Components of an Archive Database

An archive database is made up of components working together to create the illusion that a database dump is functioning as a traditional database.

• The Database Dump
  Archived, read-only database dumps are used as a repository for most unmodified pages.
• The Modified Pages Section
  The archive database that represents a database dump is read-only. No user transactions are allowed, however, some some modifications are allowed.
• The sysaltusages Table and the Scratch Database
  sysaltusages is a data-only-locked table that maps page numbers in an archive database to the actual page within either the database dump and its stripes, or the modified pages section.