Patent ID: 8117165

Claim:
A method, comprising: launching a first backup operation of archived database log files from a primary storage location to a secondary storage location, wherein each database log file of the archived database log files is for keeping track of storage operations performed on data stored in a database corresponding to the primary storage location, wherein the backup operation excludes archived database log files that are currently being edited at the primary storage location from being backed up to the secondary storage location, wherein network traffic of the first backup operation is separate from traffic between a host of the database and its network; taking a persistent point in time image (PPTI) of storage volume of the secondary storage location and creating a new file structure on the secondary storage location; launching a second backup operation of archived database log files from the primary storage location to the secondary storage location while the first backup operation is still in operation, wherein network traffic of the second backup operation is separate from traffic between a host of the database and its network; permitting the second backup operation to take PPTI of the primary storage location and to schedule backup to the secondary storage location; delaying the second backup operation from proceeding with copying files while the first backup operation is copying files from the primary storage location to the secondary storage location; protecting the most recently archived file at the primary storage location against potential backups when that file is in the process of being written by a database engine; permitting the second backup operation to proceed with copying files from the primary storage location to the secondary storage location once the first backup operation completes its copying; checking for potentially updated archived database files since last PPTI of the primary storage location; and preventing risk of backing up an incomplete archived database file from a PPTI created during an archived log switch.