Problem with Oracle backup

We're testing new backup software (sysback) on our RS/6000 system running AIX 3.2.5, specifically to backup our Oracle database files, and are having some problems. sysback doesn't appear to handle sparse files (or holey files if you prefer) properly.

Problem: when we use sysback to restore the Oracle database files, they are not restored to the correct size. Although using 'ls -l *' indicates
that they ARE of the correct size, 'du -s *' shows that they are NOT physically using the correct amount of disk space. Other disk monitoring tools confirm that this is the case.

Question: how serious a problem is this ?? Oracle functions ok with the restored database files, and seems happy to physically allocate additional disk space to the database file as needed (i suspect up to the maximum file size that we specified for the tablespace's data file), assuming that the
disk space is physically available. We have proved that if the disk space is not available, then Oracle crashes badly as you would expect, which i supose answers my own question. But assuming disk space is available, are there any other concerns ????

If this is a serious problem that we need to be concerned about, does anyone know how to get the IBM "sysback" program to restore the files to the correct size.

Any help would be appreciated.

• Dean

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  Dean Gawler Senior UNIX Sys Admin / Oracle DBA Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited Ph: 61-8-8275 7594

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