You must shut down the database before you perform an
offline backup.
For example, on Windows systems, the following operating system command
backs up a (closed) database that is named sample and that is
located in d:\mydatabases by copying it to the directory
c:\mybackups\2012-04-01:
xcopy d:\mydatabases\sample c:\mybackups\2012-04-01\sample /s /i
If you are not using Windows, substitute the appropriate operating
system command for copying a directory and all contents to a new location.
On Windows systems, do not attempt to update a database while it is being
backed up in this way. Attempting to update a database during an offline
backup will generate a java.io.IOException. Using online
backups prevents this from occurring.
For large systems, shutting down the database might not be convenient.
To back up a database without having to shut it down, you can use an online
backup.
After you back up a database, make sure the backup copy is not corrupt. To
do this, run the SYSCS_UTIL.SYSCS_CHECK_TABLE system function
on all the tables in the backup copy. Do not discard the previous backup until
you have verified the consistency of the current one. See
for more
information.