Backup and Restore IBM Lotus Connections DBs Online

There are many ways to backup your DB2 environment (Offline/Online; Incremental/Delta;Transaction Log backups). I just needed a suitable way to daily backup my Lotus Connections DBs.

I decided to do an Online Backup (no downtime of DBs/Connections) to a local folder and the folder will be backuped by Symantec Backup Exec.

Following steps have to be done to Backup data:

1. Update DBs configuration to be ready for Online backups and to store only the latest backup in backup folder. Open a DB2 command window and issue following commands:
   db2 update database configuration for BLOGS using LOGARCHMETH1 LOGRETAIN AUTO_DEL_REC_OBJ ON num_db_backups 1 rec_his_retentn 0
   db2 update database configuration for DOGEAR using LOGARCHMETH1 LOGRETAIN AUTO_DEL_REC_OBJ ON num_db_backups 1 rec_his_retentn 0
   db2 update database configuration for FILES using LOGARCHMETH1 LOGRETAIN AUTO_DEL_REC_OBJ ON num_db_backups 1 rec_his_retentn 0
   db2 update database configuration for FORUM using LOGARCHMETH1 LOGRETAIN AUTO_DEL_REC_OBJ ON num_db_backups 1 rec_his_retentn 0
   db2 update database configuration for HOMEPAGE using LOGARCHMETH1 LOGRETAIN AUTO_DEL_REC_OBJ ON num_db_backups 1 rec_his_retentn 0
   db2 update database configuration for OPNACT using LOGARCHMETH1 LOGRETAIN AUTO_DEL_REC_OBJ ON num_db_backups 1 rec_his_retentn 0
   db2 update database configuration for PEOPLEDB using LOGARCHMETH1 LOGRETAIN AUTO_DEL_REC_OBJ ON num_db_backups 1 rec_his_retentn 0
   db2 update database configuration for SNCOMM using LOGARCHMETH1 LOGRETAIN AUTO_DEL_REC_OBJ ON num_db_backups 1 rec_his_retentn 0
   db2 update database configuration for WIKIS using LOGARCHMETH1 LOGRETAIN AUTO_DEL_REC_OBJ ON num_db_backups 1 rec_his_retentn 0

2. To activate these new settings you have to stop and start your db instance:
   db2stop
   db2start
   or use force flag if DB is locked
   db2stop force
   db2start

3. Now backup your DBs to a folder (i.e. Backup_Online):
   db2 backup database BLOGS to D:\Backup_Online
   db2 backup database DOGEAR to D:\Backup_Online
   db2 backup database FILES to D:\Backup_Online
   db2 backup database FORUM to D:\Backup_Online
   db2 backup database HOMEPAGE to D:\Backup_Online
   db2 backup database OPNACT to D:\Backup_Online
   db2 backup database PEOPLEDB to D:\Backup_Online
   db2 backup database SNCOMM to D:\Backup_Online
   db2 backup database WIKIS to D:\Backup_Online

4. From now on do regular compressed backups of the DBs and include log files (do not forget to backup the folder with you backup agent):
   db2 backup database BLOGS ONLINE to D:\Backup_Online COMPRESS INCLUDE LOGS
   db2 backup database DOGEAR ONLINE to D:\Backup_Online COMPRESS INCLUDE LOGS
   db2 backup database FILES ONLINE to D:\Backup_Online COMPRESS INCLUDE LOGS
   db2 backup database FORUM ONLINE to D:\Backup_Online COMPRESS INCLUDE LOGS
   db2 backup database HOMEPAGE ONLINE to D:\Backup_Online COMPRESS INCLUDE LOGS
   db2 backup database OPNACT ONLINE to D:\Backup_Online COMPRESS INCLUDE LOGS
   db2 backup database PEOPLEDB ONLINE to D:\Backup_Online COMPRESS INCLUDE LOGS
   db2 backup database SNCOMM ONLINE to D:\Backup_Online COMPRESS INCLUDE LOGS
   db2 backup database WIKIS ONLINE to D:\Backup_Online COMPRESS INCLUDE LOGS

To Restore all your Data you first have to recreate all 9 DBs with the Lotus Connections DB Wizard:

