2.5

File Based Conventions
During the ingestion and refresh process, coordinate your operations with external programs, such as third
party backup software, or with manual operations. Familiarize yourself with the backup files, and observe
these file based conventions.
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Backup files for each ingestion or refresh operation should have their own directory. The directory should
be beneath the exported directory.
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For a golden clone ingestion and golden clone refresh, you must supply a LIST file that contains
information about the backup. The naming convention for a LIST file is database.LIST, where database is
the name of the database. The content of the LIST file is a series of key-value pairs, as in this example LIST
file.
controlfile=o1 mf_s_774019590_71hv06jn_.bkp
pfile=sales.pfile
NOTE The level value, required in previous versions of Data Director, is no longer needed. The agent
automatically checks the bakup level during ingestion and refresh. The optional catalogstart property
specifies the location to load the backup files. This means the control file directory and the catalog start directory
can be different. The value of catalogstart is a directory relative to the LIST file. If no catalogstart is provided,
the directory of the LIST file is used. When you upgrade from Data Director 2.0, make sure your old LIST file
works as expected. Otherwise, provide a catalogstart value.
In this LIST file, the controlfile field specifies the control backup file in the backup set. The value is a file
relative to the LIST file. It can be in the same directory as the LIST file, or in another directory. Other backup
files must be in the same directory as the control backup file.
The pfile field is optional.
To illustrate how to organize the LIST file, a pfile, and backup files, assume that you take a level 0 backup on
Sunday and a level 1 backup on all other days. In this case, you would create a backup directory with a LIST
file and a pfile in it, for example, sales.LIST and sales.pfile. Also in that directory, you would create
subdirectories for each day of the week, with a backup file, LIST file and pfile in each of them.
On Sunday, the sales.LIST file will look like this.
controlfile=Sun/o1_mf_s_774019590_7lhv06jn_.bkp
catalogstart=Sun
pfile=sales.pfile
level=0
NOTE For backwards compatibility, you can retain the level value, as shown for Sunday.
On Monday, the sales.LIST file will look like this.
controlfile=Mon/o1_mf_s_774002607_7lhbfhrm_.bkp
catalogstart=Mon
pfile=sales.pfile
level=1
Ensure that the level information in the LIST file is correct. Information at the wrong level will result in failure
of the refresh process. If you retain the level value for backwards compatibility, set it as shown for Monday.
In the directory containing the backup files, a LOCK file is generated during the ingestion and refresh processes
to coordinate the operation with external programs. The LOCK file uses the same naming convention as the
LIST file. If the LOCK exists at the beginning of an ingestion or refresh process, the process aborts.
VMware vFabric Data Director Administrator and User Guide
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