Re: NT hot backup

"Chuck" <chuckh_at_softhome.net> wrote in message news:aj8v3q$19ufd6$1_at_ID-85580.news.dfncis.de...
> I'm quite aware of the need to put tablespaces into backup mode before
> backing them up.

Read your post again. It's not evident in what you actually wrote at all that you are 'quite aware' of this.

>What I was asking about was that once I've placed a
> tablespace into backup mode,

Curiously, this crucial nugget of information was *not* included in your post. So it wasn't what you were asking at all.

> I need to backup the open datafiles of that
> tablespace. Oracle provides an OCOPY.EXE program to do that because
> Microsoft's copy and xcopy commands will not copy open files properly.

Nonsense. You do not need OCOPY to backup open files in Windows NT or 2000. I use Explorer and right-mouse clicks all the time. Unless you are using a RAC with raw logical partitions... *then* it gets useful. I used OCOPY for the first time last week to backup some (raw) datafiles in my new RAC. I'd never used it before then.

>I
> wanted to know if I had to OCOPY the files first, then compress them, or
can
> I use the compress utility directly to copy and compress the open
datafiles
> without ocopy?

I wish I knew what compress utility you were talking about. You use Windows 2000, right? So what 'microsoft utility' are we talking about? In XP, we have the 'send to compressed folder' option, but that doesn't exist in Windows 2000. So are we talking about the ability to right-click a folder or file, click Properties and Advanced, and check the 'compress contents to save disk space' option?

The reason I ask is because as best I can make out from your last paragraph, you are positing two options. One, copy the datafiles, compress the copies. Two, 'copy and compress' the datafiles in one go.

Yet, the right-click, Properties, Advanced, check 'compress contents' technique doesn't *take* copies. It's an in-place compression of the live datafiles only. So where the 'copy and compress in one operation' comes from, I can't work out.

Perhaps you have something like Winzip or winrar, which install themselves in such a way that you can right-click a file and select to 'add to archive...' or 'add to zip'? If this is the case, then yes, the creation of the compressed archive creates a new file with a compressed copy of the datafile within it, and leaves the original datafile uncompressed and unaffected -so, in a sense, it is doing a copy and compress in one operation. If this is what you are talking about, then that is fine... the zipped file is useable in backup scenarios, because of the 'begin backup' command you issued earlier.

(Provided the compression utility, whatever it may be, doesn't 'move' the original file into the compressed archive, of course... 'cos then, you'll have lost your original file).

If that's still not the answer you want, then write back one more time explaining precisely which 'microsoft utility' we are talking about.

In any event, anyone who compresses their backups must have a death-wish of some kind. The backups are the only thing standing between you and data loss, so you start 'processing' them at your peril. If disk space is tight, I would at least suggest not compressing your most recent backup.

HJR
> --
> Chuck
>
> "Howard J. Rogers" <howardjr2000_at_yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
> news:ai9feb$ki0$1_at_lust.ihug.co.nz...
> > You can *never* backup any Oracle database file which is "hot" without
> first
> > invoking some mechanism that allows Oracle subsequently to fix up the
> > internal inconsistencies that *always* arise when you hot copy files.
> >
> > For data files, that's the 'alter tablespace begin backup' command. And
> for
> > control files it's the 'alter database backup controlfile to something'
> > command.
> >
> > OCOPY does *not* do this particular trick -it simply allows you to copy
> > files which NT otherwise would see as locked (and thus prevent you doing
> the
> > copy).
> >
> > Regards
> > HJR
> >
> >
> > "Chuck" <chuckh_at_softhome.net> wrote in message
> > news:ai8nui$unb73$1_at_ID-85580.news.dfncis.de...
> > > Anyone ever used microsoft's compress utility for disk to disk hot
> backups
> > > on NT or Win2k? Is it safe to backup open files directly with this
> utility
> > > or do you need to use ocopy first, then compress that file?
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>
Received on Mon Aug 12 2002 - 17:55:15 CDT