1. Run the DB wizard and recreate all 9 DBs
     
2. Run following commands inside a DB2 command window to restore the data:
   db2 restore database BLOGS from D:\Backup_Online REPLACE EXISTING
   db2 restore database DOGEAR from D:\Backup_Online REPLACE EXISTING
   db2 restore database FILES from D:\Backup_Online REPLACE EXISTING
   db2 restore database FORUM from D:\Backup_Online REPLACE EXISTING
   db2 restore database HOMEPAGE from D:\Backup_Online REPLACE EXISTING
   db2 restore database OPNACT from D:\Backup_Online REPLACE EXISTING
   db2 restore database PEOPLEDB from D:\Backup_Online REPLACE EXISTING
   db2 restore database SNCOMM from D:\Backup_Online REPLACE EXISTING
   db2 restore database WIKIS from D:\Backup_Online REPLACE EXISTING

3. Now you have to extract the archive logs from BLOGS db image. Create a temp folder D:\temp and extract archive logs into that folder:
   db2 restore database BLOGS LOGS from D:\Backup_Online LOGTARGET D:\temp
     
   
4. Now you can apply the transactions which are stored in these log files:
   db2 rollforward database BLOGS to end of logs overflow log path (D:\temp)
   
   
5. Complete the rollforward process, otherwise you will not have access to the DB:
   db2 rollforward database BLOGS complete
   
   
6. Delete all files in D:\temp
   
   
7. Repeat extracting the archive logs, apply logs and completion of rollforward process for DOGEAR:
   db2 restore database DOGEAR LOGS from D:\Backup_Online LOGTARGET D:\temp
   db2 rollforward database DOGEAR to end of logs overflow log path (D:\temp)
   db2 rollforward database DOGEAR complete

8. Delete all files in D:\temp
     
9. Repeat extracting the archive logs, apply logs and completion of rollforward process for FILES:
   db2 restore database FILES LOGS from D:\Backup_Online LOGTARGET D:\temp
   db2 rollforward database FILES to end of logs overflow log path (D:\temp)
   db2 rollforward database FILES complete

10. Delete all files in D:\temp
      
11. Repeat extracting the archive logs, apply logs and completion of rollforward process for FORUM:
    db2 restore database FORUM LOGS from D:\Backup_Online LOGTARGET D:\temp
    db2 rollforward database FORUM to end of logs overflow log path (D:\temp)
    db2 rollforward database FORUM complete

12. Delete all files in D:\temp

13. Repeat extracting the archive logs, apply logs and completion of rollforward process for HOMEPAGE:
    db2 restore database HOMEPAGE LOGS from D:\Backup_Online LOGTARGET D:\temp
    db2 rollforward database HOMEPAGE to end of logs overflow log path (D:\temp)
    db2 rollforward database HOMEPAGE complete
    
    
14. Delete all files in D:\temp
    
    
15. Repeat extracting the archive logs, apply logs and completion of rollforward process for OPNACT:
    db2 restore database OPNACT LOGS from D:\Backup_Online LOGTARGET D:\temp
    db2 rollforward database OPNACT to end of logs overflow log path (D:\temp)
    db2 rollforward database OPNACT complete
    
    
16. Delete all files in D:\temp
    
    
17. Repeat extracting the archive logs, apply logs and completion of rollforward process for PEOPLEDB:
    db2 restore database PEOPLEDB LOGS from D:\Backup_Online LOGTARGET D:\temp
    db2 rollforward database PEOPLEDB to end of logs overflow log path (D:\temp)
    db2 rollforward database PEOPLEDB complete
    
    
18. Delete all files in D:\temp
    
    
19. Repeat extracting the archive logs, apply logs and completion of rollforward process for SNCOMM:
    db2 restore database SNCOMM LOGS from D:\Backup_Online LOGTARGET D:\temp
    db2 rollforward database SNCOMM to end of logs overflow log path (D:\temp)
    db2 rollforward database SNCOMM complete
    
    
20. Delete all files in D:\temp
    
    
21. Repeat extracting the archive logs, apply logs and completion of rollforward process for WIKIS:
    db2 restore database WIKIS LOGS from D:\Backup_Online LOGTARGET D:\temp
    db2 rollforward database WIKIS to end of logs overflow log path (D:\temp)
    db2 rollforward database WIKIS complete
    

That’s it, now you can work with your restored data again. Happy Social Business.