Provided by: db5.3-util_5.3.28+dfsg1-0.8ubuntu3_amd64 bug

NAME

       db5.3_hotbackup - Create "hot backup" or "hot failover" snapshots

SYNOPSIS

       db5.3_hotbackup  [-cDuVv]  [-d  data_dir  ...]  [-h  home]  [-l  log_dir] [-P password] -b
       backup_dir

DESCRIPTION

       The db5.3_hotbackup utility creates "hot backup" or "hot failover" snapshots  of  Berkeley
       DB database environments.

       The db5.3_hotbackup utility performs the following steps:

              1.     If  the  -c  option  is  specified,  checkpoint  the  source  home  database
                     environment, and remove any unnecessary log files.

              2.     If the target directory for the backup does not exist, it  is  created  with
                     mode read-write-execute for the owner.

                     If  the  target  directory  for  the backup does exist and the -u option was
                     specified, all log files in the target directory  are  removed;  if  the  -u
                     option was not specified, all files in the target directory are removed.

              3.     If the -u option was not specified, copy application-specific files found in
                     the database environment home directory, or any  directory  specified  using
                     the -d option, into the target directory for the backup.

              4.     Copy  all log files found in the directory specified by the -l option (or in
                     the database environment home directory, if no  -l  option  was  specified),
                     into the target directory for the backup.

              5.     Perform catastrophic recovery on the hot backup.

              6.     Remove any unnecessary log files from the hot backup.

       The db5.3_hotbackup utility does not resolve pending transactions that are in the prepared
       state. Applications that use DB_TXN->prepare should specify DB_RECOVER_FATAL when  opening
       the  environment,  and  run  DB_ENV->txn_recover to resolve any pending transactions, when
       failing over to the hot backup.

OPTIONS

       -b     Specify the target directory for the backup.

       -c     Before performing the snapshot, checkpoint  the  source  database  environment  and
              remove  any  log  files  that are no longer required in that environment.  To avoid
              making catastrophic failure impossible, log file removal must  be  integrated  with
              log file archival.

       -d     Specify  one  or  more  source  directories  that  contain  databases;  if  none is
              specified, the database environment home directory will be  searched  for  database
              files.   As  database  files are copied into a single backup directory, files named
              the same, stored in different source directories, could overwrite each  other  when
              copied into the backup directory.

       -h     Specify the source directory for the backup, that is, the database environment home
              directory.

       -l     Specify a source directory that contains log  files;  if  none  is  specified,  the
              database environment home directory will be searched for log files.

       -P     Specify an environment password.  Although Berkeley DB utilities overwrite password
              strings as soon as possible, be aware there may be a  window  of  vulnerability  on
              systems  where unprivileged users can see command-line arguments or where utilities
              are not able to overwrite the memory containing the command-line arguments.

       -u     Update a pre-existing hot backup snapshot by copying in new log files.  If  the  -u
              option is specified, no databases will be copied into the target directory.

       -V     Write the library version number to the standard output, and exit.

       -v     Run in verbose mode, listing operations as they are done.

       -D     Use  the  data directories listed in the DB_CONFIG configuration file in the source
              directory.   This option has three effects: First, if they do  not  already  exist,
              the  specified  data  directories  will be created relative to the target directory
              (with mode  read-write-execute  owner).  Second,  all  files  in  the  source  data
              directories  will  be copied to the target data directories.  If the DB_CONFIG file
              specifies one or more absolute pathnames, files in those source directories will be
              copied  to  the top-level target directory. Third, the DB_CONFIG configuration file
              will be copied from the +source directory to the target directory, and subsequently
              used for configuration if recovery is run in the target directory.

       Care  should  be taken with the -D option and data directories which are named relative to
       the source directory but are not subdirectories (that is, the name  includes  the  element
       "..")   Specifically,  the  constructed  target  directory  names  must  be meaningful and
       distinct from the source  directory  names,  otherwise  running  recovery  in  the  target
       directory might corrupt the source data files.

       It is an error to use absolute pathnames for data directories or the log directory in this
       mode, as the DB_CONFIG configuration file copied into  the  target  directory  would  then
       point at the source directories and running recovery would corrupt the source data files.

       The  db5.3_hotbackup  utility  uses  a  Berkeley  DB  environment (as described for the -h
       option, the environment variable DB_HOME, or because the utility was run  in  a  directory
       containing  a  Berkeley  DB  environment).   In order to avoid environment corruption when
       using a Berkeley DB environment, db5.3_hotbackup should always  be  given  the  chance  to
       detach  from the environment and exit gracefully.  To cause db5.3_hotbackup to release all
       environment resources and exit cleanly, send it an interrupt signal (SIGINT).

       The db5.3_hotbackup utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

ENVIRONMENT

       DB_HOME
              If the -h option is not specified and the environment variable DB_HOME is  set,  it
              is used as the path of the database home, as described in DB_ENV->open.

AUTHORS

       Oracle  Corporation.  This  manual  page  was  created based on the HTML documentation for
       db_hotbackup from Sleepycat, by Thijs  Kinkhorst  <thijs@kinkhorst.com>,  for  the  Debian
       system (but may be used by others).

                                         28 January 2005                       DB5.3_HOTBACKUP(1)