Managing Online Backups

Online backup is one of the backup strategies that you can implement. For information about the supported strategies and the best practices for using them, see Backup Strategies.

You can manage online backups from both the Management Portal and the InterSystems ^BACKUP utility. This section focuses on the portal procedures and, where applicable, points to the section that describes the utility procedure.

You can run database backup tasks and view backup history from the System Operation > Backup page of the Management Portal. If you schedule additional backup tasks using the Task Manager, you can manage those from the System Operation > Task Manager > Task Schedule page of the Management Portal.

You can perform the following backup tasks from the System Management portal:

When you add a new database to your system, you must perform a full backup. You cannot perform an incremental backup until a full backup exists. If you intend to use the incremental and cumulative backup options, you must maintain the backup database list and run a full backup on that list.

After installation, InterSystems recommends that you perform a FullDBList backup to establish a complete backup for subsequent use by the other backup tasks.

Note:

These backup tasks are in the operations portion of the Management Portal application; you must have the appropriate operator-level security to run the backup tasks.

Run Backup Tasks

There are four types of backup tasks you can run from the Management Portal Backup menu options (System Operation > Backup), each having its own menu item:

Run Full Backup of All Databases
Run Full Backup of the Backup Database List
Run Incremental Backup of the Backup Database List
Run Cumulative Backup of the Backup Database List

You must have performed a full backup on a database before performing an incremental or cumulative backup on that database. Use the following procedure to run an online backup:

Click the menu item of the appropriate backup type.
Verify that the settings in the Run Backup Task box are correct.
If the backup options are correct, click OK to start the backup.
Otherwise, follow the procedures in Configuring Online Backup Settings to update them.
While the backup is running, you can view the status of the running backup by clicking the text next to Backup started. See View Backup Status for details.

You can also run the last three of these backup tasks by choosing option 1) Backup from the ^BACKUP utility or running the ^DBACK utility. See Back Up Databases Using ^DBACK for details.

Multivolume Backups

A backup may require multiple disk files. Currently, there is no way to perform a multivolume backup using the Management Portal. If you require a multivolume backup, use the ^BACKUP utility. If a disk-full condition occurs, ^BACKUP prompts you for the name of another disk file on another disk.

In the event of an error during backup, you cannot restart the backup on a second or subsequent volume. You must restart the backup from the beginning.

See Estimate Backup Size Using ^DBSIZE for instructions on estimating the size of your backup before you run these tasks.

View Backup Status

Click View Backup Status from the System Operation > Backup page or click View on the running backup process to monitor the progress of the backup operation. The same information is recorded in the log file for that backup operation, which you can later view from the View Backup History page.

Starting a backup updates the Time and Status columns of the listing. The Time column records the date and time you initiate the backup, not when it completes. The Status column is updated to Running.

Completing a backup again updates the Status column to indicate the final status of the backup. For example:

Completed indicates the backup successfully completed.
Failed indicates the backup could not be performed or was aborted by the operator.
Warning indicates problems occurred during the backup, but it completed.

The associated backup log contains helpful information; click View next to the task to view the backup log.

Abort a Running Backup describes an additional option that appears for a backup that is running.

Abort a Running Backup

There are three ways for you to abort a running backup:

Navigate to the View Backup Status page, click Abort next to the running task and then click OK to verify your request to abort the backup.
Call the methods of the Backup.GeneralOpens in a new tab class; see the Backup.General.GetAbortStatus()Opens in a new tab, Backup.General.ClearAbortStatus()Opens in a new tab, and Backup.General.AbortBackup()Opens in a new tab method descriptions for details.
Choose the abort option in the ^BACKUP routine; see Abort a Running Backup Using ^BACKUP for details.

View Backup History

Every backup operation creates a separate backup log file. The logs follow the naming convention described in Backup File Names.

From the portal you can view a list of system backup logs from completed backup tasks:

Navigate to the System Operation > Backup page of the Management Portal.
Click View Backup History in the right-hand column to display the Backup History page, which lists information about the completed backups.
To view the results of a particular backup, click View in the right-hand column of the appropriate row. You can view the contents of a backup log file and search for a string within that file.

Backup Errors

If a backup encounters any I/O errors, the backup aborts and logs a system error in the backup log file. Information in these log files allows you to quickly see where the problem occurred so that you can fix it.

One cause of backup failure is trying to perform a backup on a dismounted database. In the event of an error during backup, the backup utility allows you to retry the device on which the error occurred. Alternatively, you can abort the backup.

Online Backup Utilities

Configuring Online Backup Settings