About backing up archive log files with the user exit program
You can configure the user exit program to back up the archive logs. The user exit program is db2uext2 (UNIX) or db2uext2.exe (Windows).
The backup can be configured in one of the following ways:
Save archive log files directly with NetBackup.
To back up archive log files in this way, configure an MS-Windows or Standard policy with a User Backup schedule.
Then specify the ARCFUNC SAVE keywords in the configuration file db2.conf.
Copy archive log files to another directory for later backup by NetBackup.
To back up archive log files in this way, configure an MS-Windows or Standard policy with a User Archive schedule (this schedule is optional).
Specify the ARCFUNC COPY keywords in the db2.conf file.
You can coordinate the copy of the log files to a directory with a user archive. In this case, the user exit program copies the file to an archive directory. To free disk space, later you can perform a user archive to archive all the files in the ARCDIR directory.
Do not specify ARCFUNC SAVE or ARCFUNC COPY if the VENDOR DB2 configuration parameter is in effect. In environments with VENDOR in effect, NetBackup ignores the information that pertains to these commands.
Whether to specify ARCFUNC SAVE or ARCFUNC COPY depends on the amount of user intervention you intend to provide.
Determine which command to use, as follows:
If you specify ARCFUNC SAVE, NetBackup backs up the archive logs according to the policy and schedule you specify.
If DB2 later issues a ROLLFORWARD request, the user exit program looks for the archive logs on a backup volume. At restoration time, no user intervention is required. The sequential recovery can be slow if there are numerous, large log files.
If you specify ARCFUNC COPY, NetBackup copies the archive logs to the location that is specified on the ARCDIR statement in the db2.conf file.
The disk to which the archive logs are copied eventually fills with archived log files. Most users want to configure a user archive schedule so they can archive the entire ARCDIR directory to NetBackup volumes.
This method requires some user intervention during the recovery. Specifically, you must restore these files before the roll-forward operation. Advanced users prefer this approach because of the performance and the flexibility benefits.
For information about how to restore files to disk, see the NetBackup Administrator's Guide, Volume I.