Managing Operations › BES Database Backup and Recovery Considerations

BES Database Backup and Recovery Considerations

When you back up the BES mirror database, consider the following points:

• The BES primary database and BES mirror database are VSAM linear datasets. These databases are updated automatically with new key generations weekly, monthly, or yearly on Mondays at 6:00 a.m. as specified by the value of the Regenerate attribute in parmlib.

  Note: For information about this attribute, see the chapter “Defining System Options in Parmlib.”

  Statistics and other temporary information is generated and automatically stored in the databases but that information is not crucial or required to read encrypted tapes.

  Important! The data to recover a BES primary database must come from the BES mirror database.

• You should back up the BES mirror database on a regular basis, preferably to a tape medium. You can use either IDCAMS REPRO or the backup utility of your choice.

  Note: If you back up your BES mirror database with a backup program other than IDCAMS, be sure to set up the backup program to permit “backup while open” processing.

• You should not encrypt the backups. This lets you recover the BES databases when BES is not operational. Because the primary and mirror databases are already encrypted, your data will not be exposed.
• You should not back up your BES primary database. A backup of the BES primary database is not reliable if the BES started task is running because it can be incomplete. You do not need to back up the BES primary database for recovery.
• You should consider the BES mirror database to be part of the essential system recovery backup requirements at your disaster recovery site.
• The BES primary database is backed up in real time to the mirror database (also sometimes referred to as the backup database) during normal processing. This lets you recover the primary database from the mirror database in the event of loss of the primary database.
• Before attempting any recovery you must stop the BES started task in every LPAR that shares the databases being recovered.
• If you are using your security system to control tape encryption processing rather than DFSMS, ensure that the security protection profiles defined to your security system are the same on your primary and backup systems.