Both local and network backups create a self-contained and self-consistent image of a solidDB database by copying necessary files to the backup directory.
Every backup makes a checkpoint as its first action. This guarantees that the possible restore starts with as fresh a backup as possible. This way, the slower roll-forward portion of the restore is minimized. The following files are then copied by default to the specified backup directory:
▪ Database files that contain the checkpointed database itself
▪ Log files that include changes made by those transactions that are active when the backup takes place
▪ solmsg.out database message file (provided for convenience in diagnosing problems — the message file is not required during a restore)
▪ solid.ini configuration file (not required during the restore but copied by default because, after a disk crash, the original might be destroyed)
The solid.lic license file is not automatically copied.
Note The name of the database files and their maximum sizes are specified in the FileSpec[1...N] parameters in the [IndexFile] section of the solid.ini configuration file. The name and location of log files is specified in the [Logging] section of the configuration file.
The log files are typically deleted from the source server after they have been copied to the backup directory as they are no longer needed. The deletion is part of the default backup procedure, also referred to as full backup.
However, it is possible to retain all the log files produced by the update transactions in the database server directory. Keeping all the log files is space‑consuming but allows you to bring the database up-to-date just by re‑executing all the updates that are recorded in the log files. This backup type is called copy backup.
Note If you want to use copy backups, that is, retain the full log file history, you must also ensure that the log files are not deleted at the end of checkpoint. To prevent deletion of log files, set the General.CheckpointDeleteLog parameter to no.