Backing Up and Restoring the PowerCenter Repository
Regularly back up repositories to prevent data loss due to hardware or software problems. When you back up a repository, the PowerCenter Repository Service saves the repository in a binary file, including the repository objects, connection information, and code page information. If you need to recover the repository, you can restore the content of the repository from this binary file.
If you back up a repository that has operating system profiles assigned to folders, the PowerCenter Repository Service does not back up the folder assignments. After you restore the repository, you must assign the operating system profiles to the folders.
Before you back up a repository and restore it in a different domain, verify that users and groups with privileges for the source PowerCenter Repository Service exist in the target domain. The Service Manager periodically synchronizes the list of users and groups in the repository with the users and groups in the domain configuration database. During synchronization, users and groups that do not exist in the target domain are deleted from the repository.
You can use infacmd to export users and groups from the source domain and import them into the target domain.
Backing Up a PowerCenter Repository
When you back up a repository, the PowerCenter Repository Service stores the file in the backup location you specify for the node. You specify the backup location when you set up the node. View the general properties of the node to determine the path of the backup directory. The PowerCenter Repository Service uses the extension .rep for all repository backup files.
1. In the Administrator tool, click the Manage tab > Services and Nodes view.
2. In the Domain Navigator, select the PowerCenter Repository Service for the repository you want to back up.
3. On the Manage tab Actions menu, select Repository Contents > Back Up.
4. Enter your user name, password, and security domain.
The Security Domain field appears when the Informatica domain contains an LDAP security domain.
5. Enter a file name and description for the repository backup file.
Use an easily distinguishable name for the file. For example, if the name of the repository is DEVELOPMENT, and the backup occurs on May 7, you might name the file DEVELOPMENTMay07.rep. If you do not include the .rep extension, the PowerCenter Repository Service appends that extension to the file name.
6. If you use the same file name that you used for a previous backup file, select whether or not to replace the existing file with the new backup file.
To overwrite an existing repository backup file, select Replace Existing File. If you specify a file name that already exists in the repository backup directory and you do not choose to replace the existing file, the PowerCenter Repository Service does not back up the repository.
7. Choose to skip or back up workflow and session logs, deployment group history, and MX data. You might want to skip these operations to increase performance when you restore the repository.
8. Click OK.
The results of the backup operation appear in the activity log.
Viewing a List of Backup Files
You can view the backup files you create for a repository in the backup directory where they are saved. You can also view a list of existing backup files in the Administrator tool. If you back up a repository through pmrep, you must provide a file extension of .rep to view it in the Administrator tool.
1. In the Administrator tool, click the Manage tab > Services and Nodes view.
2. In the Domain Navigator, select the PowerCenter Repository Service for a repository that has been backed up.
3. On the Manage tab Actions menu, select Repository Contents > View Backup Files.
The list of the backup files shows the repository version and the options skipped during the backup.
Restoring a PowerCenter Repository
You can restore metadata from a repository binary backup file. When you restore a repository, you must have a database available for the repository. You can restore the repository in a database that has a compatible code page with the original database.
If a repository exists at the target database location, you must delete it before you restore a repository backup file.
Informatica restores repositories from the current product version. If you have a backup file from an earlier product version, you must use the earlier product version to restore the repository.
Verify that the repository license includes the license keys necessary to restore the repository backup file. For example, you must have the team-based development option to restore a versioned repository.
1. In the Administrator tool, click the Manage tab > Services and Nodes view.
2. In the Domain Navigator, select the PowerCenter Repository Service that manages the repository content you want to restore.
3. On the Manage tab Actions menu, click Repository Contents > Restore.
The Restore Repository Contents options appear.
4. Select a backup file to restore.
5. Select whether or not to restore the repository as new.
When you restore a repository as new, the PowerCenter Repository Service restores the repository with a new repository ID and deletes the log event files.
Note: When you copy repository content, you create the repository as new.
6. Optionally, choose to skip restoring the workflow and session logs, deployment group history, and Metadata Exchange (MX) data to improve performance.
7. Click OK.
The activity log indicates whether the restore operation succeeded or failed.
Note: When you restore a global repository, the repository becomes a standalone repository. After restoring the repository, you need to promote it to a global repository.