System-level point-in-time recovery
Use the BACKUP SYSTEM and RESTORE SYSTEM online utilities to perform system-level point-in-time recovery.
Db2 provides the following solutions for
system-level recovery:
- Recovery to a specific point in time.
- This point in time is either between two backup times or between the last backup time and the current time. After the appropriate volume copies are restored, the outstanding logs are applied to the databases to recover the data to the designated point in time.
- Recovery to the point in time of a backup
- This recovery restores the appropriate volume copies of the data and logs. The logs are used only to back out inflight transactions on restart.
- Remote site recovery from disaster at a local site
- This recovery is determined by what you keep at the remote site. For example, in addition to offsite tapes of backups, current logs might have been transmitted electronically. If so, the current logs can be applied to the databases after the data and logs are restored from the offsite tapes.
The BACKUP SYSTEM utility
The BACKUP SYSTEM online utility provides the following types of backups:
- A data-only system backup, which contains only the databases. The RESTORE SYSTEM online utility uses these backups to recover the system to an arbitrary point in time.
- A full system backup, which contains both logs and databases. The RESTORE SYSTEM online utility uses these backups to recover the system to the point in time when the copy was taken by using normal Db2 restart recovery.
The RESTORE SYSTEM utility
The RESTORE SYSTEM utility recovers a Db2 subsystem to a prior point in time. The utility restores volume copies that are provided by the BACKUP SYSTEM online utility with the DATA ONLY option. After restoring the data, you can use the RESTORE SYSTEM online utility to recover to an arbitrary point in time.