Use DB2 single system view for backup

DB2® Version 9.5 and later provides the single system view (SSV) function, which allows backing up multiple database partitions immediately.

In earlier releases, partitioned databases that are needed to be backed up one partition at a time that can be time-consuming and prone to errors. Backing up a partitioned database one partition at a time also failed to include the log files in the backup image. These log files are required to restore and recover the data. Restoring multiple partitions that were backed up individually is complicated as well because the backup timestamp for each partition is slightly different. Identifying all database partitions belonging to the same backup is difficult. Also, determining the minimum recovery time for the backup that contains these partitions is difficult. Use of db2_all simplifies the backup of partitioned databases. However, backup and restore operations restrictions still exist that complicate these tasks.

With DB2 Version 9.5 and later, when you do a backup operation of a partitioned database, you can specify which partitions to include in the backup. If necessary, you can include all the database partitions. The specified partitions are backed up simultaneously and the backup timestamp that is associated with all specified database partitions is the same. Also, by default, database logs are included in an SSV backup image. Finally, when you restore from an SSV backup image, you can specify to roll forward to end of logs, which is the minimum recovery time that is calculated by the database manager. For more information, see the DB2 Command Reference.