Creating a snapshot

After having created and validated a snapplan, you can create a snapshot of your database. You can use the snapshot as a database backup or as a test database to perform operations without affecting your production database.

Prerequisites

  • Before you can create a snapshot, a snapshot mirror of a volume must exist.

  • You must have a validated snapplan before creating a snapshot image.

  • You must be logged in as the DB2 database administrator.

Usage notes

  • See the db2ed_vmsnap(1M) manual page for more information.

  • If you are creating an offhost snapshot, perform these steps on the secondary host.

To create a snapshot

  1. Access the Create Snapshot wizard.

    See Accessing FlashSnap tasks in the Java GUI.

    See Accessing database tasks in the Web GUI.

  2. Verify the snapplan location. (This is a read-only field.)

  3. If you need to force the snapshot creation, click the Force snapshot creation checkbox.

    Force snapshot creation can be used after a snapshot operation has failed and the problem was fixed without using Veritas Storage Foundation for DB2 commands. (That is, the volumes were synchronized without using Veritas Storage Foundation for DB2 commands.)

    In this situation, the status of the snapplan will appear as unavailable for creating a snapshot. The Force snapshot creation option ignores the unavailable status, checks for the availability of volumes, and creates the snapshot after the volumes pass the availability check.

  4. Click Finish to continue.

  5. If the snapshot creation was successful, you will receive a confirmation message.

    Click the Show details checkbox to view the actions taken. You should see information similar to the following:

    db2ed_vmsnap started at 2004-06-08 11:41:39
    DB20000I  The SET WRITE command completed successfully.
    DB20000I  The SET WRITE command completed successfully.
    A snapshot of DB2DATABASE UDB is in DG SNAP_DB2dg.
    Snapplan sp1 is used for the snapshot.
    If -r <relocate_path> is used in db2ed_vmclonedb,
    	make sure <relocate_path> is created and owned by DB2 Instance Owner.
    	Otherwise, the following mount points need to be
    	created and owned by DB2 Instance Owner:
    	/db2/testvol01.
    	/db2/testvol02.
    	/db2/testvol03.
    	/db2/testvol04.
    	/db2/testvol05.
    	/db2/udb_home.
    db2ed_vmsnap ended at 2004-06-08 11:42:14
  6. Click OK to continue.

    You can now use the snapshot as a database backup.

    You will need this information when you start your snapshot database.