DB2 Agent Restore Frequently Asked Questions

Can we perform out-of-place restores of databases created in another directory?

If you defined your own directory for the database instead of using the DB2 default location when you created the database, you cannot restore this database to either a new database or another instance in the conventional manner.

Can we perform out-of-place restores of databases with non-default parameter values?

If the DBHEAP, UTIL_HEAP, and/or APP_CTL_HEAP_SZ configuration parameters for the (source) database that you want to restore contain a value other than the default value, you cannot restore this database to either a new database or another instance in the conventional manner.

How do I prevent a command line restore from taking place during an online backup?

In DB2 9.7 and later, by default, a full online DB2 database backup includes the transaction log files to ensure that there is a consistent backup image. DB2 includes all the required logs in the backup image when the transaction spreads across many log files, even when a log file backup exists. If the backed up log files are deleted, DB2 will submit a log restore request to the DB2 Agent.

There are three parameters that you use to control the log files actions:

Note: If you set both the max_log parameter and num_log_span parameter to 0, DB2 uses unlimited log space.

The LOGPRIMARY parameter sets the storage amount that the software allocates for log files. Make sure that all uncommitted transactions are logged in the LOGPRIMARY number of log files. This prevents the DB2 application from sending a log file retrieval request for the archived files.
The max_log parameter limits the percentage of log space that one transaction can use. Set this to 0 to have no limit of one transaction. To limit the space, set the value to the percentage that you want the limit to be.
The num_log_span parameter limits the number of log files that one transaction spans. Set this to 0 to have no limit of one transaction. To limit the number of files, set this parameter to the number of files.

Can we restore a job that had started automatically and on waiting mode for available resource if that resource is used by data restore?

when you try to restore a database after updating the archive logs with new changes in a database, the new restore job automatically starts and hangs displaying the status as waiting with the following error:

The media is already reserved by some other jobs.

Since the main restore job is not yet completed, the current restore job will wait for the main restore job to complete.

You can restore the current job by configuring the bDisableRestoreCaching registry key's dword value as 1 on CommServe under the Resource Manager.

Can I restore an IntelliSnap backup image on a disk using CommCell Console?

No. Currently, you cannot restore an IntelliSnap backup image on a disk using CommCell Console. You can only restore a regular backup image to a location on a disk.

Do I need to delete the online logs when performing a point-in-time restore?

Yes, before performing a point-in-time restore, you must delete the online logs or the restore will fail.

Can we run a restore operation for DB2 encrypted databases?

Yes, you can run a restore operation for DB2 encrypted databases.

Consider the following conditions before running a restore operation:

An in-place restore operation works fine if you change the database name.
An in-place restore operation goes to pending state if you do not change the database name. To resolve this issue, kill the current job, drop the existing database, and then resubmit the restore operation.
An out-of-place restore operation goes to pending state. To resolve this issue, prepare the destination instance for the restore, drop the target database, kill the current job, and then resubmit the restore operation.

Can I restore a DB2 partition table?

Yes. You can restore a partition table for DB2 database.

Before you perform the restore operation, consider the following:

An in-place restore operation will restore the partition table to a single default tablespace. If the original tablespaces with partition table are dropped, you must re-create the same tablespaces before performing the restore operation.
When tablespaces exist on the target database, an out-of-place restore operation will restore the partition table to the same tablespaces.
When tablespaces do not exist on the target database, an out-of-place restore operation will restore the partition table to a single default tablespace.

Why I do not see all the options in the restore dialog box for DB2?

Note the following behavior for options in the DB2 Restore Options dialog box.

If the backupset has a combination of auto and non-auto storage tablespaces, the Storage Paths tab and the Redirect tab appears. The Storage Paths tab displays all options after a GUI backup, but grayed out if there are third-party command line backups.
If the backupset (database) is a non-auto storage database, the Redirect tab appears.
To verify whether the database is a non-auto storage, run the following command to list the databases that are using an automatic storage:
```
db2 get snapshot for tablespaces on <db_name>
```
Specify:
- No, for non-auto
- Yes, for auto
For command line backup jobs, you must try redirect restores using the DB2 command line.

How is the number of streams used for a DB2 snapshot, backup copy, or auxiliary copy restore determined?

Snapshot restores of the database may run with fewer streams than the number of streams you choose. This is because the number of streams for a snapshot restore is determined by the number of files to be restored. The snapshot restore procedure makes the best effort to increase the number of streams used for the restore and to therefore reduce the restore time. However, it is limited by the number of files to be restored. A restore of a log file snapshot is limited to one stream, since log files are relatively small.

The number of streams used for a restore from a backup copy or auxiliary copy is the lesser of the following criteria:

The number of streams used to make the backup copy or auxiliary copy
The number of streams you specify in the GUI used to start the restore