Urgent from Sybase: Possible inconsistencies in database dumps taken using the 'with verify' clause on ASE 12.5.3 and later.
Summary: This document describes an issue where database dumps taken using the 'with verify' clause may contain inconsistencies which are not reported when the dump is produced.
Contents
This document contains the following sections:
- Customer Alert
- Problem Description
- Symptoms
- Recommendation
Customer Alert
Under certain circumstances, dumps taken on ASE 12.5.3 and later, using the 'dump database <dbname> ... with verify' command may have inconsistencies.
Problem Description
Dumps taken using the,
'dump database <dbname> to <dump_dev> ... with verify'
command can result in a dump file being produced that contains inconsistencies. It is possible for these inconsistencies to go undetected even though the 'with verify' clause was used when the dump was taken.
Moreover, if a dump file containing inconsistencies is loaded using,
'load database <dbname> from <dump_dev> ...'
it will result in a database that contains inconsistencies.
If such dumps are loaded with,
'load database <dbname> from <dump_dev> ...with verify'
no errors may be reported, yet still the restored databases will have inconsistencies.
If you have NOT used the 'with verify' clause, then you are NOT affected by this issue.
Further, this issue only manifests itself when any database device used by the database being dumped is more than 'reserved pages threshold' full.
This issue is being tracked under Sybase CR #498167. This CR is fixed in the following versions of ASE. If you upgrade to these or higher versions, you will not encounter this issue.
| ASE 15.0.3 ESD#1 | available now |
| ASE 15.0.3 Cluster Edition | available end of Q2 2009 |
| ASE 12.5.4 ESD#10 | available end of Q4 2009 |
| Platform | ASE 15.0.3 | ASE 15.0.3 | ASE 12.5.4 |
| ESD# 1 | Cluster Edtn. | ESD# 10 | |
| Sun Solaris SPARC 32-bit | 16556 | -- | 16784 |
| Sun Solaris SPARC 64-bit | 16548 | 16747 | 16785 |
| Sun Solaris X86 | -- | -- | 16798 |
| Sun Solaris X64 | 16558 | -- | 16799 |
| HP-UX Itanium | 16551 | 16749 | 16797 |
| HP-UX PA-RISC 64-bit | 16552 | -- | 16789 |
| HP-UX PA-RISC 32-bit | -- | -- | 16788 |
| HP Tru64 | -- | -- | 16790 |
| IBM-AIX 64-bit | 16554 | 16750 | 16787 |
| IBM-AIX 32-bit | -- | -- | 16786 |
| Linux Itanium 64-bit | -- | -- | 16796 |
| Linux P-Series 64-bit | 16553 | -- | 16801 |
| Linux x86 32-bit | 16555 | -- | 16792 |
| Linux x86 64-bit | 16549 | 16748 | 16800 |
| Mac OS | -- | -- | 16795 |
| SGI 32-bit | -- | -- | 16793 |
| SGI 64-bit | -- | -- | 16794 |
| Windows X86 | 16550 | -- | 16791 |
| Windows X64 | 16557 | -- | 16745 |
Symptoms
You can determine if your dump has inconsistencies using the following steps:
- Depending on the ASE version
- For ASE 12.5.3
Load the database into an alternative location and make sure not to use the ‘with verify’ clause. - For 12.5.4 and above
Use option a) above or, an alternative, is to use the Archive Database feature to load the database. Documentation on the 'Archive Databases' feature can be found in Chapter 3 of the New Feature Guide for 12.5.4.
- For ASE 12.5.3
- Execute any of the database consistency checks, such as DBCC CHECKALLOC, CHECKDB or CHECKSTORAGE.
Database consistency problems will be reported if there are inconsistencies.
Recommendations
- If you do not have the recommended version or EBF, you should NOT use the 'with verify' clause in conjunction with the 'dump database' command.
- If you have previously taken database dumps using the 'with verify' clause, you will need to take new database dumps without using the 'with verify' clause to ensure you have a dump file that does not contain these inconsistencies.
- Download the following version or EBF for your corresponding ASE version:
ASE 15.0.3 ESD#1
ASE 15.0.3 CE
ASE 12.5.4 ESD#10
Downloads
EBFs are obtained from the Sybase EBFs and Maintenance site.
Follow the instructions in the EBF cover letter to install the EBF.
If you require further assistance please contact your local support center. The contact numbers can be found in the About Support section under Support & Services at the www.sybase.com website.
http://www.sybase.com/contactus/support
Copyright © 2009 Sybase, Inc. All rights reserved.
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