SPD Server Backup Utility (spdsbkup)

The backup utility spdsbkup performs a full or incremental backup of a server table or domain. It creates a backup file that contains full backups of newly created server tables or incremental backups of tables that have been backed up before.

During the backup process, the spdsbkup utility performs the following tasks:

When you do a full backup of a server table, all of the table rows and attributes (indexes, partition size, compression, and sorted) are backed up. ACL files must be in the same physical directory as the domain. If any ACL file does not meet this requirement, the ACLs are not backed up, and a warning message is sent to the log. The spdsbkup utility continues to back up all specified tables.

When you perform an SPD Server full backup of a table, the SPD Server full backup utility does not save the index data. It saves only the information necessary to re-create the indexes when the table is restored. Therefore, when you back up table indexes, the information that is saved does not require additional overhead or a lot of additional space. If you must fully restore a table later, the SPD Server restore utility, spdsrstr, can re-create the indexes when the table is created. Or you can use the -n option in the restore. The -n option suppresses index creation. After the table is fully restored, you can use PROC DATASETS or PROC SQL to re-create the indexes.

When you perform an incremental backup of a server table, only changes that were made to the table rows since the last full backup are included in the backup. Changes to the table attributes are not backed up. When you restore an SPD Server incremental backup, the incremental changes to the rows are applied. Only attributes that were associated with the table at the time of the last full backup (indexes, partition size, compression, and sorted) are applied to the restored rows.

The backup table of contents file has a name in the form filename_TC_ddmmmyyyy_hhmmss. The TC in the filename identifies it as a table of contents file. If the table of contents file is created in the same SPD Server operation, the timestamp for the backup file and the table of contents file are identical. The table of contents file does not have an SPD Server file extension. Unlike the backup file, the table of contents file is a regular system file and cannot be extended. The table of contents file size is constrained only by the native operating system's file size limit.

The table of contents file contains the following information for each table that is backed up:

The table of contents file is formatted so that it can be used as a table of contents for a SAS backup file. The table of contents file uses the following SAS format:

format lastfull datetime18.;
 input @1 table $32. @33 bk_file $200.
 @233 lastfull datetime18. @251 inc_seq 8.
 @259 rows 10. @269 bk_type $1.
 @270 num_idx 8.,
 @278 acls $1.; 

After you perform each SPD Server backup, you should append the resulting table of contents file to the table of contents file for the previous backup. This step saves the backup history and will assist you when you restore the tables.

For example, if you want to determine which backup files you need to restore a specific table, you could create the following SQL query, using the date of the last full backup:

select bk_file from foo.bkup_toc
where table = "dset"
and datepart(lastfull) >= 'ddmmmyyyy'd;