Man I would be *sooo* paranoid if I used this undocumented
feature. I'm thinking of a full online backup of the database,
and a full offline backup, and I probably would do it early on a
Saturday morning, so I had a whole weekend to pick up the pieces
if I messed up, b/c I know support wouldn't be too sympathetic
when I called to report problems.

 -- Tom

On Tue, 21 Dec 1999, Joshua S. Bassi wrote:

>"Delete Object" - nice, another one of those undocumented commands that can
>get
>end-users in trouble.  Maybe this handy, much needed command, could be
>documented and put into the Admin Reference as we would all like.
>
>
>--
>Joshua S. Bassi
>Senior Technical Consultant
>Symatrix Technology, Inc.
>jbassi AT gloryworks DOT com
>(503) 702-3371
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU]On Behalf Of
>Trevor Foley
>Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 1999 3:45 PM
>To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
>Subject: Re: Selectively deleting files
>
>
>Hi,
>
>There is an alternative. It is unsupported, but I've used it and it is a lot
>easier than then supported ways.
>
>First up you need to find out the object id(s) for the object(s) that you
>want to delete. You can find this out from the backup or archive tables
>using SELECT. Then it is just a simple matter of using the DELETE OBJECT
>command. There is one trick though. The OBJECT_ID field from the backup and
>archive tables is a single number. However, the object ID required by DELETE
>OBJECT takes 2 numbers as parameters, an OBJECT_ID LOW and an OBJECT_ID LOW.
>>From what I have seen the HIGH value is always zero.
>
>So, if you want to delete object 193521018 for example, just do DELETE
>OBJECT 0 193521018.
>
>
>regards,
>
>Trevor
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Thomas A. La Porte [mailto:tlaporte AT ANIM.DREAMWORKS DOT COM]
>> Sent: Wednesday,22 December 1999 10:29
>> To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
>> Subject: Re: Selectively deleting files
>>
>>
>> I agree with Josh that the only way to do this is to "push"
>> (I like that image) the backups out of ADSM. But couldn't
>> you rebind the files to a different MC right now--
>> one that has new copy/retention parameters--and then push it out
>> through this MC? That way, if you *are* in a situation of having
>> to push out 20 versions, you reduce the number of bogus backups
>> you do. This would be especially true if you tried to do it by
>> backing up zero-length files. After all, can you make a change
>> to a zero-length file that would cause it to be backed up?
>>
>>  -- Tom
>>
>> Thomas A. La Porte
>> DreamWorks Feature Animation
>> tlaporte AT anim.dreamworks DOT com
>>
>> On Tue, 21 Dec 1999, Joshua S. Bassi wrote:
>>
>> >Yes, you are correct - the only way to get rid of these
>> files w/out getting
>> >rid of the entire client filespace is to create a dummy file
>> and *push* the
>> >real file out of server storage using expiration.  Of course
>> if you are
>> >keeping 20 versions of this file you will have to create 20
>> different dummy
>> >files and run expiration to push the real ones out.
>> >
>> >Yes you could create a special mgmt class for these
>> sensitive files, or you
>> >could put them in their own client filespace (a filesystem
>> on UNIX or a
>> >partition on Windows) and delete the entire filespace if you
>> need to purge
>> >everything related to what you are doing?
>> >
>> >Hope this helps,
>> >
>> >
>> >--
>> >Joshua S. Bassi
>> >Senior Technical Consultant
>> >Symatrix Technology, Inc.
>> >jbassi AT gloryworks DOT com
>> >(503) 702-3371
>> >
>> >
>> >-----Original Message-----
>> >From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager
>> [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU]On Behalf Of
>> >Garin Walsh
>> >Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 1999 3:01 PM
>> >To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
>> >Subject: Selectively deleting files
>> >
>> >
>> >I have a legal situation that I am wondering how others have
>> responded to or
>> >if
>> >you have any suggestions. Our company entered into a
>> consulting project that
>> >was
>> >bound by nondisclosure agreements. We did a bunch of
>> documentation all of
>> >which
>> >was faithfully pushed to our ADSM server. Now as the project
>> has approached
>> >the
>> >go/no go point we have received the no-go response. The nondisclosure
>> >agreement
>> >stipulates that in this instance that the customer be returned all
>> >documentation
>> >along with written confirmation that all electronic copies
>> of documents
>> >pertaining to the project have been eliminated. Well the
>> first problem is
>> >that I
>> >know of no way to delete a single file out of a backup pool.
>> Is there a way?
>> >The
>> >best thing I can think of is to create an empty file with
>> the same name as
>> >the
>> >one in the pool and backup/modify it one more time than the
>> copy retention
>> >specifies and then do a reclaim. I would rather not go
>> through this effort
>> >since
>> >there are hundreds of files to consider. Is there a way
>> through the SQL
>> >interface? I don't want to play with the number of deleted
>> files retained or
>> >the
>> >retention period on delete files since this would have a
>> negative impact on
>> >the
>> >recoverability of other files.
>> >
>> >And in the future is the best solution to this to bind these
>> sensitive files
>> >to
>> >a separate management class so that when the files need to
>> be expunged all
>> >that
>> >needs to be done is set the delete file retention to zero
>> and let the users
>> >delete them?
>> >
>> >Thanks
>> >Garin Walsh
>> >Sabre Inc.
>> >
>>
>