Using the dump and load Commands

In case of media failure, such as a disk crash, you can restore your databases if—and only if—you have regular backups of the databases and their transaction logs.

Full recovery depends on the regular use of the dump database and dump transaction commands to back up databases and the load database and load transaction commands to restore them.

The dump commands can complete successfully even if your database is corrupt. Before you back up a database, use the dbcc commands to check its consistency.

• dump database: Making Routine Database Dumps
  The dump database command makes a copy of the entire database, including both the data and the transaction log. dump database does not truncate the log.
• dump transaction: Making Routine Transaction Log Dumps
  Use the dump transaction command to make routine backups of your transaction log.
• dump tran with no_truncate: Copying the Log After Device Failure
  If your data device fails and the database is inaccessible, use the with no_truncate option of dump transaction to get a current copy of the log.
• load database: Restoring the Entire Database
  Use the load database command to load a backup that was created with dump database.
• load transaction: Applying Changes to the Database
  After you have loaded the database, use the load transaction command to load each transaction log dump in the order in which it was made.
• online database: Making the Database Available to Users
  When the load sequence completes, change the database status to “online,” to make it available to users. A database loaded by load database remains inaccessible until you issue the online database command.
• Dumping and Loading Databases Across Platforms
  SAP ASE allows you to dump and load databases across platforms with different endian architecture.
• Restrictions for Dumping and Loading Databases and Transactions
  Dumping and loading databases and transactions includes restrictions.
• Improving Recovery Prefetch
  The look-ahead size for prefetching pages of the recovery scan processes can be optimized using the recovery prefetch size configuration parameter.
• Performance Notes
  Index rows are ordered for fast access to a table’s data row. Index rows that contain row identifiers are treated as binary to achieve fast access to the user table.
• Moving a Database to Another SAP ASE
  You can use dump database and load database to move a database from one SAP ASE to another.
• Upgrading a User Database
  You can load dumps into the current version of SAP ASE from any version of SAP ASE that is at version 11.9 and later. The loaded database is not upgraded until you issue online database.
• Using the Special Load Options to Identify Dump Files
  Use the with headeronly option to provide header information for a specified file or for the first file on a tape.
• Restoring a Database from Backups
  Restoring a database includes a series of dump and load commands.