Can I use onbar to backup an Informix instance without using a storage
manager? The Informix instance uses raw device for dbspaces. What I
want to do is use onbar to backup the raw devices to regular UNIX files
and then back these files up to tape. The reason being is that a third
party is supplying the backup solution using Veritas NetBackup but they
do not have the Informix agent for NetBackup.

"Desmodromic" <davies_ms@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:1159486263.109693.196160@c28g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com...
> Can I use onbar to backup an Informix instance without using a storage
> manager? The Informix instance uses raw device for dbspaces. What I
> want to do is use onbar to backup the raw devices to regular UNIX files
> and then back these files up to tape. The reason being is that a third
> party is supplying the backup solution using Veritas NetBackup but they
> do not have the Informix agent for NetBackup.

Informix has a storafe manager integrate within ("Informix Storage Manager")
which can be used for this.
Or, depending upon your version, use ontape and a bit of scripting. There
are probably some examples in the software section at www.iiug.org.

Desmodromic wrote:
> Can I use onbar to backup an Informix instance without using a storage
> manager? The Informix instance uses raw device for dbspaces. What I
> want to do is use onbar to backup the raw devices to regular UNIX files
> and then back these files up to tape. The reason being is that a third
> party is supplying the backup solution using Veritas NetBackup but they
> do not have the Informix agent for NetBackup.

May I suggest to use ontape and Unix scripts? For example, there are
very good scripts made by Art Kagel (available at IIUG repository in
one of utils*_ak packages of utilities), reliable and easy to adapt to
your needs. I have very good experience with them in production. I also
backup databases and logs to file system, then those files to library
using Legato. Fast, simple, low resorce consuming and reliable.

Ontape is much simpler to learn and use than onbar, although somewhat
limited. But those limitations often are not important in practice (for
example, for my deployments it's enough to have one fast data stream
for backup etc).

If you ever need a restore (and chances are you will eventually , you
will understand the value of simplicity of recovery process. And it's
hard to find any simpler RDBMS backup/restore tool than ontape, not
only in Informix world.

On the other hand, if your needs can't be satisfied with ontape, OnBar
is available with bundled ISM (Informix Storage Manager) that is, I
think, some version of Legato Networker. AFAIK, ISM is available to you
with no extra charge when you have IDS license.

Darko Krstic