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Process documentation How to Use BR*Tools  Locate the document in its SAP Library structure

Purpose

You can start BR*Tools in the following ways:

·        Interactively from the BRGUI graphical interface or the BRTOOLS character interface

·        Directly from the command line using the relevant BR*Tools options

For BRSPACE you can also use “quick mode” from the BRGUI or BRTOOLS interface or the command line. For more information, see “Quick Mode for BRSPACE” below.

Note

There is also an unattended or “batch” mode, but this is only relevant when you have completed your input and started execution to perform some action on the database.

With the option –c|-confirm, you can specify that the BR*Tool runs without operator input in unattended mode, only stopping when absolutely necessary, that is in menus and “yes / no” choices (message BR0676I). All other confirmation prompts and so on are skipped.

With the option –c|–confirm force, you can specify that BR*Tool runs in fully unattended mode, so that an error is generated if input is required and has not already been given.

Whichever start method you use, at the end a functional tool – BRBACKUP, BRARCHIVE, BRRESTORE, BRRECOVER, BRSPACE, or BRCONNECT – directly performs some action on the database.

Process Flow

Interactive Start

You start BRGUI or BRTOOLS from the command line and then choose the menu options required:

·        Database Instance Management with BR*Tools

·        Space Management with BR*Tools

·        Segment Management with BR*Tools

·        Backup and Database Copy with BR*Tools

·        Restore and Recovery with BR*Tools

·        Check and Verification with BR*Tools

·        Database Statistics with BR*Tools

·        Additional Functions with BR*Tools

When you are ready to execute the functional tool, BRGUI or BRTOOLS normally shows you the command that is to be executed. Then BRGUI or BRTOOLS normally calls the correct functional tool to perform the function that you have specified in the menus.

You can enter manually enter the command. For more information, see “Command Line Mode” below. However, you might get errors if you change the command.

Note

BRSPACE and BRRECOVER differ in that they also have an interactive mode separate from BRGUI or BRTOOLS. Therefore, BRTOOLS passes control to BRSPACE or BRRECOVER , which themselves gather further input using menus, before starting to perform an action on the database.

In addition, there is a “quick mode” for BRSPACE. If you specify an object name in BRGUI or BRTOOLS, you enter BRSPACE in “quick mode.”  For more information, see below.

There are the following reasons for this:

·         To enable full logging of BRSPACE actions – as soon as BRGUI or BRTOOLS calls BRSPACE, a log is created immediately, even though you are still in interactive mode

·         To enable unattended mode without operator input, since you can specify all necessary input before the function is executed

Command Line Start

You enter the command options required directly from the command line:

·        Command Options for BRBACKUP

·        Command Options for BRARCHIVE

·        Command Options for BRRESTORE

·        Command Options for BRRECOVER

·        Command options for BRSPACE

·        Command Options for BRCONNECT

If the command options are correct and complete, the SAP tool is executed immediately to perform a function on the database.

Calling BRSPACE and BRRECOVER from the Command Line

BRSPACE and BRRECOVER have an interactive component to collect option input. If you do not specify a function, the tool is called with the default function when you start it from the command line:

·        Complete Database Recovery for BRRECOVER

·        Show Database Instance Information for BRSPACE

Otherwise, the appropriate menus are shown for the function you select.

You can force the tool to run in batch mode without any interactive component by entering the option –c force. For more information, see:

·        -c|-confirm for BRRECOVER

·        -c|-confirm for BRSPACE

Caution

Be very careful with –c force because it forces default selection of all unspecified options, which might lead to unexpected results.

If you call BRSPACE from the command line with a function name (for example, extend tablespace) and an object name (for example, tablespace name SYSTEM), you go straight into quick mode, as described below.

Quick Mode for BRSPACE

You can use quick mode to skip the higher-level menus in BRSPACE, including the menu to select the object of your chosen function.

You use quick mode from:

·        BRGUI or BRTOOLS menus with the title BRSPACE options for <function>

·        The command line at operating system level

For quick mode, you must specify at least the function and the object name. The object – for example, a tablespace name if you want to extend a tablespace – varies according to the function that you choose. You can also enter additional options in quick mode.

Note

The alternative to quick mode is main menu mode, in which you only use the menus in BRSPACE to enter the options required to perform a function. Unless you know the object name, we recommend you to use main menu mode.

In quick mode, BRSPACE skips the menus in which you normally specify the function and the object name. They jump directly to the final input menu to let you enter the remaining required parameters and execute the function immediately.

The following graphic illustrates in outline how quick mode works:

This graphic is explained in the accompanying text

Exceptions to quick mode

There are the following exceptions to quick mode:

·        Function dbshow to show database information.

If you do not enter the class of the information to be displayed, you see a menu displaying the different categories of information class:

Show database instance information

Show database space information

Show database object information

Choose the category and then the class that you require.

BRSPACE displays the requested information.

·        Alter functions:

¡        dbalter to alter the database instance

¡        dbparam to alter database parameters

¡        tsalter to alter tablespaces

¡        dfalter to alter data files

¡        tbalter to alter tables

¡        idalter to alter indexes

With these functions you should also enter an action to specify what kind of alter function you require. If you do not enter an action in quick mode, BRSPACE prompts you to select an action before you can continue.

·        Multiple Objects

If you select multiple objects in quick mode, BRSPACE displays a list of objects for confirmation. If the list is not what you require, you can go back and make a new selection.

Example

·         The following example shows quick mode from the command line:

brspace –f tsextend –t psapprd

BRSPACE starts by displaying the input menu for the function Extend tablespace. The field for the object name is filled with your entry.

You can now enter all required options and execute the function immediately.

·         The following example shows a command line entry for an alter function where the object (here, the database parameter) is specified, but not the action:

brspace –f dbalter –p audit_trail

BRSPACE starts by displaying the function main menu for the function that you entered, which is Alter database parameter in this example.

You must first select the action before BRSPACE can display the input menu to let you execute the function.

Note

When you have finished executing a function and you choose back after starting BRSPACE in quick mode, the quick mode is deactivated and you can choose a new object to execute the function again. If you choose reset program status, BRSPACE restores your original object selection.

The exception to this is for the functions in segment management, where it makes no sense to display all tables or indexes, because the list would be too long.

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