restore

This section describes how to use the restore service to recover instances.

backup & restore manager

Like the backup service, the restore service uses a backup and restore manager that maps backup functions to commands.

See BAR manager, for more details.

For the purposes of this guide, I will continue with the infx default ontape restore commands.

requirements

You will have to meet certain configuration requirements for a restore, such as the same operating system and informix software versions.

See the Informix Backup and Restore Guide for more details.

To recover from a complete failure, you must first re-install the Informix and infx software, as well as recover the backups files to their directories.

infx restore

infx supports the following types of restores:

function description
full All storage spaces and logical logs
physical Only storage spaces are restored
ext External restore
logical Apply transaction logs
endlogical End the application of transaction logs
salvage Salvage logical log
warm Online, partial restore
hot Hot copy of data from one instance to another

These are mapped to the following ontape commands.

infx command ontape command
infx restore type=full ontape -r -v -d
infx restore type=physical ontape -p -v -d
infx restore type=ext /infx/local/scripts/sample/ext-restore.sh
infx restore type=logical ontape -l -C -d
infx restore type=endlogical ontape -l -X -d
infx restore type=salvage ontape -S -d
infx restore type=warm ontape -r -v -d
infx restore type=hot ontape -p -t STDIO -v
See the Informix Backup and Restore Guide for more information about the ontape command and options.

full restore

The full function of the restore service completely restores the instance from all available storage space and logical log backups.

The instance must be offline before the restore starts.

If possible, logical log salvage will attempt to back up any outstanding transaction logs.

Once the logical logs have been applied, the restore is complete, and the instance will be in quiescent mode.

Storage space backups are restored from the TAPEDEV setting in the ONCONFIG file.

All levels of archive in that directory will be restored.

Log backups are restored from the LTAPEDEV setting the in ONCONFIG file.

parameters

parameter description
force Force the instance offline if its up when the restore starts
online Instead of leaving the instance in quiescent mode, bring it up to online mode
rename Supply a file that renames chunks
tapedev Override the ONCONFIG TAPEDEV parameter with this value

full restore commands

command description
infx restore type=full Full restore of most recent storage space backups and logical logs. Instance must be offline.
infx restore type=full force=yes online=yes Shutdown instance, full restore, set instance to online mode when complete
infx restore type=full tapedev=/tmp/backup Full restore storage space backups from /tmp/backup

physical restore

The physical restore will restore the storage space backups only, and does not apply any transactions logs.

You use this function when you want to delay or skip applying transactions, or start HDR replication.

At the end of the restore, the instance will be in “fast recovery” mode, waiting for you to take the next action.

parameters

parameter description
force Force the instance offline if its up when the restore starts
online Instead of leaving the instance in quiescent mode, bring it up to online mode
rename Supply a file that renames chunks
salvage Salvage logical logs from disk first
tapedev Override the ONCONFIG TAPEDEV parameter with this value

physical restore commands.

command description
infx restore type=physical Physical restore only of latest storage space backups
infx restore type=physical online=yes Physical restore only, set instance to online mode
To bring the instance online without applying any transactions use the onmode -m command.

external restore

You use this function when you restore storage spaces that were backed up with an external utility.

You provide the script with the required storage restore commands.

The restore service runs the relevant restore and onmode commands, then calls your script to do the actual data restore.

parameters

parameter description
force Force the instance offline if its up when the restore starts
online Instead of leaving the instance in quiescent mode, bring it up to online mode
rename Supply a file that renames chunks
salvage Salvage logical logs from disk first
tapedev Override the TAPEDEV parameter

external restore commands.

command description
infx restore type=ext External restore
infx restore type=ext online=yes External restore only, set instance to online mode

logical restore

Use the logical function of the restore service to apply transaction logs. You only use this function after run a storage space restore..

The logical restore is performed in continuous mode by default. This gives you the option of waiting to apply further transactions, or bringing the instance online manually.

parameters

parameter description
cont Specify cont=no to end the logical restore when complete
online Bring the instance online when the roll forward completes, otherwise instance is in quiescent mode

logical restore commands

command description
infx restore type=logical Apply all transactions from default location, stays in continuous roll forward mode
infx restore type=logical cont=no online=yes Apply transactions, end the roll forward and bring instance to online mode.

end continuous logical restore

Use the endlogical function of the restore service to signify that the transaction roll forward is complete.

Execute this command when you have no more transactions logs to apply, and are ready to bring the instance online.

parameters

parameter description
online Bring the instance online when the roll forward completes, otherwise instance is in quiescent mode

endlogical restore commands

command description
infx restore type=endlogical End the continuous roll forward
infx restore type=endlogical online=yes Complete the roll forward and bring the instance online

warm restore

Use the warm function of the restore service to restore selected storage spaces while the instance is online.

This function recovers down, non-critical storage spaces, while the instance is online.

During this restore, data in online storage spaces is still available, while the offline spaces are being restored.

The warm restore function restores the storage spaces and then applies all transaction logs.

parameters

parameter description
dbspacelist Warm restore these spaces only, otherwise all down spaces are restored.

warm restore commands

command description
infx restore type=warm Warm restore all down storage spaces
infx restore type=warm dbspacelist=dat01,dat02 Only restore dat01 and dat02 storage spaces

hot copy

Use the hoy copy function of the restore service to copy the contents of one instance to another. A backup is performed on the fly in the source instance and restored directly to the destination instance.

If the source instance is on a different host, infx uses ssh to execute the backup.

If the source instance and destination instance chunk names differ, infx generates a rename file to map the chunks.

Example of the automatic chunk renaming from instance infx01 to infx02.

chunk /infx/inst/infx01/chks/dat01.000 => /infx/inst/infx02/chks/dat01.000

If the chunk file does not exist in the destination instance, infx uses the command specified in the INFXCHUNK parameter to create the new chunk.

parameters

parameter description
force Force the instance offline if its up when the restore starts
online Instead of leaving the instance in quiescent mode, bring it up to online mode
rename Supply a file that renames chunks
salvage Salvage logical logs from disk first
tapedev Override the TAPEDEV parameter

Example hot copy commands.

command description
infx restore type=hot source=infx01 online=yes Copy from instance infx01, bring instance online when complete
« backup