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Some GDB questions

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FrankW

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Feb 15, 2006, 7:35:01 AM2/15/06
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Hi,

1) I often copy .gdb from Linux server to Windows XP and backup/restore then
copy back the .gdb to linux server, it seems running fine, any side effect
of that?

2) When .gdb size is bigger than 1G, backup usually takes time, what is the
good approach to backup? using a cron job in linux and run the gbak while
.gdb is being accessed by other programs? advisable?

Thanks,

Frank


Dan Palley

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Feb 14, 2006, 4:29:38 PM2/14/06
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"FrankW" <nos...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:43f2...@newsgroups.borland.com...

> Hi,
>
> 1) I often copy .gdb from Linux server to Windows XP and backup/restore
> then copy back the .gdb to linux server, it seems running fine, any side
> effect of that?

You run the risk of corrupting the database and the copy if people are
accessing it at the same time. Don't copy the database if you can back it
up instead.

> 2) When .gdb size is bigger than 1G, backup usually takes time, what is
> the good approach to backup? using a cron job in linux and run the gbak
> while .gdb is being accessed by other programs? advisable?

The Interbase backup routines are designed to run against an active database
(hot backups). There are some settings, such as disabling garbage
collection, that can speed up the backup time.

Dan


Bill Todd

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Feb 14, 2006, 3:51:18 PM2/14/06
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FrankW wrote:

> 1) I often copy .gdb from Linux server to Windows XP and
> backup/restore then copy back the .gdb to linux server, it seems
> running fine, any side effect of that?

That is not supported. If you think that doing things that are
unsupported and untested may have side effects then don't do it. :)


>
> 2) When .gdb size is bigger than 1G, backup usually takes time, what
> is the good approach to backup? using a cron job in linux and run the
> gbak while .gdb is being accessed by other programs? advisable?

The first thing to try to improve backup performance is to use the -g
switch on gbak to disable garbage collection. Run a sweep during off
hours to remove garbage records.

--
Bill Todd (TeamB)

FrankW

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Feb 15, 2006, 9:08:12 AM2/15/06
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"Bill Todd" <n...@no.com> wrote in message
news:43f250d6$1...@newsgroups.borland.com...

> FrankW wrote:
>
>> 1) I often copy .gdb from Linux server to Windows XP and
>> backup/restore then copy back the .gdb to linux server, it seems
>> running fine, any side effect of that?
>
> That is not supported. If you think that doing things that are
> unsupported and untested may have side effects then don't do it. :)

Thanks for your quick response. I know this is not supported. was fixing a
.gdb, can't do backup/restore in the linux server, and i made sure nobody
was connected, then copied the .gdb to winXP, do a gfix/backup/restore,
checked the .gdb in Windows, everything seems fine, then copied back to
Linux, it runs.


FrankW

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Feb 15, 2006, 9:30:30 AM2/15/06
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Hi Dan,

Thanks, is there any big time difference between a gdb in use and and a gdb
not accessed at time of backup? can we backup .gdb into a mounted USB drive?

Bill Todd

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Feb 14, 2006, 5:06:50 PM2/14/06
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Why not connect to the IB server on the Linux box from a Windows
machine and run the backup from the Windows machine using gbak or
IBConsole?

--
Bill Todd (TeamB)

Dan Palley

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Feb 14, 2006, 7:18:55 PM2/14/06
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"Bill Todd" <n...@no.com> wrote in message
news:43f2628a$1...@newsgroups.borland.com...

> Why not connect to the IB server on the Linux box from a Windows
> machine and run the backup from the Windows machine using gbak or
> IBConsole?

I don't think you can do a remote backup via IBConsole. You can using GBAK,
though.

Dan


Dan Palley

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Feb 14, 2006, 7:18:07 PM2/14/06
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"FrankW" <nos...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:43f2...@newsgroups.borland.com...
> Hi Dan,
>
> Thanks, is there any big time difference between a gdb in use and and a
> gdb not accessed at time of backup? can we backup .gdb into a mounted USB
> drive?

Performing the backup will put some load on the server, so users may be
affected. You can certainly kick everyone out, then do the backup, but it's
not required.

You can back up directly to a USB drive as long as there's enough space.

Dan


Bill Todd

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Feb 14, 2006, 6:37:05 PM2/14/06
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Dan Palley wrote:

> I don't think you can do a remote backup via IBConsole. You can
> using GBAK, though.

The backup does not need to be remote. He could backup to the local
drive in transportable format, copy the backup to the Windows machine
and restore it. The point is that there are a lot of safe ways to get
the database from the Linux box to the Windows box. He does not have to
copy the GDB file across platforms.

--
Bill Todd (TeamB)

FrankW

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Feb 15, 2006, 2:20:10 PM2/15/06
to

"Bill Todd" <n...@no.com> wrote in message
news:43f277b1$1...@newsgroups.borland.com...

> Dan Palley wrote:
>
> the database from the Linux box to the Windows box. He does not have to
> copy the GDB file across platforms.

Hi Bill,

Actually the problem is this IB 6.X (super server) something that i
downloaded from http://mers.com, after upgrading, i can't run any more GBAK,
GFIX in the server and I don't know how to remove it from the server and go
back to the original IB6.0. finally i used those services APIs to
mend/backup/restore, it seems working, thanks.

Frank


Bill Todd

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Feb 15, 2006, 8:47:37 AM2/15/06
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If by "the original IB 6.0" you mean version 6.0.1.0 of the open source
version of IB, you do not want to go there. 6.0.1.0 is a pre-release
version that has a bug that can corrupt your database. Use either
6.0.1.6 or 6.0.2.0 from http://mers.com .

I have no idea why you cannot run gbak on your Linux system since you
have not provided any detailed information about the problem.

--
Bill Todd (TeamB)

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