[Misc] Miscellaneous Settings

snapshotName

snapshotName

The base name of the backup. This name is used in the directory tree structure that vbr creates for each node.

Each iteration in this series (up to restorePointLimit) consists of the snapshotName and a timestamp for a specific backup. Each series of backups should have a unique and descriptive snapshotName. Full and object-level backups also cannot share names. For most vbr tasks, the snapshotName serves as a useful identifier in diagnostics and system tables. For object restore and replication tasks, snapshotName is used to build schema names in coexist mode operations.

A snapshotName can contain up to 240 characters.

Valid Values:

• a–z
• A – Z
• 0 – 9
• Hyphen (-)
• Underscore (_)

tempDir

/tmp/vbr

Specifies an absolute path to a temporary storage area on the cluster nodes. The tmp path must be the same on all nodes in the cluster. The vbr utility uses this directory as a temporary location while it is copying files from the source cluster node to the destination backup location. Vertica also writes backup logs to this location. The vbr utility uses this directory as a temporary location for log files, lock files and other bookkeeping information during the execution of a task.

Do not specify the same location as your database's data or catalog directory. Any unexpected files or directories in your data or catalog location can cause errors during database start or restore.

The file system at this location must support fcntl lockf (POSIX) file locking.

restorePointLimit

1

Specifies the number of historical backups to retain in addition to the most recent backup. For example, if you set restorePointLimit=3, Vertica saves three historical backups, in addition to the most recent backup, for a total of four backups. By default, Vertica maintains a current backup and one historical backup. Saving multiple backups lets you back up incrementally. Enter a positive integer.

Saves multiple backups to the same location, which are shared through hard links. In such cases, listbackup displays the common backup prefix but indicates unique time and date suffixes:

my_archive20111111_205841

objects

None

Specifies whether vbr creates a full or object-level backup. If you do not specify any objects, vbr creates a full backup. Otherwise, specify the object names (schemas or tables) to include in a backup. To enter more than one object, enter multiple names in a comma-separated list. To identify objects using wildcards, use the includeObjects parameter instead.

Enter table names in the form schema.objectname. For example, to make backups of the table customers from the schema finance, enter finance.customers. If a public table and a schema have the same name, vbr backs up only the schema. Use the schema.objectname convention to avoid confusion.

Object names can include UTF-8 alphanumeric characters. Object names cannot include escape characters, single quote (') or double quote (") characters.

To use non-alphanumeric characters, use a backslash (\) followed by a hex value. For instance, if the table name is a my table (my followed by a space character, then table), enter the object name as follows:

objects=my\20table

This parameter also identifies objects that you want to replicate to an alternate cluster.

This parameter conflicts with the includeObjects parameter. Use one or the other in your configuration file.

objectRestoreMode

createOrReplace

Specifies how Vertica handles objects of the same name when restoring schema or table backups.

Valid Values:

• createOrReplace — Vertica creates any objects that do not exist. If the object does exist, vbr overwrites it with the version from the archive.
• create — Vertica creates any objects that do not exist. If an object being restored does exist, Vertica displays an error message and skips that object.
• coexist — Vertica creates any objects that do not exist. If the object does exist, Vertica creates the restored version with a name of the form <backup>_<timestamp>_<object_name>. This approach allows existing and restored objects to exist simultaneously. If the appended information pushes the schema name past the maximum length of 128 characters, Vertica truncates the name. You can perform a reverse lookup of the original schema name by querying the system table TRUNCATED_SCHEMATA.

In all modes, Vertica restores data with the current epoch. Object restore mode settings do not apply to backups and full restores.

retryCount

2

(Deprecated) Specifies the number of backup attempts to complete execution after an error occurs. If the backup fails after exceeding the number of retry attempts, the utility reports an error and stops processing.

retryDelay

1

(Deprecated) Specifies the number of seconds to wait between backup retry attempts, if a failure occurs.

passwordFile

None

enableFreeSpaceCheck

True

SnapshotEpochLagFailureThreshold

3600

includeObjects

Identifies database objects and wildcard patterns to include with a backup task. Use a comma to delimit multiple objects and wildcard patterns. For more information, refer to Using Wildcards with Backup, Restore, and Replicate.

This parameter conflicts with the objects parameter. Use one or the other in your configuration file.

excludeObjects

Identifies database objects and wildcard patterns to exclude from a backup task. . Use a comma to delimit multiple objects and wildcard patterns. For more information, refer to Using Wildcards with Backup, Restore, and Replicate. Use of this parameter requires use of includeObjects