Backup Requirements

The client that performs the backup does not have to execute on the same machine as the SPD Server. However, the client must be able to access the physical path of the SPD Server domain that is being backed up. The client can access the physical path of the domain directly or through a network connection.

Before a table is eligible for backup, you must create the SPD Server LIBNAME domain by using the BACKUP=YES option in the parameter file. The following two example LIBNAME entries from a data server's LIBNAME parameter file, libnames.parm, show how domains are processed with and without the BACKUP= option:

Consider the following two entries:

LIBNAME=nobackup pathname=/usr/foo/test;

LIBNAME=canbackup pathname=/usr/foo/test BACKUP=YES;

The entry for the LIBNAME domain called nobackup creates tables in the directory /usr/foo/test, but no BACKUP= option is specified. For this reason, tables that are created through this domain definition are ineligible for backup. In contrast, the entry for the LIBNAME domain canbackup, which also creates tables in the directory /usr/foo/test, specifies the BACKUP=YES option. As a consequence, tables that are created through this domain are eligible for backup.

When spdsbkup performs a backup, it checks every table in /usr/foo/test. However, based on the parameter file entries in this example, spdsbkup backs up only the eligible tables in canbackup. When you create client connections using pass-through or LIBNAME statements, you can use the BACKUP=NO LIBNAME option to override default backup settings.

Before you can do an incremental backup of an SPD Server table, you must do a full backup of the table. You can perform the full backup in two ways:

After you have performed a full backup on an SPD Server table, you can then proceed with an incremental backup strategy. The first incremental backup saves all table changes that were made after the last full backup date. Each successive incremental backup saves the changes that were made after the previous incremental backup.