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Function documentation ON-Bar for Data Recovery  Locate the document in its SAP Library structure

Use

ON-Bar is one of a number of Informix database tools for data recovery (that is, whole-system backup, storage-space backup, logical-log backup, and restore). ON-Bar provides the following functions on both UNIX and Windows platforms:

Unlike the other Informix data recovery tools (that is, ontape and ON-Archive ), ON-Bar does not communicate directly with storage devices, such as tape drives. Instead, it passes control of storage devices to third-party storage managers using the X/Open Backup Services Application (XBSA) Programmer's Interface. You can select your own storage manager (for example, ISM, Legato/Networker, HP OmniBack, IBM/ADSM) and so exploit a wide range of intelligent and high-capacity storage devices (for example, auto loaders, robotic loading systems, or optic disks).

With ON-Bar , you can easily implement fast parallel backups and restores, so improving the availability of your database. Therefore, ON-Bar is well suited for large databases (larger than about 50 GB).

Note

With ON-Bar , the terminology used by Informix changed. The new term "storage spaces" refers to dbspaces and blobspaces. The process of making a copy of the data and control information managed by the Informix server, formerly called an archive, is now called a "storage space backup" or a "whole system backup". For more information, see Informix Whole-System and Storage-Space Backups or the Informix documentation.

The term "logical-log file backup" – often shortened to "logical-log backup" or even "log backup" – remains the same.

In summary, backup is the ON-Bar term for all copies of the database taken for recovery purposes.

For more information on ON-Bar , see the white paper The Informix Backup and Restore Product Strategy in SAPNet.

Integration

If you choose ON-Bar as your data recovery tool, you must do all your backups and restores with it.

Caution

The backups written by ON-Bar are not compatible with the archives and backups from ontape and ON-Archive . You cannot mix tapes from these tools.

Compared to the other tools available, ON-Bar is easy to use and has wide functionality (but the functionality depends on the storage manager you are using). For more information about the differences between the Informix data recovery tools, see Comparison of ON-Bar, ON-Archive, and ontape for Data Recovery.

The following diagram shows how ON-Bar is integrated with the database server and storage manager:

This graphic is explained in the accompanying text

You can think of ON-Bar as processing data to and from the database, whereas the storage manager handles data to and from the backup media.

Prerequisites

To implement ON-Bar in a production system, you must have the following:

To find up-to-date information on these requirements, see SAP Note 78884.

Before you start using On-Bar for data recovery with production data, you must:

Features

Note

Use onsmsync to delete old backup and restore details created by ON-Bar or to regenerate a corrupt ixbar emergency boot file.

 

See also:

SAP Note 78884

Informix documentation at http://www.informix.com