbs1 onbar -r -l -t "2005-09-14 00:00:00" BUT the instance still knows about all the other dbspaces that ... you want to "trash" or "lose". Why not look at it like this : Sunday - backup everything : onbar -b Monday - backup rootdbs and datadbs1 onbar -b rootdbs datadbs1Tuesday - backup rootdbs and datadbs1 onbar -b rootdbs datadbs1Wednesday - backup rootdbs and datadbs1 onbar -b rootdbs datadbs1Thursday - backup rootdbs and datadbs1 onbar -b rootdbs datadbs1Friday - backup rootdbs and datadbs1 onbar -b rootdbs datadbs1 (Presumably you are also backing up the logical logs!!!) Now let's say you want to restore to Thursday, but with the least amount of down time : With the engine offline (no oninit -i needed anywhere!!!) onbar -r -p -t "2005-09-14 00:00:00" rootdbs datadbs1 onbar -r -l -t "2005-09-14 00:00:00" rootdbs datadbs1 Now the engine will come online and can be released to the users - BUT YOU WILL STILL HAVE TO RESTORE THE ARCHIVE DBSPACES THEY WILL BE MARKED AS DOWN onbar -r -t "2005-09-14 00:00:00" datadbs2_archive datadbs3_archive So, you will be restoring your archive datadbspaces after releasing the engine back to the users.