What is the purpose of the minimum recovery time for a table space?

Answer

When the "LIST TABLESPACES SHOW DETAIL" command or "GET SNAPSHOT FOR TABLESPACES" command is executed, one of the attributes that may be displayed is the "Minimum recovery time".

The minimum recovery time is the earliest point in time for which point in time recovery can be done for a table space. It is used to ensure consistency between the table space and the system catalogs. In other words, a table space must be rolled forward to at least the point in time such that it matches what is in the system catalogs (you wouldn't want a table to be in the table space but not referenced in the catalogs).

The minimum recovery time is only a factor when the database is defined as being recoverable and will not be displayed for a table space if circular logging is used.

• When the system catalogs are changed as a result of altering a table in the table space
• When the SET INTEGRITY statement is run on a table in the table space.
• When adding or altering a column of a table in the table space
• When creating/dropping a table/index in a table space
• When altering table space attributes such as bufferpool and prefetch size.