Database Backup and Restore

You can back up and restore your data from a Control-M/EM or Control-M/Server database with the following backup and restore options:

• Hot Backup (dedicated PostgreSQL only): Tracks changes to the database while Control‑M/Server is active. After a crash (or other event), you can restore the database to the previous state before the crash. Hot backups are performed in Archive Mode, which requires extra disk space for control files. You must specify an existing directory when implementing hot backups.

  • Archive Mode: Enable the Archive Mode before you run the Hot Backup. Control-M/Server backs up the logs before overwriting them with new information. If the database subsequently crashes, you can use the archived logs to restore the database up until the most recent SQL transaction. If Archive Mode is enabled, database transactions might perform slowly, and archive files require more disk space.

• Cold Backup: Cold backup copies the contents of the database to a file when Control‑M/Server is shut down. The database can be restored up to the date/time of the last backup. You can use cold backups to restore the database to the state it was in when the backup was performed. To perform a cold backup, Archive Mode must be disabled. Shut down Control-M/Server before performing a cold backup.

• Restore and Rebuild: Restores data from a correct database structure. If the Control-M/Server database structure (schema) becomes corrupt, you must rebuild the database. After the rebuild, you must restore the data. When a cold restore is performed, the restore file must be exported from the database with the same encoding as the destination database. If you rebuild the database with UTF8 encoding, you must manually configure the environment settings, to enable the Control-M/Server components to support this encoding.