Backups and Symbolic Links (UNIX Only)

In backups involving symbolic links, SAP Sybase IQ may create dbspaces in a directory other than the one desired.

For example, suppose that you create dbspaces in the following files:

-rw-r--r--   1 fiona  sybase   122880000 Feb 26 18:27 iqdemo.db
-rw-r--r--   1 fiona  sybase   122880000 Feb 26 18:27 iqdemo.iq1
-rw-r--r--   1 fiona  sybase   122880000 Feb 26 18:27 iqdemo.iq2
-rw-r--r--   1 fiona  sybase   122880000 Feb 26 18:27 iqdemo.iq3
-rw-r--r--   1 fiona  sybase   122880000 Feb 26 18:27 iqdemo.iqtmp
-rw-r--r--   1 fiona  sybase   122880000 Feb 26 18:27 iqdemo.iqmsg

If you create the following links first, the dbspaces will be created in the directories (or on the raw partitions) to which the links point:

lrwxrwxrwx   1 fiona  sybase        14 Feb 26 17:48 iqdemo.iq1 ->
 LINKS/iqdemo.iq1

lrwxrwxrwx   1 fiona  sybase        14 Feb 26 17:48 iqdemo.iq2 ->
 LINKS/iqdemo.iq2

lrwxrwxrwx   1 fiona  sybase        18 Feb 26 17:48 iqdemo.iq3 ->
 /dev/rdsk/c2t6d0s0

When you back up the files and restore them with the CATALOG ONLY option, you don't see anything telling you that these files were links; in fact, this information is not saved.

SAP Sybase IQ saves these files as though they were actually present in the directory where the symbolic links reside. When you do the restore, the files are recreated in the directories or on the raw partitions named by the database name. Whether or not the links exist at restore time, they are never used again. The database is restored to its original location.