A full online backup of Lotus® servers consists of two files, the database files, and the changes files which contain the updates to the databases while they are being backed up. These files must be bound together during the backup in order to properly restore the databases in the event of a recovery. An incremental online backup is a save operation of the transaction logs for the server.
Lotus Server backups use a BRMS concept called a package to bind the backup of the databases to the changes files and associated transaction logs. When a full online backup is run, the Lotus Server uses the PKGID parameter on the SAVBRM command to specify the package association between the databases and the changes files. At the time of backup, the Lotus Server also uses the RCYEXITPGM parameter to specify a Lotus Server exit program which BRMS calls after the package is recovered.
When an incremental online backup is run, BRMS will add the transaction logs to the associated package of the prior full online backup. If the Database Instance Identifier (DBIID) of a database has changed or this database is recognized as a new database, a full online backup of the database will be performed followed by an incremental online backup. The new database can now be recovered using point-in-time recovery. If a database is not being logged, either because it was explicitly removed from the transaction log or the database isn't at the correct level to support transaction logging, and it has changed, it will be saved when the incremental online backup request is processed.
Online backups of Lotus servers are stored in the BRMS history information as packages. The number of elements in the package is determined by the type and number of online backups performed. In the case of full online backups, the package number is 2. For every subsequent incremental online backup, 1 is added to the full package number. The maximum package number is 99 which allows for a full online backup and 97 incremental online backups for each Lotus server.
When you request BRMS to recover a Lotus Server database that was saved as a package, BRMS restores the entire package consisting of the database files, changes file and transaction logs. After these are restored, BRMS calls the Lotus Server exit program which in turn applies the transaction log changes to the restored databases.