Re: redbrick DB

        The redbrick database is essentially a bunch of flat files in
directories. We have found no utilities to do hot backups. Sure, you can
split mirrors, and other such tricks, but we found this simplest way was to
limit updates to the database during a couple of hours a day to do backups.

        When we started, we did archives, but we found that since it grows
very large, very quickly, archives were just killing us. We are now running
an incremental bound to a specific MC.

        Our database admins make sure the database is idle (no loads going
on) and then we do an incremental of the filesystems.

        I'm not sure exactly what the DBAs do on their end, but they put out
a "lock file" while they are doing database loads, and when their loads
finish, that lock file is removed. Because I can't predict when these
database loads may finish, I don't use the *SM scheduler. We have a general
agreement that the backup might happen between 9am and 11 am.

        I wrote a simple script that runs in the crontab at 9am that looks
for that lock file, if it exists, the script sleeps 5 minutes and checks
again. Once the script finds the lock file gone, it writes out it's own lock
file and backs up the database. When it is complete, it removes the lock
file so that the database loaders can resume.

        If you want a copy of the scripts, I can send them to you, but
without the coordination from the DBA's to use some sort of "lock file"
mechanism they won't do you much good.

Ben
Micron Technology

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gerald Wichmann [mailto:gwichmann AT SANSIA DOT COM]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2000 3:18 PM
> To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
> Subject: redbrick DB
>
>
> Anyone have any experience using redbrick's db on Sun? Since there is
> obviously no data protection agent for redbrick and I'm not
> familiar with
> the DB itself, is there some functionality to do a hot backup within
> redbrick itself? IE does it have a utility like Oracle's RMAN
> that might
> allow me to dump a hotback to disk and then use the TSM BA to
> just backup
> those files?
>
> Thanks for the info!
>
> Gerald Wichmann
> RS Engineer
> Sansia System Solutions
> 408-844-8893 work
> 408-844-9801 fax
>