Backup and recovery of integrated linked databases

• US 8,112,396 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2006
• Issued: 02/07/2012
• 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: Zak, Dorota, Zajac, Suavek
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Wilson
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le, Jessica N
• Application Number:
  US11/448,524
• Publication Number:
  US 20070288534A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,071 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/640
• 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 including a Lotus Notes/Domino loosely structured database and a linked DB2 relational database that stores data mapped from the Domino database. The method includes 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 computer-implemented method of automatic backup and recovery of an integrated database system comprising first and second linked databases having different first and second database structures that store data of the first database in the second database as same data, a link file indicating the same data stored in the first database that was stored in the second database, and a catalog mapping information identifying where the same data stored in the first database is stored in the second database, the method comprising:

identifying a selected set of data stored in the first database in said first database structure to be backed up;

confirming from said link file that said selected set of data stored in said first database in said first database structure is also stored in the second database in said second database structure;

determining from the catalog mapping information to storage locations of said selected set of data in the second database;

automatically backing up to backup media said selected set of data from said first database and from said second database at the same time, and automatically backing up said link file and said catalog;

upon initiation of a recovery to restore said selected set of data, restoring the selected set of data from the backup media to said first and second databases in said first and second database structures, respectively; and

updating said catalog with storage locations of the restored set of data, 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.

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, and wherein said backing up comprises automatically backing up both of said databases.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said backing up comprises executing application programs to perform a first backup process to back up said selected set of data from said first database and to perform a second backup process to backup said selected set data 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 data corresponding to data in one or more first databases, 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 stored in the tablespaces indicated on said list of tablespaces.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said second backup process communicates 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 program, and wherein said first backup process communicates with said second backup process using said first application program to manage backup of the second database.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein said restoring comprises restoring said selected set of data to said second database to different tablespaces, and updating the mapping of the restored set of data between said first and said second databases.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said restoring comprises copying at least part of the data restored into said tablespaces to said first database.

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

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said catalog is located in said second database, and wherein the method further comprises updating said catalog upon said restoring said selected set of data.

13. A system for the automatic backup and recovery of an integrated database that comprises first and second linked databases having different first and second database structures that store data of the first database in the second database as same data, a link file identifying the same data that was stored in the second database, and a catalog mapping information indicating where the same data stored in the first database is stored in the second database, comprising first and second client application programs which are executable by a processor on one or more host computers associated with the first and second databases, and a server application program running on a backup server, said first client application program comprising a plurality of processes that, upon initiation, control said one or more host computers to

identify a selected set of data stored in the first database in the first database structure to be backed up;

confirm from said link file that said selected set of data stored in said first database in said first database structure is also stored in the second database in said second database structure as said same data;

determine from the catalog mapping information to storage locations of said selected set of data in the second database; and

automatically back up to backup media the selected set of data in said first and second databases at the same time, and to automatically backup said link file and said catalog, and wherein said second client application program comprises other processes responsive to said first client application program processes that control said one or more host computers to automatically restore said selected set of data to said first and second databases in said first and second database structures, respectively, from said backup media, and to update the catalog with storage locations of the restored set of data, wherein said back up comprises backing up of logs of said second database, and wherein said restore comprises employing said logs to update the restored second database data in order to make said second database consistent.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said plurality of processes communicate with said databases to initiate backup of said databases via application program interfaces.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein said processes comprise a scheduler on said first client application program for initiating backup at a predetermined scheduled time.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein said plurality of other processes of said second client application program further comprise a process that upon initiation automatically copies said selected set of data from the backup media to said first and second databases.

17. Computer readable non-transitory storage media storing instructions executable by a computer system for performing a method of backup and recovery of an integrated database system comprising first and second linked databases having different first and second database structures that store data of the first database in the second database as same data, a link file indicating the same data that was stored in the second database, and a catalog having mapping information identifying where the same data stored in the first database is stored in the second database, the method comprising

identifying a selected set of data stored in the first database in the first database structure to be backed up;

automatically confirming from said link file that said selected set of data stored in the first database is also stored in the second database in said second database structure;

automatically determining from the catalog mapping information to storage locations of said selected set of data in the second database;

automatically backing up to backup media said selected set of data from said first and second databases at the same time, and automatically backing up said link file, and said catalog; and

upon initiation of a recovery to restore data, restoring the selected set of data from the backup media to said databases in said first and second database structures, respectively, and updating said catalog with storage locations of the restored set of data, 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.

18. The computer readable non-transitory storage media of claim 17, 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 with database managers of said first and second databases to copy said selected set of data of said databases to backup media, and, upon initiation of a recovery, automatically to restore said selected set of data to said databases from said backup media.

19. The computer readable non-transitory storage media of claim 18, wherein said selected set of data is stored in one or more tables in a tablespace of the second database, said processes backing up said selected set of data using said link file to copy said tablespace to backup media, and restoring said data by coping said tablespace from said backup media to a different tablespace in said second database, and updating said catalog to identify said different tablespace.