Re: backing up archive logs on Win2K

On a recent newsgroup discussion, "Howard J. Rogers" <dba_at_hjrdba.com> wrote:

>The reason (I presume) that they suggest doing this is because there is
>otherwise a risk that you would start to host copy an archive file which is
>actually in the process of being created (i.e., being written to by ARCH).
>That would obviously not be good news.

Erm.. why? The move operation wouldn't succeed anyway because the file is open, so it would just be moved the next time? Right now I move archived log files away from the main server every hour to a backup-drive, which is then taken off-site in the evening.

Or, I could rename all the files first (rename to a marginally different name, like append '.bak' to it) and if the rename succeeds then the file is safe. Then I only move the renamed files (those that end in *.bak)

>For example, issue the 'archive log list'
>command from within Server Manager or SQL Plus, and it will tell you what
>the current redo log sequence number is (say it is 1056). That means I
>would not want to backup by 'arch_1055.rdo' archive file, because that is
>the last one produced, and it *might* still be 'hot'.

Right.. but then how to get that information into your batch file, and copy everything EXCEPT that file?

Thanks in advance!!
Han.

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