How to tell when a Rational Synergy 7.2 database is available after backup

The ccmdb backup command in Rational Synergy 7.2.x allows a database to be unprotected and available for use before the backup has finished running.

Manually running the ccmdb backup command writes the following lines of output as a visual indicator of when the database is protected and unprotected:

\\server\sharepoint\database_name\db is protected.

and the lines

Release the lock of \\server\sharepoint\database_name
Unprotect database after dump

\\server\sharepoint\database_name\db is un-protected.

When running the backup in an automated manner, determining when the database is unprotected and later ready to be accessed is a matter of monitoring its protection status. Monitoring has to be done by a user-written script that checks the protection status of the database at any given time.

The command to check the protection status is

ccmdb info -k PROTECT <database_path>

This command returns either the string "protected" or "unprotected".

Repeating this command on a regular interval within your script and processing the output can be used to trigger a notification or other action of your specification.

This script should also employ logic to report an error if some maximum number of retries fail to find the database unprotected. This will consider the rare situation in which a database integrity check fails and the database remains protected when the backup completes.

When implementing such a solution, do not check the protection status more than once every 2 minutes or so. The database may become briefly unprotected before it is protected again during the backup, which normally takes less than a minute on most systems. By checking the status less frequently, the chance of finding the database prematurely unprotected is minimized.