User's Manual

23 Database Backup 90
7signal Ltd, Panuntie 6, FI-00620 HELSINKI, FINLAND, [phone], [e-mail], www.7signal.com
7signal Sapphire Carat Carat User Guide Release 3.1
Offline backup 1st degree is available in every install and run scenario of 7signal Sapphire. One
can start offline backup with a tool or have it run by the system in a circadian manner.
Method handicaps:
- backup process requires downtime
Method strengths:
- simple to recover
- recovered system state is thoroughly consistent
TIP: offline backup is suitable for environments that require automated backup
but do not have special backup policy hardware nor other extensive resources.
23.3.3 2nd degree of backup: online backup
The requirement for the online backup is that infinite archive logging is enabled.
When online backup is operational, the most significant benefit is the ability to run circadian
backups online i.e. 7signal Sapphire remains operational and continues testing while creating
the backup. As opposed to offline backup, the system is online all the time producing
measurements.
The first and the most important assumption is that there is a storage device available that in
practice is a so-called endless device. 7signal cannot and shall not guarantee any checks on the
device but it is assumed to be available all the time and have the capacity for massive data
transfers. The user is responsible for the storage capacity.
NOTE: backups are not done incrementally in any case. This means that over time
the needed to dump the database increases but more importantly the disk space
requirement increases continuously.
NOTE: use of backup systems require planning and administration i.e continuous
effort from the administrator. This area is outside of 7signal scope, 7signal
encourages clear planning on the issue.
During installation there shall be various destination folders inquired by the install script. The
folders are for logs, for bakcup files etc. As complex as online backup may sound, the setting of
the online backup is easy. To maintain and keep it available and functional requires IT support
that is beyond the scope of 7signal guidance.
Behind the scenes the technology relies completely on IBM DB2 backup system and 7signal
provides interface that covers and automates IBM interface to support 7signal databases.
TIP: there are environments that require separate hardware for backups. If
possible, 7signal Sapphire should be integrated (on file system level) to these.