Performing an Archive (ON-Archive) (SAP Library - SAP Database Guide: Informix (BC-DB-INF-DBA))

Performing an Archive (ON-Archive)

Use

This procedure tells you how to perform an Informix database archive with ON-Archive . It assumes you are entering ON-Archive commands manually.

For more information about archiving the database without entering ON-Archive commands manually, see Archiving the Database in the DBA Planning Calendar: Informix.

Prerequisites

Before you start the archive, make sure you have completed the following tasks:

Verify database consistency. This is not necessary for every single archive, but always make sure that you have at least one archive for which the data consistency has been checked.

Determine the volume required for the archive and mount it in your tape drive.

Copy the ONCONFIG and archive.log files. You might need this information if you have to do a restore later.

Procedure

To start an archive, use the archive command in attended or unattended mode:

Attended mode

For example, to start an archive for dbspace set set1 using the volume set DBTAP :

$ onarchive 'ARCHIVE/DBSPACESET=set1/VSET=DBTAP'

You see a response similar to the following:

Request 00000203 registered in the catalog

The attended method of running an archive needs a dedicated window for the duration of the archive. The system prompts you to mount tapes at the relevant time.

Unattended mode

For example, to start the same archive as above in unattended mode, add the /autovop qualifier at the end of the command:

$ onarchive 'ARCHIVE/DBSPACESET=set1/VSET=DBTAP/AUTOVOP'

This method starts the virtual operator process onautovop that performs the archive in unattended mode. The virtual operator only works with device types that have VOP as the last three characters in the name (for example, DBTAP_VOP ). If you use start_autovop , make sure that you have the correct tape volume mounted for your volume set and the archive fits on the mounted volumes. If an incorrect tape is mounted or the available tapes become full during the archive, the archive does not succeed.

Note

You can check the progress of the archive by looking in the archive.log and the message log files. Refer to Checking Archive Status (ON-Archive).

Result

The database is archived. Therefore, you have a copy of database data that can be restored in the event of database failure.

Make sure that you check the archive result and check the tapes. Finally, be sure to complete the archive.

See also:

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