Home
Administering
In addition to administering the database server, you can tune performance, replicate data, and archive data.
Backup and Restore Guide
The Informix® Backup and Restore Guide describes how to use the Informix ON-Bar and ontape utilities to back up and restore database server data. These utilities enable you to recover your databases after data is lost or becomes corrupted due to hardware or software failure or accident.
Overview of backup and restore
These topics provide an overview of backup and restore concepts. They also provide information about planning for backup and restore operations.
Backup and restore concepts
HCL Informix® provides two utilities for backing up and restoring database server data. Both utilities back up and restore storage spaces and logical logs. However, they support different features and it is important to know the differences. These topics explain basic backup and restore concepts for Informix database servers and compares the ON-Bar and ontape utilities.
Recovery system
A recovery system, which includes backup and restore systems, enables you to back up your database server data and later restore it if your current data becomes corrupted or inaccessible.
Logical-log backup
A logical-log backup is a copy to disk or tape of all full logical-log files. The logical-log files store a record of database server activity that occurs between backups.

Administering
In addition to administering the database server, you can tune performance, replicate data, and archive data.
- System administration
  These topics contain concepts, procedures, and reference information for database and database server administrators to use for managing and tuning HCL Informix® database servers.
- Backup and Restore Guide
  The Informix® Backup and Restore Guide describes how to use the Informix ON-Bar and ontape utilities to back up and restore database server data. These utilities enable you to recover your databases after data is lost or becomes corrupted due to hardware or software failure or accident.
  - Overview of backup and restore
    These topics provide an overview of backup and restore concepts. They also provide information about planning for backup and restore operations.
    - Backup and restore concepts
      HCL Informix® provides two utilities for backing up and restoring database server data. Both utilities back up and restore storage spaces and logical logs. However, they support different features and it is important to know the differences. These topics explain basic backup and restore concepts for Informix database servers and compares the ON-Bar and ontape utilities.
      - Recovery system
        A recovery system, which includes backup and restore systems, enables you to back up your database server data and later restore it if your current data becomes corrupted or inaccessible.
        Backup systems
        A backup is a copy of one or more dbspaces (also called storage spaces) and logical logs that the database server maintains. You can also back up blobspaces and sbspaces.
        Backup levels
        To provide flexibility, the ON-Bar and ontape utilities support three backup levels.
        Logical-log backup
        A logical-log backup is a copy to disk or tape of all full logical-log files. The logical-log files store a record of database server activity that occurs between backups.
        Manual and continuous logical-log backups
        You can manually back up logical logs or you can enable continuous logical-log backup.
        Log salvage
        When the database server is offline, you can perform a special logical-log backup, called a log salvage. In a log salvage, the database server accesses the log files directly from disk. The log salvage backs up any logical logs that have not yet been backed up and are not corrupted or destroyed.
        Save logical-log backups
        You should perform frequent logical-log backups and then save the logical-log backups from at least the last two level-0 backups so that you can use them to complete a restore.
        Restore systems
        A restore recreates database server data from backed-up storage spaces and logical-log files.
      - Comparing ON–Bar and ontape
    - Plan for backup and restore
      These topics describe the planning for backup and restore, for example by planning your recovery strategy and backup system.
  - ON-Bar backup and restore system
  - ontape backup and restore system
  - Backup and restore a Remote Secondary Server(RSS)
  - Integrated Backup Encryption
    These topics provide information about Integrated Backup Encryption.
  - Informix® Primary Storage Manager
    The Informix® Primary Storage Manager manages storage for ON-Bar backup and restore operations, including parallel backups, that use file devices (disks).
  - archecker table level restore utility
  - Backup and restore configuration parameter reference
  - Cloud Backup
    These topics provide information about storing and retrieving the backups directly to the ecosystem of selected cloud providers, namely Amazon S3 and Softlayer Object Storage.
  - Appendixes
- Enterprise Replication
  The HCL® Informix® Enterprise Replication Guide describes the concepts of data replication using Informix Enterprise Replication, including how to design your replication system, as well as administer and manage data replication throughout your enterprise.

Logical-log backup

A logical-log backup is a copy to disk or tape of all full logical-log files. The logical-log files store a record of database server activity that occurs between backups.

To free full logical-log files, back them up. The database server reuses the freed logical-log files for recording new transactions. For a complete description of the logical log, see your Informix® Administrator's Guide.

Restriction: Even if you do not specify logging for databases or tables, you need to back up the logical logs because they contain administrative information such as checkpoint records and additions and deletions of chunks. When you back up these logical-log files, you can do warm restores even when you do not use logging for any of your databases.