Disk drive failures

You might have problems with a disk drive containing either the queue manager data, the log, or both. Problems can include data loss or corruption. The three cases differ only in the part of the data that survives, if any.

In all cases first check the directory structure for any damage and, if necessary, repair such damage. If you lose queue manager data, the queue manager directory structure might have been damaged. If so, re-create the directory tree manually before you restart the queue manager.

If damage has occurred to the queue manager data files, but not to the queue manager log files, then the queue manager will normally be able to restart. If any damage has occurred to the queue manager log files, then it is likely that the queue manager will not be able to restart.

Having checked for structural damage, there are a number of things we can do, depending on the type of logging that we use.

  • Where there is major damage to the directory structure or any damage to the log, remove all the old files back to the QMgrName level, including the configuration files, the log, and the queue manager directory, restore the last backup, and restart the queue manager.
  • For linear logging with media recovery, ensure that the directory structure is intact and restart the queue manager. If the queue manager restarts, check, using MQSC commands such as DISPLAY QUEUE, whether any other objects have been damaged. Recover those you find, using the rcrmqobj command. For example: 
    rcrmqobj -m QMgrName -t all *
    where QMgrName is the queue manager being recovered. -t all * indicates that all damaged objects of any type are to be recovered. If only one or two objects have been reported as damaged, we can specify those objects by name and type here.
  • For linear logging with media recovery and with an undamaged log, you might be able to restore a backup of the queue manager data leaving the existing log files and log control file unchanged. Starting the queue manager applies the changes from the log to bring the queue manager back to its state when the failure occurred. This method relies on two things:
    1. You must restore the checkpoint file as part of the queue manager data. This file contains the information determining how much of the data in the log must be applied to give a consistent queue manager.
    2. You must have the oldest log file required to start the queue manager at the time of the backup, and all subsequent log files, available in the log file directory.

    If this is not possible, restore a backup of both the queue manager data and the log, both of which were taken at the same time. This causes message integrity to be lost.

  • For circular logging, if the queue manager log files are damaged, restore the queue manager from the latest backup that we have. Once we have restored the backup, restart the queue manager and check for damaged objects. However, because we do not have media recovery, you must find other ways of re-creating the damaged objects.

    If the queue manager log files are not damaged, the queue manager will normally be able to restart. Following the restart you must identify all damaged objects, then delete and redefine them.