This article attempts to look into the backup options in using Progress RDBMS.
Progress RDBMS provides its own backup utility called “probkup”. There are companies that thinks that this backup utility is not very useful since it cannot be integrated into third party backup tools. I shall spend some effort to expand on the pros and cons of each under the Progress RDBMS environment.
Using OS Backup (pros and cons):
1. Can integrate into third party system management tools and use some of the powerfull features of the tools.
2. Become part of the overall Disaster Recovery solution that is 100% automated.
3. Does not depend on the Progress version used to backup. (In any case, there is still a need to use older version to access older version of Progress DB.) But to get the files back is much faster.
4. Speed of backup. Some tools provides accelerated copying by exploiting the OS native functions.
5. Cannot use Incremental Backup feature in Progress RDBMS tools.
6. No marking of backup. Needs special attentions in handling database changes (added extents, harddrive, relocationg of files etc) and AI, BI files.
7. Can’t integrated with Fathom Management.
8. Must reconstruct original DB Structure. Cannot restore into a different structure.
Using Progress “probkup”:
1. Native to Progress RDBMS, marks backup dates etc.
2. Databse structure changes is transparent. No worries about adding extents, changing structure, adding harddrive etc.
3. Tools / Options available to manage AI files, BI files easily.
4. Can tap on Fathom Management.
5. Restoring into different DB Structure is supported.
6. Lack of third party tools support and can be a pain in planning automatic Disaster Recovery Architecture. (Need to use Fathom – additional cost.)
Overall, I would still strongly recommend using “probkup” for most of the operations since it is still the most convenient way of doing backup. With the help of some OS Scripts, the backup process still can be automated and run smoothly in almost all operations.
