An online backup is the ability to write a snapshot of all the data in a FileNet® P8 environment to backup media without shutting down services or interrupting user access to the system. The application remains online while the snapshot is taken. An effective hot backup solution must enable a coordinated point-in-time snapshot across all the volumes that contain FileNet P8 data, such as object stores, storage and index areas, and other data.
An online backup must capture all the data at the same instant in time (that is, within a maximum of a matter of seconds) in order to capture and preserve all the relationships between the data sets, such as references from the databases to content in files. If parts of the data are captured at different points in time, the newly created, changed, or deleted references between the data sets might be inconsistent. For example, database rows might reference nonexistent files, or files might exist with no reference in the databases. In the worst case, the data might be unrecoverable because of inconsistencies.
Before you deploy an online backup solution into a production environment, you must validate the online backup and recovery process to detect any data consistency issues and ensure that the process meets your business needs. IBM® has verified the ability to perform an online backup by using the DB2® database with IBM System Storage® N series products.
To prevent or minimize any data set inconsistencies that might arise, it is of critical importance that any online backup solution meets all of the requirements that are outlined in the following topics. For implementation assistance, consult ECM Lab Services.