You can send a backup database over the network to any host running a solidDB server. A server playing the role of the backup receiver is called a NetBackup server. By default, any solidDB server can act as the NetBackup server and one NetBackup server can serve multiple simultaneous backup source servers.
Similarly to local backup, the files are written into a directory in the NetBackup server. If the target netbackup directory includes files with the same names, they are overwritten. Unlike the local backup, if the specified remote directory does not exist, it is created automatically.
A NetBackup server requires the administrator privileges from the caller of netbackup . Less privileged users can perform netbackup by using stored procedures that are created by an administrator. In that case, the user must be granted the right to execute the procedure.
Netbackup can be performed between different server versions if they are netbackup compatible. By principle, a newer version of the NetBackup server can serve older versions of source servers. In other cases, the protocol version is checked and an incompatibility error is returned at the request for a netbackup. By principle, a newer version of the NetBackup server can serve as a target server for an older version of source server.
The target netbackup directory must be specified as a relative path. By default, the path is appended to the working directory of the NetBackup server but the path can be appended to a different directory by specifying the required directory in the Srv.NetBackupRootDir parameter on the NetBackup server, see Srv section.
You can specify the default target directory for the netbackup by using the General.NetBackupDirectory parameter (on the source server), see General section, or supply the target netbackup directory as an argument of the command.
Any options entered in ADMIN COMMAND override the corresponding parameter settings in the solid.ini file.
Start a network backup by using the ADMIN COMMAND 'netbackup' command, see NETBACKUP. For example:
If two databases are copied to the same directory, the earlier database copy is overwritten by the latter.
Notes
▪ The command ADMIN COMMAND 'netbackup' is not supported within the Srv.At configuration parameter.
▪ The command ADMIN COMMAND 'status netbackup' is synonymous to ADMIN COMMAND 'status backup'; it reports on both local and network backups.
▪ The command ADMIN COMMAND 'netbackuplist' is synonymous to ADMIN COMMAND 'backuplist'; it reports on both local and network backups.
Flat and deep NetBackup directory structures
The NetBackup server treats all the database files sent to it as one logical database even though the source database can consist of multiple files that are stored in different directories and on different permanent storage devices. By default, netbackup copies all the files of the source database to a single directory, that is, the specified netbackup directory.
It is, however, possible to explicitly specify the directories, names, and sizes of the backup files stored into the file system of the NetBackup server. The directories, names, and file sizes are specified in a backup.ini configuration file in the netbackup directory. The backup.ini file follows the syntax of [IndexFile] section in solid.ini configuration file. Therefore, in addition to the section name, the backup.ini file can include multiple specifications for file names and sizes. Formally the syntax is as follows:
[IndexFile] FileSpec_[1...N]=[path/]file name [maximum file size]
A NetBackup server with a backup.ini file receives the incoming database and stores the parts as files as specified in the backup.ini file.
To retain the directory structure of the source server, copy and rename the source server solid.ini file to backup.ini and move it to the netbackup directory on the NetBackup server. The NetBackup server reads only the IndexFile.FileSpec_[1...N] specifications, creates similar directory structure, and stores backup files with their original properties.