General tab of the NetBackup Database Administration utility

The General tab contains information about database space utilization. The tab contains tools to let the administrator reorganize fragmented database objects, add free space to the database files, and validate and rebuild the database.

Figure: General tab of the NetBackup Database Administration utility shows the General tab of the Database Administration utility after a user logs on.

Figure: General tab of the NetBackup Database Administration utility

Table: General tab options

Option

Description

Space Utilization list

Displays the information about used space and free space in pie chart format for the following database system, data, and index files:

Free DBspace

The amount of free space available.
Total DBspace

The total amount of space allocated for the dbspace.
DB Utilization

The utilization percentage is the percentage of the Total DBSpace actually being used for data.

When the NBDB or the BMRDB databases are created, extra space is allocated so that contiguous space is available as needed. As a result, a low space utilization percentage is a positive indication unless the database is very large and disk space is in short supply.

Details button

Use to display information about the selected database table or index file and elect to defragment (reorganize) fragmented files.

Select a database table or an index file in the Space Utilization list and click Details.

Database tables

Select one or more tables in the Data (Table) Details dialog box and click Defragment. The database table is evaluated for fragmentation and if any fragmentation is detected, it is reorganized.

Select one or more database tables to reorganize and then click Defragment. Each selected database table is evaluated for fragmentation and if any fragmentation is detected, it is reorganized.

Table: Data (Table) Details dialog box describes the columns in the Data (Table) Details dialog box.
Index files

Select one or more indexes in the Index Details dialog box and click Compress. Each selected index is evaluated for fragmentation and if any fragmentation is detected, it is reorganized.

Table: Index Details dialog box describes the columns in the Index Details dialog box.

Click Close after defragmenting the files.

Add Space

Use to add additional free space to individual dbspaces. Additional free space helps to reduce future fragmentation of the database objects stored in the database.

When the relational database is initially created or rebuilt, 25MB of free space is automatically added to the data and the index dbspaces.

Click Add Space, then select one of the following amounts to add:

A small amount of space to add is 25MB.
A medium amount of space to add is 50MB.
A large amount of space to add is 100MB.

Click OK to add the space or Cancel to close the dialog box.

Transaction log information

The location and file size of the transaction log.

Mirrored log information

The location and file size of the mirrored log, if one exists.

Refresh button

Displays the most current information.

Reorganize All button

Automatically determines the database tables and indexes that are fragmented. The option then uses the SQL Anywhere REORGANIZE command to defragment the tables and compress the indexes.

To click Reorganize All is equivalent to running the following command:

nbdb_admin.exe -reorganize

Validation status

Informs the administrator whether or not the selected database has passed the utility's validation check.

See Table: Validation status messages.

Validate button

Performs a database validation on all of the database tables and indexes in the selected database.

Choose one of the following validation checks in the Validate Database dialog box:

Standard

The Standard validation option lets the administrator validate the indexes and keys on all of the tables in the database. Each table is scanned, and, for each row, a check is made that it exists in the appropriate indexes. The number of rows in the table must match the number of entries in the index.

The equivalent command is nbdb_admin.exe -validate
Full

In addition to the Standard validation checks, a Full validation ensures that every row referenced in each index actually exists in the corresponding table. For foreign key indexes, it also ensures that the corresponding row exists in the primary table.

The equivalent command is nbdb_admin.exe -validate -full

Note:

To perform a full database validation, shut down NetBackup and start only the database service.

After running a validation check, the Results screen appears, listing each database object. Each error is listed next to the database object where it was found. The total number of errors found are listed at the end of the list of database objects. If no errors were found, that is indicated.

If any validation errors are reported, perform the following tasks:

Shut down NetBackup (all daemons and services).
Start only the SQL Anywhere database server (SQLANYs_VERITAS_DB, the NetBackup Relational Database Manager).
Repeat the validation check by clicking Validate or by using the nbdb_admin.exe command line utility.

If validation errors persist, contact Symantec customer support. The administrator may be asked to rebuild the database using the Rebuild option or the nbdb_unload.exe command line utility.

Rebuild button

Completely unloads and reloads the database. A new database with all of the same options is built in its place.

A Database Rebuild may be required if validation errors are reported using the Standard or Full validation options using the Validate option.

Note:

Before rebuilding the database, Symantec suggests that you create a copy of the database files by performing a backup from the Tools tab.

To rebuild the database temporarily suspends NetBackup operations and can take a long time depending on the database size.

The equivalent command is nbdb_unload -rebuild

Table: Data (Table) Details dialog box

Column	Description
Table Name	The name of the table. The tables most in need of reorganizing are listed first.
Rows	The number of rows in the table.
Row Segments	The total number of row segments for a table. A row segment is all or part of one row that is contained on one page. A row may have one or more row segments.
Segments Per Row	The average number of segments per row. A Segments Per Row value of 1 is ideal, and any value above 1 indicates a high degree of fragmentation. For example, a value of 1.5 means that half of the rows are partitioned.
State	The state of the table. Upon opening the Data Details dialog box, the state may show as being OK (does not need defragmentation) or Fragmented (requires defragmentation). After it is reorganized, the state shows as Defragmented.

Table: Index Details dialog box

Column	Description
Table Name	The name of the table.
Index Name	The name of the index. The indexes most in need of reorganizing are listed first.
Index Type	The type of the index. The Index Type can be one of the following values: PKEY (primary key) FKEY (foreign key) UI (unique index) UC (unique constraint) NUI (non-unique index)
Index Level	The number of index levels in the index tree. The index level and index density indicate whether or not an index needs to be reorganized. The number of levels in the index tree determines the number of input and output operations needed to access a row using the index. Indexes with fewer levels are more efficient than indexes with greater numbers of levels. The density is a fraction between 0 and 1 providing an indication of how full each index page is on average. An Index Level value of 1 is ideal. An index with an Index Level value of 4 or above or with a level value of 2 or 3 with an Index Density greater than 0.5 is a good candidate for reorganization.
Index Density	The index density and the index level indicate whether or not an index needs to be reorganized. (See the Index Level description.)
State	The state of the index. Upon opening the Index Details dialog box, the state may show as being OK (does not need defragmentation) or Fragmented (requires refragmentation). After it is reorganized, the state shows as Defragmented.

Table: Validation status messages

Message	Description
Database passed validation check.	The database does not require further validation.
Not available.	No statistics on the database can be gathered because the database is not available.
Database is corrupt.	Validate, then rebuild the database. Before rebuilding the database, Symantec suggests that you create a copy of the database files by doing a Backup from the Tools tab. Table: General tab options describes how to use the Validate option.

Message

Description

Database passed validation check.

The database does not require further validation.

Not available.

No statistics on the database can be gathered because the database is not available.

Database is corrupt.

Validate, then rebuild the database. Before rebuilding the database, Symantec suggests that you create a copy of the database files by doing a Backup from the Tools tab.

Table: General tab options describes how to use the Validate option.