Online backup

[Leonard S. Berkowitz]

Is there an online backup product/process that captures transactions that occur
during the backup, after the sync point, and ,if/when the tapes are used for a
restore, on the same system or another system, applies those transactions?

In other words, the state of the files at the end of a restore is the same as
the files at the end of the store.

Or am I dreaming of something?

Thanks.
===================
Leonard S. Berkowitz
Perot Health Care Systems
(Harvard Pilgrim Health Care account)
voice: 617-509-1212
fax: 617-509-3737
pager: 781-226-2431

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[Jonathan M. Backus]

Leonard,

The on-line feature of TurboStore from HP will do this. I would imagine
the others, such as Backup/3000 from Orbit, would do it as well.

Thanx,
Jonathan (Jon) M. Backus, MPE-CSM ~ President
Tech Group ~ 15 Catawba Place ~ Hagerstown, MD ~ 21742-6515
Email: JMBa...@TechGroupMD.com ~ AIM: JMBackus
Vmail: 301.988.0614 ~ Fmail: 301.714.1854
Web: www.TechGroupMD.com

[Karman, Al]

One caveat to pass on, learned from experience.....

Make sure you throw lots of free space at the process. I've seen free space
dwindle quickly during online backup as 'new' data gathers, waiting for,
e.g., an IMAGE database to become available for processing.

Note--this may not be an issue with the latest/greatest of the online b/u
tools...ymmv!

Al Karman
IT Consultant
US Freightways
aka...@usfreightways.com
773.824.2284

[Jeff Kell]

"Jonathan M. Backus" wrote:
>
> Leonard,
> The on-line feature of TurboStore from HP will do this. I would
> imagine the others, such as Backup/3000 from Orbit, would do it as
> well.

Specifically TurboStore 7x24 with ";ONLINE=END" for what you request, if
you want the sync point at the end. There is also ";ONLINE=START"
which syncs before backing up any files.

In the END case, the file images are written to tape until the store is
complete, then it performs the sync point and writes the shadow logs to
the end of the backup (to roll the backup copy forward to the sync
point). In the START case, as each file is stored, any shadow log data
associated with the file is written immediately after the file itself
(to roll the backup copy back to it's state at sync point).

Jeff

[mark_...@orbitsw.com]

Leonard Berkowitz asks:

>Is there an online backup product/process that captures transactions that occur
>during the backup, after the sync point, and ,if/when the tapes are used for a
>restore, on the same system or another system, applies those transactions?
>
>In other words, the state of the files at the end of a restore is the same as
>the files at the end of the store.

I'm not sure if I am reading this question the right way compared to the
other answers, but let me reply according to my read. The operative words
that I picked up on were "after the sync point".

The real question is what determines the "end of the store"? At some
point in time before the store process finishes, it must post online
activity to the archive. This process also takes time, so there is
some elapsed period between when the "logging" is finished and when
the "store" is finished.

That point where the logging is finished can be defined as the "sync
point". The sync point may also have additional states to it: either
the data in database and files can be consistent at that point in
time (logical consistency), or it may not be. If one chooses to try
to be logically consistent at the sync point, then a bunch of additional
factors come into play, such as attempting to quiesce I/O to all of
the files and databases involved within transactions. Without logical
consistency, the sync point could be some arbitrary point where the
backup product says "enough" and completes the backup.

That being said, the point after the "I'm done logging phase" or the
"... captures transactions that occur during the backup, AFTER THE
SYNC POINT ..." (emphasis mine because of the way I'm reading your
question) does not have transactions captured using the traditional
backup products. Transactions happening after that point will not be
on the current backup.

Up to this point, I've not talked specifics. Gonna do that now, so

<plug alert>:

There is one exception to this and that is ORBiT's Delta Backup
Technology. In order to make Delta work, the "logging" process, if you
will, remains active between backup runs. So, you can capture transactions
"after the sync point" of the backup onto a subsequent backup. That is
not (again, the way I read the question) entirely what you're asking for,
but it indirectly does what you're asking about.

<end plug alert>

Perhaps I should now put my best consultant's hat on and ask the
question a different way:

You state that you want to capture transactions after the sync point:
what exactly is the problem you're trying to overcome?

If I completely misread the question, then the other answers in fact
are correct and the length of this post is to make my wirt count. ;-)

Regards,

M.