DB2 backup puts one file in a different folder

[j***@ace-ina.com]

Hi all,

I have a very odd problem!!

Sometimes (can not see a pattern at the moment). When one of our servers is backing up its databases (has 3 DB's it does at the same time) it seems to put one of the files into a random folder.

it should put them into say d:\DBBack\as but I might find say *.007 in d:\DBBack\sz but all the rest will be in the correct place.

I have NO idea why this is happening. It is not every night or every monday and all the jobs are kicked off automatically at the same time each night.

Has anyone seen this before?

[Ian]

Post by j***@ace-ina.com
Hi all,
I have a very odd problem!!
Sometimes (can not see a pattern at the moment). When one of our
servers is backing up its databases (has 3 DB's it does at the same
time) it seems to put one of the files into a random folder.
it should put them into say d:\DBBack\as but I might find say *.007
in d:\DBBack\sz but all the rest will be in the correct place.
I have NO idea why this is happening. It is not every night or every
monday and all the jobs are kicked off automatically at the same time
each night.

You aren't providing enough detail to be able to answer this question.
Please post additional information, like the BACKUP DATABASE command(s)
you are executing, the exact file names that get created, etc.

[j***@ace-ina.com]

Hi,

Sorry for the lack of info. The command that gets run from a bat file is below.
It deletes the old DB recreates the folder then does the backup.

RMDIR /S /Q D:\DBBACKUK

MKDIR D:\DBBACKUK

db2cmd -w -c -i db2 backup db IC2UK to D:\DBBACKUK, D:\DBBACKUK, D:\DBBACKUK, D:\DBBACKUK, D:\DBBACKUK, D:\DBBACKUK, D:\DBBACKUK, D:\DBBACKUK


d:\DBBACKUK\IC2UK.0\DB2\NODE0000\CATN0000\20071003

This is the folder structure created from last nights UK backup. We have files named, 194525.001 - 194525.008

the problem is that sometimes one of the above files will be put into a different directory. This directory seems random, at least it has been a number of different places. Most recently it was:

d:\DBBACKIR\IC2IR.0\DB2\NODE0000\CATN0000\20071003

I believe we are using IBM DB2 Version 8

I hope this helps

Thanks
____________________________________
<a href="www.houseofhawkins.com">HouseofHawkins.com</a>

[Ian]

Post by j***@ace-ina.com
Hi,
Sorry for the lack of info. The command that gets run from a bat file is below.
It deletes the old DB recreates the folder then does the backup.
RMDIR /S /Q D:\DBBACKUK
MKDIR D:\DBBACKUK
db2cmd -w -c -i db2 backup db IC2UK to D:\DBBACKUK, D:\DBBACKUK, D:\DBBACKUK, D:\DBBACKUK, D:\DBBACKUK, D:\DBBACKUK, D:\DBBACKUK, D:\DBBACKUK

First question: Why are you specifying the same path 8 times?
I realize that this splits the database backup into 8 chunks,
but is there a specific reason for this?

Post by j***@ace-ina.com
d:\DBBACKUK\IC2UK.0\DB2\NODE0000\CATN0000\20071003
This is the folder structure created from last nights UK backup. We have files named, 194525.001 - 194525.008
d:\DBBACKIR\IC2IR.0\DB2\NODE0000\CATN0000\20071003

This does not make sense. This second directory would contain the
backup for the IC2IR database. You're saying that when you back up
the IC2UK database, 7 of the 8 files get written to the correct
location, but 1 file gets written to this other "random" location?

Are you sure that the file in the "random" location belongs to the
IC2UK database?

Have you tried doing a restore of IC2UK? For example,

db2 restore database ic2uk from D:\DBBACKUK


Are you running any other database backups at the same time (e.g.,
backing up the IC2IR database)?

[j***@ace-ina.com]

Hi,

The reason we split it into 8 chunks is partly historical. The Servers are spread across Europe and some are up to 20GB. We had a lot of issues with Xcopies failing so we split them up so we could grab the parts that didn't make the journey. This is still true to some extend, but not as much.

A little history:

We have 7 servers across Europe which generally have between 1 and 4 different Databases on them. Each night we kick off all the DB restores at roughly the same time (within a minute of each other). Once these have backed up it triggers the backup server to copy them across and restore the DB.

Your correct when you say 7 of the 8 go to the correct directory and one does not. When this happens the restore fails with an error something similar to:

"SQL2538N Unexpected End of File of Backup Image reached on media "

We do a search on the production server for this extra file and copy that across to the backup server and the restore works just fine.

Thanks for the help

Jon
_____________________________________________________________
<a href="http://www.houseofhawkins.com">Houseofhawkins.com</a>

[Ian]

Post by j***@ace-ina.com
Your correct when you say 7 of the 8 go to the correct directory and
one does not. When this happens the restore fails with an error
"SQL2538N Unexpected End of File of Backup Image reached on media "
We do a search on the production server for this extra file and copy
that across to the backup server and the restore works just fine.

I recommend that you open a PMR with IBM to get resolution for this
issue. This seems very strange.

[r***@handelsbanken.se]

Hm strange problem... have you ever considered to use backup db with the compress option ? Depends on the fixpak level you have of db2, I think it came in fixpak 4...
This will save some disk space for you since the backup image will be 5 or even 6 times smaller than running backup without compress.
/roger

[j***@ace-ina.com]

Thank you for your replies,

Possibly a silly question but what is a PMR, I have not heard of this before.
_____________________________________________________________
<a href="http://www.houseofhawkins.com">Houseofhawkins.com</a>

[Ian]

Post by j***@ace-ina.com
Thank you for your replies,
Possibly a silly question but what is a PMR, I have not heard of this before.

A PMR ("Problem Management Request") is a problem ticket. You would
call IBM support for your country and request assistance with this issue.