Backup and recovery of integrated linked databases

• US 20070288534A1
• Filed: 06/07/2006
• Published: 12/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Zajac, Suavek, Zak, Dorota
• Granted Patent: US 8,112,396 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/80 Database-specific techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

A programmatic method for automatically backing up and restoring an integrated database system comprising a Lotus Notes/Domino loosely structured database and a linked DB2 relational database that stores data mapped from the Domino database. The method comprises integrated first and second client application programs running on server hosts for backup and recovery of the Domino and DB2 databases that communicate with the database managers for the databases using client application APIs. Backup and recovery of the integrated linked databases is controlled by the client application associated with the Domino database.

Claims

1. A method of automatic backup and recovery of an integrated database system comprising first and second linked databases having different database structures, certain data from the first database having been mapped to the second database, a link file indicating the data that was mapped, and a catalog file having mapping information between the link file and said mapped data in the second database, the method comprising:

automatically backing up to backup media and at a predetermined time a predetermined group of data files, said link file and said catalog files, wherein said predetermined group of data files includes said data mapped from the first database to the second database; and

upon initiation of a recovery to restore lost data, restoring the lost data files from the backup media to said databases; and

updating said link file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said first database is a document-centric, schema-less database, and said second database is a relational database.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said first database comprises a Domino database, and said second database comprises a DB2 database.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said backing up comprises executing application computer programs to perform a first backup process to back up data files from said first database and to perform a second backup process to backup data files from said second database.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said application programs comprise first and second application programs that are executed on one or more server host computers for said first and second databases.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said second database comprises a plurality of tablespaces, each containing a plurality of data files, and wherein said second backup process comprises generating a list of tablespaces of said second database to backup using said link file, and backing up data files stored in the tablespaces indicated on said list.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said second backup process communicates using API calls with a database manager of said second database to backup data from said second database.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein said backing up of said first and second databases is controlled by said first application, and wherein said first backup process communicates with said second backup process using an API of said first application to manage backup of the second database.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein said restoring comprises restoring said data files of said second database to alternative tablespaces.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said backing up comprises backing of logs of said second database, and wherein said restoring comprises employing said logs to update the restored second database data in order to make said second database consistent.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said restoring comprises copying at least of part of the data mapped from said first database and restored into said alternative tablespaces to said first database.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said updating said link file comprises updating the link file in a data directory of a host computer of a server of the first database.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said catalog file is located in said second database, and wherein the method further comprises backing up the catalog file to backup media, and updating said catalog upon restoring lost data.

14. A system for the automatic backup and recovery of an integrated database that comprises first and second linked databases having different database structures, certain data of the first database having been mapped to the second database, a link file identifying the data that was mapped to the second database, and a catalog file having mapping information between the link file and the second database, comprising first and second client application programs associated with the first and second databases, respectively, and a server application program running on a backup server, said first application program comprising a plurality of processes for initiating backup of selected data files of said second database and selected data in said first database, and wherein said second client application program comprises other processes responsive to said first client application program processes for copying said plurality of selected data files to backup media.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein said plurality of processes communicate with said databases to initiate backup via APIs of said databases.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein said processes comprise a scheduler on said first client application program for initiating backup at a predetermined scheduled time.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein said plurality of processes of said first client application program further comprise a process for initiating data restore by copying data from the backup media to restore said data to said first and second databases.

18. Computer readable media having instructions executable by a computer system for performing a method of back up and recovery of an integrated database system comprising first and second linked databases having different database structures, certain data from the first database having been mapped to the second database, a link file indicating the data that was mapped, and a catalog file having mapping information between the link file and said data mapped in the second database, the method comprising automatically backing up to backup media and at a predetermined time predetermined data, said link file, and said catalog file, wherein said predetermined data includes said data mapped from the first database to the second database, and, upon initiation of a recovery to restore lost data, restoring the lost data files from the backup media to said databases and updating said link file.

19. The computer readable media of claim 18, wherein said instructions comprise application programs executable on one or more server hosts of said first and second databases, said application programs comprising processes that communicate via application program APIs with database managers of said first and databases automatically to copy selected data of said databases to backup media, and, upon initiation of a recovery, automatically to restore lost data to said databases from said backup media.

20. The computer readable media of claim 19, wherein said certain data mapped to the second database is mapped into one or more tables in a tablespace of the second database, said application processes backing up said certain data using said link file to copy said tablespace to backup media, and restoring lost data by coping said tablespace data to an alternative tablespace in said second database, and updating said link file.