Back Up

[Maite]

Hello,

I'm sorry because may be I aks an studip question, but I'm just new in this SC world.

We are going to put SC with Oracle RDMBS. I can see in a CIB module, that there are an Incident, Calls and Inventory back up. I suppose that this modules are only usefull for P, aren't it?

In other hand, there are any function in SC Application in order to make backup copies (cold and/or hot) directly wiht the aplication (not with RDBMS)?

At last, I will appreciatte any information about how to work making and restore file ... and wich information is really saved (records, formularies, dbdict ...)

Thanks
Maite.

[tommy]

Don't be sorry because the entire backup issue is both important and a difficult one especially if You push some files to an external RDBMS.

There is a function called hot backup which You should use in order to backup the entire /data directory. ALL files must follow the backup and restore. You cannot just restore one of the files.

When You push the files to RDBMS the backup should be done on the dtabase server but You still need to backup the /data directory from time to time because it will have important information such as the dbdict and information about the RDBMS.

[Maite]

I don't know if I have understood correctly. Just I can use "hot backup" and it is independent of what database I'm using? (I don't know still if is possible, but I will try to migrate all P4 to Oracle, because we have an Oracle administrators, non a P4 :wink: )

[tommy]

Yes You can use hotbackup.

But please be aware of following:

If You push all files to Oracle You just need to run the hotbackup on the P4 occasionally - f.ex after chaning dbdicts or mappings these things will still be in P4.

If You only push some files to Oracle You need to be very carefully because certain files update each other and if they are not in synch after a restore You could run into serious issues. F.ex problem, probsummary, schedule, numbers, screlation, incidents, incdepends are just a few files that are dependant on each other in some way. If You push problem and pronsummary to Oracle but leave schedule and numbers on P4 You will have a hard time synchronising the P4 backup and Oracle backup. Because if You just restore numbers to a certain point You will run into error with duplicate problem numbers.

Also if You are concerned about security then You should NOT push the operator files to Oracle because the password will NOT be encrypted in Oracle so anybody with reporting access to Oracle can see all passwords.


This is just the tip of the iceberg called "Backup/Restore ServiceCenter"


My recommendation if You are the only person responsible for SC and if Your current solution runs fine with no response time issues is that You should leave everything on P4 until You are more experienced in SC (no offense meant :wink: ) I am still not 100% sure how we will handle this next year when we will push to DB2 - we have to because of requirements from other dependant applicatios.

[Maite]

Yes You can use hotbackup.

But please be aware of following:

If You push all files to Oracle You just need to run the hotbackup on the P4 occasionally - f.ex after chaning dbdicts or mappings these things will still be in P4..

This means that hotbackup is only valid for backup P4.

Also if You are concerned about security then You should NOT push the operator files to Oracle because the password will NOT be encrypted in Oracle so anybody with reporting access to Oracle can see all passwords.


This is just the tip of the iceberg called "Backup/Restore ServiceCenter" ..

We are going to work with LDAP and I supposed that in this way you can't see the password in SC, can you?

My recommendation if You are the only person responsible for SC and if Your current solution runs fine with no response time issues is that You should leave everything on P4 until You are more experienced in SC (no offense meant :wink: ) I am still not 100% sure how we will handle this next year when we will push to DB2 - we have to because of requirements from other dependant applicatios.

Don't worry, I know that I hava a lot to learn (I haven't made any SC course, just only read manuals), but we have a problem with infraestructure. In one hand is better for us that our Oracle administrators can manage the DB (they are very experienced in this issues) and in another hand we have to use another infraestructure in wich is necesary to put the tool in Oracle (our administrators say) is easier to put the tool in HA. But I take your oppinion in consideration and I expose it in next project meeting (next monday).

[tommy]

Yes hotbackup is only usefull for backing up the P4 part that will be left.

Using LDAP to authenticate should take care of the security issue.

I understand the reasoning for choosing to do the push because You have good oracle resources.

But You also have to consider this. Even when the db is pushed to Oracle You still need to know how to add fields inside SC, You also need to change mappings etc. Also You should consider that it is easier to add new fields and keys as long as You are on P4.

As mentioned we will push to DB2 next year. We are also upgrading to SC5 on 28/12. And we have on purpose chosen to wait a few months before pushing to DB2 because we want to have a stable SC5 before making this big change.