You can use iSeries (AS/400) journal management to backup individual changes as they occur and to help recover your ActionWare database files if you have a major disk problem on your iSeries (AS/400).
Whenever you change data in a file, journal management records the change in the journal receiver before it records updates the file. The journal receiver always contains the latest database information. It records activities against a file regardless of the type of program, user or job that made the change, or the logical file where the change was made.
Entries in the journal receiver are recorded as activities for a specific record (added, updated, or deleted) and for a file (opened, file member saved, and so on). Each entry includes additional bytes of control information identifying the source of the activity including the user, job, program, time and date. Journal receiver entries record images after the control information for changes that affect a single record.*
Use the recorded changes to recover data if a database file member becomes damaged. Journal management provides better recovery than other methods for the following reasons:
The system records the changes in a separate object.
You can move the changes off-line quickly and independently from the file, or leave changes on-line in a user Auxiliary Storage Pool (ASP).
You can recover a database file to a specific point by applying or removing changes made to the file. For example, the specific point can be a checkpoint in the program, a date and time, or the start or end time of a job.
The system ensures that the database file contains the information records in the separate object. It automatically synchronizes the database file being journaled with the recorded information if the system stops abnormally.
It decreases the amount of time required to backup your database files. Using a journal provides a faster backup because only the changes-not the entire file-need to be saved frequently. If you are using a small file with many changes, saving the file is faster than saving the changes.
It provides an audit trail. Use recorded information to analyze changes to database files. For example, you can determine which program or which user made changes and what changes were made to a specific record.
It provides a changes activity report.* Use recorded information to summarize the activity for a specific period of time, for a specific user, or for a specific application.
It helps when debugging. Use record information to analyze changes made to specific records or by specific programs.
It helps you review security plans for files. Have the system record any open operations for the files, and use the record information to determine if security plans are effective.
It provides a backup database of files to tape to another system.
It provides job accounting information.
For more information on journaling, refer to the IBM iSeries (AS/400) Programming Guide.