Data Consistency, Recovery, and Migration 4-55
Description of Migration Methods
dbexport/dbimport
The dbexport and dbimport utility pair operates only on databases, not on
tables.
The dbexport utility creates, on disk or on tape, a directory that contains an
ASCII file of data for each table in the specified database. Additionally,
dbexport creates on disk or on tape an
ASCII file of SQL data definition
language (DDL) statements and accounting information necessary to re-
create the database on another Informix database server.
The dbimport utility takes input from a directory or from tape. It uses the
ASCII file of data definition statements (referred to as the .sql file) to create
the database. Specific database characteristics can be specified as part of the
dbimport command.
After the database is created, dbimport populates the database with the data
contained in the ASCII files stored within the specified directory or on the
tape.
tbunload/tbload
The tbunload utility writes to tape data from the specified database or table
in binary, disk-page units. The tbload utility takes as input a tape created by
the tbunload utility. With just the information contained on the tape, tbload
can re-create the database or the table. Becausethe datais written in page-size
units, migration requires that the two machines use the same page size
(specified as BUFFSIZE in the configuration file).
