Backing Up Item Libraries

To guard against the possibility of hardware failure that may result in the RDBMS database or Dimensions libraries becoming unusable, it is vital that back ups take place on a regular basis. The information stored under Dimensions that should regularly be backed up comprises:

- Information stored within base databases.

- Product items stored within the Dimensions item libraries. The item libraries are operating system directories.

To preserve consistency between the database and the item libraries after recovery, it is necessary to take backups of both of these simultaneously: that is, export or back up all database files and their associated product item libraries at the same time. This ensures physical synchronization among all the components, representing a valid snapshot of the Dimensions data at a specific point in time.

To determine the nodes and directory names for each of the item libraries:

1. List the base database names with Dimensions LSDB.

2. Connect to the first base database <basedb> with the appropriate DSN connect string <connect_string> by typing

dmdba <basedb>@<connect_string>

For details about the dmdba command-line interface and running the Dimensions DBA tools, see the Administration Guide.

3. Execute the following SQL commands with respect to the connected base database <basedb>

BASEDB> spool "<listing.out>"

BASEDB> select distinct node_name, library from obj_types where type_flag =

BASEDB> exit

Replace listing.out with your own filename in which to store the information displayed to the screen.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for all the remaining base databases.