Database Backup and Recovery from Catastrophic Failures
So far, all the techniques we have discussed apply to noncatastrophic
failures. A key assumption has been that the system log is maintained on the
disk and is not lost as a result of the failure. Similarly, the shadow
directory must be stored on disk to allow recovery when shadow paging is used.
The recovery techniques we have dis-cussed use the entries in the system log or
the shadow directory to recover from fail-ure by bringing the database back to
a consistent state.
The recovery manager of a DBMS must also be equipped to handle more
catastrophic failures such as disk crashes. The main technique used to handle
such crashes is a database backup,
in which the whole database and the log are periodically copied onto a cheap
storage medium such as magnetic tapes or other large capacity offline storage
devices. In case of a catastrophic system failure, the latest backup copy can
be reloaded from the tape to the disk, and the system can be restarted.
Data from critical applications such as banking, insurance, stock
market, and other databases is periodically backed up in its entirety and moved
to physically separate safe locations. Subterranean storage vaults have been
used to protect such data from flood, storm, earthquake, or fire damage. Events
like the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York (in 2001) and the Katrina hurricane
disaster in New Orleans (in 2005) have created a greater awareness of disaster recovery of business-critical
databases.
To avoid losing all the effects of transactions that have been executed
since the last backup, it is customary to back up the system log at more
frequent intervals than full database backup by periodically copying it to
magnetic tape. The system log is usually substantially smaller than the
database itself and hence can be backed up more frequently. Therefore, users do
not lose all transactions they have performed since the last database backup.
All committed transactions recorded in the portion of the system log that has
been backed up to tape can have their effect on the data-base redone. A new log
is started after each database backup. Hence, to recover from disk failure, the
database is first recreated on disk from its latest backup copy on tape.
Following that, the effects of all the committed transactions whose operations
have been recorded in the backed-up copies of the system log are reconstructed.
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