Informix Log Archive issue

Hi, I am running IBM IDS Ver 9.40.FC3 on AIX-5.2 Vendor Application. The backup is scheduled as follows: Full DB Backup – twice a day, Log Archive – every 2 hours in between. I am executing Log Archive in shell script set as a cron job. /digi/informix/bin/ontape -a <<EOL \\ \\ EOL The database is a new Vendor Product. The vendor recommends to have continuos log backup ontape –c but I am not certain how it will behave during the scheduled Full Backup. If there is a recommendation in regard to this question, I would appreciate it. So far I stay with ontape –a. When I execute command ontape -a manually, the Log is backed up and cleared. The new Log becomes available as expected. However, when the backup is called from a shell (as shown above), the Log is backed up but it is not getting cleared. To avoid “hang” I keep watching the growth of the Log and periodically execute ontape -a manually. Any recommendation on this issue? Thanks Simon Matthews, NYC

Hi, can you specify what exactly you mean by "getting backed up" and "getting cleared" ? To my knowledge there should not be a difference in behaviour of ontape whether started manually or from a script. At least not when terminal parameters are set correctly, etc. Check the output of ontape when run from the script. E.g. I know that when backing up logs to a file, you have to provide a "new file" (e.g. the file truncated to zero length) before running "ontape -a" again, otherwise it will detect that this file is a log tape and will refuse to overwrite it ... Also I don't see any problem with running "ontape -c" for continuous log backup. You can let this run even while a normal archive session ("ontape -s -L ...") is going on. The trouble with continuous log backup (with ontape) generally is when a tape becomes full. At that point it will request a new tape, which you have to provide and then you have to manually type a <RETURN> for the logback to continue. This makes it difficult to run ontape continuous log backup from scripts or in background, or when it runs in some terminal window and "is forgotten" (i.e. nobody does the tape change and hits <RETURN> ...). Besides, if you still feel uncomfortable, you can interrupt the continuous log backup before taking an archive. Just don't forget to start it again afterwards. Regards, Martin -- Martin Fuerderer IBM Informix Development Munich Data Management Solutions forum.subscriber@iiug.org wrote on 23.09.2004 20:40:55: > Hi, > I am running IBM IDS Ver 9.40.FC3 on AIX-5.2 > Vendor Application. > The backup is scheduled as follows: > Full DB Backup ? twice a day, Log Archive ? every 2 hours in between. > > I am executing Log Archive in shell script set as a cron job. > > /digi/informix/bin/ontape -a <<EOL > \\ > \\ > EOL > > The database is a new Vendor Product. The vendor recommends to have > continuos log backup ontape ?c but I am not certain how it will behave > during the scheduled Full Backup. If there is a recommendation in regard > to this question, I would appreciate it. > So far I stay with ontape ?a. > > When I execute command ontape -a manually, the Log is backed up and > cleared. The new Log becomes available as expected. > However, when the backup is called from a shell (as shown above), the > Log is backed up but it is not getting cleared. > To avoid ?hang? I keep watching the growth of the Log and periodically > execute ontape -a manually. > > Any recommendation on this issue? > Thanks > > Simon Matthews, NYC