RE: Restore of *savf from tape

Yep....our downtime is limited. Doing a savlib of the data library
Takes too long and causes issues with other systems connecting to our
AS/400
Where files are locked and such.

So we kick of the backup at 9 p.m.

Step 1 of the backup is to create the savf (in case it somehow got
deleted)

Step 2 is to backup the library to the savf created

Step 3 is to start backup the application(s) while the backup
         to tape from *savf is going

Step 4 is to clear the savf

So when we restore our data library to the test machine from tape to
'refresh it' we send the tape overnight to its location.

We clear out the library on the test machine then
do a restorelib of the data library.


Works great.

-----------------------------------
Jim Norbut
Systems Administrator
Grubb & Ellis Company
500 West Monroe
Chicago, IL 60661
(312) 698-5620
-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tom Liotta
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2006 11:23 PM
To: midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Restore of *savf from tape

Norbut, Jim wrote:

Valid point.....I did failed to mention I use SAVSAVFDTA
To save the savefile to tape.

Jim:

Therein lies a major problem (for future reference since you've 
otherwise resolved your problem.)

The SAVSAVFDTA command doesn't exactly put the savefile to tape. It 
puts the savefile _data_ to tape. The resulting tape essentially 
looks as if the original SAVLIB had been done directly to tape with 
no savefile ever existing.

This kind of illustrates what savefiles where intended for -- a 
faster way to save in order to reduce downtime. Save to savefile 
quickly, get your apps started back up again and put the savefile to 
tape via SAVSAVFDTA at your leisure.

In short, you'd need to recreate the savefile, restore the library 
from tape, save back into the savefile again, and _then_ you'd more 
or less have the original savefile back again. Technically, I 
suppose you _could_ write a program that would read tape 
records/blocks directly and write them into a savefile; but that's a 
bit of overkill. I'm not sure how well documented savefile 
structures are.

Might be useful info for someone someday and others might have more 
to add or correct.

Tom Liotta

-----Original Message-----

Norbut, Jim wrote:

I have a savf on a backup tape called LAWAPP8DBB

The savf was created via    

SAVLIB     LIB(LAWAPP8DB) DEV(*SAVF) SAVF(LAW8SUPP/LAWAPP8DBB)

Jim:

Although you show how the savefile was populated, you didn't show 
how it was put to tape. Two general ways would be SAVLIB 
SAVFDTA(*YES) and SAVSAVFDTA. Getting the "savefile" back would be 
very different between the alternatives. It's possible that the 
"savefile" doesn't quite exist on the tape even though the entire 
content is on the tape or even that the savefile description is on 
tape but it's empty.