Setting Up Your Storage Manager and Storage Devices

If you use ON-Bar as your backup tool, you must set up a storage manager and storage devices before you can back up and restore data. For information on ON-Bar and related configuration parameters, see the IBM Informix: Backup and Restore Guide.

ON-Bar is packaged with IBM Informix Storage Manager (ISM). The storage manager is an application that manages the storage devices and media that contain backups. The storage manager handles all media labeling, mount requests, and storage volumes. ISM can back up data to as many as four storage devices at a time. ISM stores data on simple tape drives, optical disk devices, and file systems. However, you can purchase a third-party storage manager if you want to use more sophisticated storage devices, backups to more than four storage devices at a time, or backups over a network.

When you plan your storage-space and logical-log backup schedule, make sure that the storage devices and backup operators are available to perform backups. For information about managing backup devices and media, refer to the IBM Informix: Storage Manager Administrator's Guide or to your third-party storage-manager documentation.