Restore Operations for DB2 Databases

As part of your overall data protection planning, plan restore operations for your DB2 database.

For more information about planning your restore operations, see Restore Backup Data.

Restore Objectives

Your objective for restoring data determines the process that you must follow and the restore destination.

Disaster recovery

Plan your full system recovery in advance.

Restore data from a range of time

You can browse and restore data data that is from a range of time. Typically, you restore this data to an out-of-place destination

Restore to a point in time

If your database becomes corrupted or otherwise invalid, you can restore the database to a point in time before the database became unusable. Typically, you restore this data to an in-place destination.

Restore Destinations

The destination where you restore your data is determined by your restore objective. Generally, you perform an in-place or an out-of-place restore.

In-place restore

When you restore a database in place, you restore it to the same path on the same client from which the database was backed up.

Out-of-place restore

When you restore a database out of place, you can restore it to any one of the following destinations:

• A different client from which the database was backed up

• A different path on the same client from which the database was backed up

• A different database on the same client from which the database was backed up

• A different instance on the same client from which the database was backed up

Database Clones

You can use the clone feature to perform the following tasks:

• Duplicate large databases in a short amount of time

• Create test environments

• Retrieve data quickly without intensive resource use on the production environment

• Alleviate the load on production servers

Transaction Log Files

Choose whether to play the transaction log files during the restore operation.

Service Pack 12 Restore Changes

Beginning in Service Pack 12, the following default restore options have changed.

The software restores from the latest backup image by default (DB2 Restore Options dialog box, Restore Arguments tab, Auto Pick Backup Images).

The software does not recover the database by default (DB2 Restore Options dialog box, Recover Database tab, Recover DB check box).

The software does not restore the logs by default (Advanced Restore Options dialog box, Log File tab, Restore Log Files check box).