Deployment Guide

14.3 Database backups
Database backup utility 7BUtool.sh can be found in directory /<DBMS install directory>
/scripts.
The utility can be used to take offline, online and incremental online delta backups. Online backups are
possible only if archival logging has been enabled on DB2. The utility is also able to transfer backup
images to a remote storage server.
Multiple backup directories can be provided. By using multiple backup directories backup process is faster,
due to DB2 I/O parallelism. If DB2 archival logging is configured, the utility deletes old archived transaction
logs automatically (by default, the utility retains 7 days of old log files). The utility also keeps latest
offline/online backup images locally, and incremental online delta backups for 7 days by default.
When creating offline backups, the utility must be executed as a root user. When creating online backups,
the utility must be executed as “db7sign” user.
14.3.1Backup planning
Backups can require lots of disk space. That’s why it is important to have a proper backup plan, and in
most of the cases a Database Administrator (DBA) should be involved in backup planning/implementation.
The following things should be considered:
Depending on how many backups are wanted to be kept locally, the combined size of the backup
file systems should be at least 2 x number of backups x current database size
. Backups images
are not compressed by the backup utility.
7signal Solutions Inc., 6155 Rockside Road, Suite 110, Independence, Ohio 44131, USA,
216-777-2900, info@7signal.com, www.7signal.com