General information about backup and restore methods

Deployment options: Netezza on System Netezza on Cloud

Netezza Performance Server for Cloud Pak for Data and Netezza Performance Server for Cloud Pak for Data System provides several backup and restore methods to cover various data storage and transfer needs.

  • Create full and incremental backups of databases in compressed internal format external tables by using the nzbackup command and restore them to a Netezza Performance Server system by using nzrestore command.
  • Unload individual tables data in compressed internal format external tables by using the CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE command. You load the data by using the nzload command.
  • Unload individual table data in text format external tables by using the CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE command. You load the data by using the nzload command on a Netezza Performance Server system, but you can also load it to any database that supports text format files.
  • Create backups of the system catalog (the /nz/data directory) on the Netezza Performance Server host by using the nzhostbackup command. If the Netezza Performance Server host fails, you can reload the system catalog and metadata by using the nzhostrestore command without a full database reload.
Note:

Restore and backup operations must be performed on systems with the same identifier case.

For example: A backup taken on a lowercase system must be restored on a lowercase system.

The following table lists the differences among the backup and restore methods.

Table 1. Choose a backup and restore method
Feature nzbackup and nzrestore Compressed external tables Text format external tables
Object definition backup ✓ - -
Full automatic database backup ✓ - -
Manual per-table backup - ✓ ✓
Manual per-table restore ✓ ✓ ✓
Veritas NetBackup ✓ - -
IBM® Spectrum Protect (formerly Tivoli® Storage Manager) ✓ - -
EMC® NetWorker® ✓ - -
AWS and IBM COS cloud storage ✓ ✓ ✓
Azure Blob Storage ✓ ✓ ✓
Automatic incremental ✓ - -
Compressed internal format ✓ ✓ -
Non-proprietary format - - ✓
Machine-size independent ✓a ✓a ✓
Rowid preserved ✓ ✓ -
Transaction ID preserved - - -
Upgrade safe ✓ ✓ ✓
Downgrade safe - - ✓

a This method usually takes more time to complete than the compressed internal format backups and loads.

Note: The backup and restore processes and messages often use the term schema in the context of a definition, that is, the definition of database, its objects, and the access privileges granted within the database. In these sections, the term schema does not mean the schema object inside a database (for systems that support multiple schemas in a database). The Netezza Performance Server backup and restore features do not support the ability to back up a database schema (that is, the object).

The CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE command and the procedures for using external tables are described in detail in the IBM Netezza® Data Loading Guide.

Symantec and NetBackup are trademarks or registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the US and other countries. EMC and NetWorker are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the US and other countries.