.rst files

[Cringer]

We use a local copy of the production database for development purposes. We take the copy by restoring the nightly backup occasionally. This is all well and good, except that as the database grows, so do the number of volumes in it. Is there a way to tell the restore process to just keep looking for volumes in the same location as all the others? It's very frustrating to get through 110 volumes and then find the backup is now 111 long!

 

[Rob Fitzpatrick]

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand the issue. Is it the fact that new extents are being added to the production database, and so its structure no longer matches the current structure file in your dev environment?

If so, one option is to restore your database without a structure file. Then prorest will just give you one variable extent per storage area, instead of all the individual fixed and variable extents you have in the prod database. In dev I would imagine you just care about having the correct data and schema, as opposed to the correct structure which might be more relevant in a performance-testing environment.

Note that this approach will give you extents that are larger than those in prod, so if the prod extents are at or near 2 GB you need to ensure that the dev environment has an Enterprise RDBMS license and the prod database you are restoring has large file support enabled.

Alternatively, if the paths are the same on both boxes (or if you have a relative-path structure) you could also just copy over the production structure file along with the backup, and restore with that.

 

[Cringer]

Sorry no it's not the db structure - I already build that with just 1 variable extent. It's the volumes in the backup (b00, b01, b02, ...). The .rst file tells the prorest session where these reside so that it can grab them. Mine looks like this:

Y
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b01
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b02
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b03
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b04
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b05
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b06
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b07
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b08
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b09
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b10
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b11
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b12
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b13
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b14
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b15
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b16
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b17
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b18
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b19
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b20
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b21
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b22
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b23
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b24
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b25
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b26
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b27
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b28
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b29
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b30
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b31
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b32
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b33
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b34
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b35
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b36
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b37
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b38
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b39
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b40
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b41
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b42
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b43
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b44
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b45
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b46
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b47
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b48
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b49
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b50
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b51
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b52
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b53
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b54
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b55
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b56
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b57
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b58
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b59
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b60
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b61
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b62
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b63
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b64
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b65
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b66
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b67
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b68
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b69
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b70
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b71
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b72
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b73
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b74
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b75
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b76
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b77
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b78
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b79
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b80
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b81
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b82
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b83
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b84
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b85
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b86
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b87
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b88
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b89
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b90
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b91
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b92
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b93
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b94
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b95
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b96
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b97
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b98
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b99
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b100
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b101
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b102
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b103
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b104
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b105
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b106
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b107
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b108
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b109
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b110
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b111
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b112
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b113
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b114
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b115
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b116
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b117
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b118
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b119
C:\backup\ICMASLIV.b120

But when we get to volume 121 I have to extend that file. Just wondering how to get around that.

 

[tamhas]

Why so many volumes in the backup? How big is the DB and how big are these volumes?

 

[Cringer]

The volumes are 1.6GB Each by the look of things. The DB is around 190GB.

 

[cj_brandt]

I'd probably change the -vs or volume size to something larger.

Maybe another option would be to first run a probkup with -scan and -estimate to try and determine how big the backup would be. Then build the rst file based on the results of the estimate.

 

[Rob Fitzpatrick]

Is there a reason why you can't write your backup to a single file?

 

[Cringer]

I've no idea actually. I don't do the DBA side of things - it's not my job. So I have to live with what I'm given at the moment.

 

[RealHeavyDude]

Just speculating: In Stone Age Progress releases there was an infamous limit to file size that applied to the backup too, plus backups were sometimes written directly to removable media like tapes ...
Probably this is a leftover from the dark past and the DBAs didn't notice that things evolved quite a bit over time.

Heavy Regards, RealHeavyDude.

 

[Cringer]

Yeah just been talking with a DBA. We suspect it harks back to FAT32 limitations. The thing is, it works and will therefore probably never be changed.

 

[RealHeavyDude]

Can't say that I am not in an equally frustrating position when it comes to deal with admins in my company.

RealHeavyDude.

 

[Cringer]

Guess I'll just have to make a 200 volume rst file and have done with it for a couple of years

 

[nineinch]

Why not add this to your restore script:

echo Y >restore.rst
dir /b ICMASLIV.* >>restore.rst

 

[Cringer]

A good (ish) idea, but there's more than just the volumes in there, so that won't work. Also that doesn't include the full path of the files.

 

[TomBascom]

The thing is, it works and will therefore probably never be changed.

Except that it doesn't actually work This is the perfect time to change it.

 

[Cringer]

lol yeah I agree with you Tom. I'll have to have a try at getting it fixed without rocking the boat.