OpenEdge Data Management:<br />Database Administration PROBKUP utility

Backs up an OpenEdge database, including the database, before-image files, and transaction log (TL) extents.

Syntax


probkup [ online ] `db-name` [ incremental ] `device-name` [ -estimate \| -vs `n` \| -bf `n` \| -verbose \| -scan \| -io `i` \| -com \| -red `i`\| -norecover ] ...

Parameters

Identifies a special device (for example, a tape drive) or a standard file. If device-name identifies a special device, PROBKUP assumes the device has removable media, such as a tape or a floppy diskette. For Windows, use \\.\tape0 for the device name if you are backing up to a tape drive.

Indicates that the backup will give a media estimate only. Use the Scan parameter when using the Incremental or Compression parameters to get an accurate estimate.

Indicates the volume size in database blocks that can be written to each removable volume. Before PROBKUP writes each volume, it displays a message that tells you to prepare the next volume. After writing each volume, a message tells you to remove the volume.

If you use the Volume Size parameter, the value must be greater than the value of the Blocking Factor parameter.

If you do not use the Volume Size parameter, PROBKUP assumes there is no limit and writes the backup until completion or until the volume is full. When the volume is full, PROBKUP prompts you for the next volume.

Indicates the blocking factor for blocking data output to the backup device. The blocking factor specifies how many blocks of data are buffered before being transferred to the backup device. The primary use for this parameter is to improve the transfer speed to tape-backup devices by specifying that the data is transferred in amounts optimal for the particular backup device. The default for the blocking factor parameter is 34. The maximum value is 1024.

Directs the PROBKUP utility to display information during the backup. If you specify the Verbose parameter, PROBKUP displays “Backed up n blocks in hh:mm:ss” every 10 seconds. If you do not specify the Verbose parameter, the message appears only once when the backup is complete.

Directs PROBKUP to perform an initial scan of the database and to display the number of blocks that will be backed up and the amount of media the backup requires. You cannot use the Scan parameter for online backups.

For full backups, if you specify the Scan parameter as well as the Compression parameter, PROBKUP scans the database and computes the backup media requirements after the data is compressed.

Specifies an incremental overlap factor. The incremental overlap factor determines the redundancy among incremental backups. An incremental overlap factor of 1 on every backup allows for the loss of one incremental backup in a backup series, as long as the immediate predecessor of that backup is not also lost. An overlap factor of 2 allows for losing the two immediate predecessors. The default overlap factor is 0.

Indicates that the data should be compressed prior to writing it on the backup media. The unused portion of index and record blocks is compressed to a 3-byte compression string. Free blocks are compressed to the length of their header, 16 bytes.

Sets the amount of redundancy to add to the backup for error correction. The value i is a positive integer that indicates the number of blocks for every error correction block. PROBKUP creates an error correction block for every i blocks and writes it to the backup media. You can use error correction blocks to recover corrupted backup blocks. See Chapter 5, "Backing Up a Database," for more information about error correction blocks and data recovery.

The lower the redundancy factor, the more error correction blocks are created. If you specify a redundancy of 1, you completely duplicate the backup, block for block. Because of the amount of time and media required to create the error correction blocks, use this parameter only if your backup media is unreliable. The default for the redundancy parameter is 0 (no redundancy).

Do not perform crash recovery before backing up the database, but back up the BI files.

Notes

When restoring a backup, the target database must contain the same physical structure as the backup version. For example, it must have the same number of storage areas, records, blocks, and blocksize.

The minimum backup volume size is 34K.

You cannot perform an online backup on:

A system running in single-user mode.

A database that was started with the No Shared Memory (-noshm) parameter.

A database that was started with the No Crash Protection (-i) parameter.

If you enable after-imaging, before performing an online backup, PROBKUP automatically switches to a new after-image (AI) file and establishes a reference point from which to start your roll-forward recovery. Before you perform an online backup, verify that the next AI file is empty. If the next file is not empty, PROBKUP aborts the backup. See Chapter 7, "After-imaging," for more information about AI files.

If you run the PROBKUP utility at the same time another process is accessing the same backup device, you might receive a sharing violation error.

If you use the Compression parameter, you reduce the size of your backup by 10 percent to 40 percent, depending on your database.

If the BI file is not truncated before you perform a backup, the database engine performs database recovery.

See Chapter 5, "Backing Up a Database," for more information about performing backups.

PROBKUP supports the use of internationalization startup parameters such as -cpinternal codepage and -cpstream codepage. See Chapter 18, "Database Startup Parameters," for a description of each database-related internationalization startup parameter.