How Do I Make a Backup of my ASA Database Whilst it is in Use?

Detail

The ASA database files will constantly be locked whilst the ASA service is running, making it impossible to back up the OfficeTalk database. The solution to this problem is to use a utility called DBBackup. DBBackup can create a backup of your database whilst the ASA server is still running. This in turn may then be copied to a backup medium.

DBBackup is a command line utility that may easily be integrated into your backup procedure or may be scheduled using Scheduled Tasks or AT.

You can download DBBackup from here. Run the setup and install to the %programfiles%OfficeTalk SQL Anywhere folder.

The syntax for DBBackup is thus:

DBBackup &#45c “dsn=OTDB;uid=dba;pwd=sql” c:otbackup &#45y

Please Note: You will need to run the above from the command line

The DBBackup utility can accept the various conventional ASA connection parameters, but the most successful is the dsn string as this can directly use the settings defined in the system DSN. The above example will backup your database to the c:otbackup folder, the &#45y switch will replace the files without prompting. Included in the distribution is a batch file which will run this example.