A snapshot freezes the current status of the data area. After you have made a snapshot, you can continue to work normally with the data for the database instance and make changes to the data.
Later on, you have the following options:
· You return to the status of the data area at the time of the snapshot, thereby rejecting all changes made since the snapshot. The snapshot contains all necessary information; you do not need a complete data backup for this.
A snapshot is not a precaution against a system failure! To be able to restore your data after a system failure, you have to perform regular data and log backups.
· You delete the snapshot, thereby saving all changes that were made since the snapshot to the data area.
There can only ever be one snapshot. Creating a snapshot overwrites an older snapshot that may exist.
To manage snapshots, use the Database Manager GUI. See Database Manager GUI, Freezing the Data Area (Snapshots).
To create and manage the snapshot, the database system uses a standby concept: a snapshot saves the current converter.
The converter maps the logical numbers of the pages containing the data to the physical pages (block addresses) in the data volumes. The converter is structured as a tree: from the starting point there are references to all logical pages in the data area, and from there to the block addresses in the data volumes.
When creating a snapshot, the database system saves a reference to the current starting point in the converter in the restart page of the database instance and selects all physical pages that are addressed by the converter in the data volumes. You cannot overwrite these pages as long as the snapshot exists.
The database system writes changes that are made after the snapshot in the data area to other physical pages in the data volumes. If a table is deleted, the database system does not physically delete this table, but only marks it as deleted (you can no longer access this table with SQL statements). In this way, a new version of the converter is gradually created, which with time differs increasingly from the version of the converter that was saved for the snapshot.
If you reject all changes after the snapshot, then the database system deletes the starting point in the new version of the converter and replaces it with the starting point that is saved in the snapshot. All pages that changed after the snapshot are released for overwriting again.
If you delete the snapshot, the database system releases the selected pages in the volumes for overwriting.
Setting up a training computer:
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1. The database administrator imports a complete data backup from the original database instance in the training computer.
2. The database administrator makes a snapshot in the ADMIN operational state and then transfers the database instance to the ONLINE operational state.
3. The database instance is now available for training operation. The participants in the training can change any data and start and stop the database instance.
4. After the end of the training and before the start of the next training session, the database administrator transfers the database instance to the ADMIN operational state and makes the original status of the data area visible again.