IDS Forum

Re: How long did the last level 0 backup take?

Posted By: Richard Kofler
Date: Tuesday, 21 September 2010, at 8:11 a.m.

In Response To: How long did the last level 0 backup take? (ANDREW LEMIN)

Hi Andrew,

see below:

ANDREW LEMIN schrieb:
> Hello,
>
> Can anyone tell me if it is possible to find out how long the last 'ontape -s
> -L 0' took?
>

on 11.50.UC7DE (retested right during the last minutes)

it depends.... you should see line like these:
ontape -s -L 0 -t STDIO >/dev/null
gives me:
13:53:09 Level 0 Archive started on rootdbs, d0
13:53:10 Archive on rootdbs, d0 Completed.

Even ontape -s -L 0 -F -t STDIO >/dev/null gives:
13:54:33 Level 0 Archive started on rootdbs, d0
13:54:34 Archive on rootdbs, d0 completed without being recorded.

note: ---> ^^^^^^^^^^^

BUT if you write so to /dev/null, that the engine 'knows' it:
(same might be true, if TAPEDEV in the $ONCONFIG ist set to /dev/null, but this is
assumeing, not tested)

informix@linux-l4du:~> ontape -s -L 0 -F -t /dev/null
Archive to tape device '/dev/null' is complete.

Program over.

does NOT write into the message logfile, only the terminal session has the lines
indicating output is /dev/null

same goes w/o '-F' (for fake backup)

informix@linux-l4du:~> ontape -s -L 0 -t /dev/null
Archive to tape device '/dev/null' is complete.

Program over.
and NO entry in the message logfile
[ the message logfile you can always find using:
grep "^MSG" $INFORMIXDIR/etc/$ONCONFIG (on a *NIX machine, that is) ]

I also did not investigate if there is a Codenumber reaching the alarmscript.sh
as this might give you the chance to see ALL backups and match this with entries
in the message logfile.

dic_k

> We are trying to monitor that our backups are ok.
>
> We had a situation where (by mistake) the backup script was sending the backup
> to /dev/null !!!
>
> So whilst the backup worked fine, the backup process was not because we have
> no file to restore.
>
> The notable difference here is that the backup to /dev/null runs in under a
> minute, where a backup to disk takes a couple of hours.

/dev/null is way faster than my SSDs :) *joke*
The manual states, that if writing log backup or backup to /dev/null,
then the server does near to nothing, especially not much I/O

>
> Therefore we would like to track that backups take at least 1 hour etc.
>
> We would welcome any other suggestions on how we can monitor/protect against
> this happening again?
>
> Thanks for your time.
> Regards, Andy.
>
>
> *******************************************************************************
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
>

--
Richard Kofler
SOLID STATE EDV
Dienstleistungen GmbH
Vienna/Austria/Europe

Messages In This Thread

• How long did the last level 0 backup take?
  ANDREW LEMIN -- Tuesday, 21 September 2010, at 7:06 a.m.
  • Re: How long did the last level 0 backup take?
    Keith Simmons -- Tuesday, 21 September 2010, at 7:44 a.m.
  • Re: How long did the last level 0 backup take?
    Art Kagel -- Tuesday, 21 September 2010, at 8:02 a.m.
    • Re: How long did the last level 0 backup take?
      ANDREW LEMIN -- Tuesday, 21 September 2010, at 8:42 a.m.
      • Re: How long did the last level 0 backup take?
        Art Kagel -- Tuesday, 21 September 2010, at 8:59 a.m.
        • Re: How long did the last level 0 backup take?
          ANDREW LEMIN -- Tuesday, 21 September 2010, at 10:21 a.m.
  • Re: How long did the last level 0 backup take?
    Richard Kofler -- Tuesday, 21 September 2010, at 8:11 a.m.
  • Re: How long did the last level 0 backup take?
    John Miller iii -- Tuesday, 21 September 2010, at 12:17 p.m.

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