CA View - Question on Performing a View Database Backup Best Practices

Products

• Deliver
• View

Issue/Introduction

With the goal of keeping the View tasks (SARSTC, SARFSS, SARXTD, SARXMS) available as much as possible, and with automatic backup and forward recovery active is there any true benefit to bringing down the View tasks and then doing a SARDBASE UNLOAD of the database periodically?

What are the recommended best practices regarding running View database backups?

Environment

Release : 14.0

Component : CA View

Resolution

To run a valid SARDBASE UNLOAD, all of the applicable tasks need to be brought down (SARSTC, SARFSS, SARXTD, SARXMS, and any CA Deliver RMOSTC tasks where a direct-write is being done to the View database).

As a Deliver database is the equivalent of a View database index, running a SARDBASE UNLOAD would in addition include needing to back up any of the reports that are currently on the disk layer as well.

With use of Forward Recovery, which is already creating a copy of reports that have not yet been backed up to tape, and with use of the SARRSP function (in recovery), there are reports brought back to the disk layer as needed.

In all, unless what is being backed up is a very small database, the efforts (plus down time of Deliver) required to run a SARDBASE UNLOAD may not be worth it.

Regarding best practices of backups, ensuring that a daily View backup is being run (SARINIT DAYS=YYYYYYY, TBACKUP=YES (the default), and use of a SARRECV file) and Forward Recovery is being used (use of SARINIT RCV... parameters), is the best bet.