HP 3000 Manuals

Consistent Backups [ STORE and TurboSTORE/iX Products Manual ] MPE/iX 5.5 Documentation


STORE and TurboSTORE/iX Products Manual

Consistent Backups 

Even though database files generally constitute the largest part of any
backup, TurboSTORE/iX 7x24 True-Online Backup also backs up system and
non-database files.  Since TurboSTORE allows changes to files during a
backup, it establishes a close tie to the file system to ensure physical
and logical consistency.

Physical Consistency 

Physical consistency is ensured by providing a snapshot of the fileset at
a specific point in time, specifically, at the sync point.  This is
adequate for files that are not "related" to other files, and have no
dependencies on changes to other files.  This includes system files, some
flat files and any other files not associated with a database.

For KSAM XL files and files enabled for transaction management,
TurboSTORE guarantees that no partial transactions are included in the
copy of the file stored on the tape.  This ensures that a consistent copy
of the file is stored.

If Native Mode Message files are open during the sync point, TurboSTORE
follows the necessary steps to successfully imitate closing the file to
ensure data integrity, physical consistency, and recoverability.

User-mapped files are managed the same way they were with as
TurboSTORE/iX II with Online Backup.  Whenever changes are made to a
user-mapped file being stored by a 7x24 true-online backup, the entire
file is copied to TurboSTORE's log files.  However, if a user-mapped file
is left open for write access across the sync point, then TurboSTORE
captures the last known state of the file, which would either be at the
last FOPEN, FCLOSE, or FCONTROL 6.  If TurboSTORE does not capture any of
these events, the file is stored in whatever state it was in when
TurboSTORE opened the file, which may be inconsistent.  A warning message
is printed for all user-mapped files open across the sync point.


NOTE Compatibility mode (CM) files, namely Circular (CIR) files, and Relative I/O (RIO) files have internal buffer structures that cannot be logged by TurboSTORE. If these files are open for write access during the sync point, TurboSTORE captures their last known state, which is either since the last FCLOSE or the last FCONTROL 6. A warning is issued for all CM files that were open across the sync point.
Logical Consistency In addition to physical consistency, TurboSTORE/iX 7x24 True-Online Backup also guarantees logical consistency for databases. This is done by setting the sync point to occur when all open transactions against the databases have completed. No new transactions can start until the open transactions are complete, which is called quiescing the database. Although any type of database can be stored by TurboSTORE, only TurboIMAGE and ALLBASE/SQL databases are automatically quiesced using special database intrinsics.
NOTE Quiescing an ALLBASE/SQL database and storing the ALLBASE/SQL database by TurboSTORE/iX 7x24 True-Online Backup when the DBEnvironment is in normal use, has the same effect as using the STOREONLINE command of SQLUtil. For a 7x24 true-online backup of ALLBASE/SQL to be of use for rollforward recovery, use the same procedures you would use when doing the STOREONLINE commands.
If you need to synchronize any other file types (e.g., CM file types such as CIR files and RIO files) and/or any third-party databases that are not automatically synchronized, you can manually quiesce these before beginning the backup, or during the backup by specifying the ASK parameter with the ONLINE option. ASK makes TurboSTORE wait at the sync point while you finish these operations. Refer to "Prompting During Backup (ASK)" later in this chapter for a description of the ASK parameter. Once all files and databases are quiesced, TurboSTORE establishes the logically consistent synchronization point. It then unquiesces all TurboIMAGE and ALLBASE/SQL databases.
NOTE Only open databases being stored by a TurboSTORE/iX 7x24 True-Online Backup are quiesced. If a database is being stored, but is not opened for write access, it is not quiesced.


MPE/iX 5.5 Documentation