Certify Files

Use the Certify Files utility to perform a read-only check on the physical integrity of the database files. This process scans the database to verify the contents of records and to perform consistency cross-checks. If errors are found following a database certification, it generally means that the database is corrupted in some way, and the database must be restored from a backup.

For this reason, you should run a database certification periodically. It is also prudent to perform a certification during each quiesced online backup (see the previous backup section for more information).

The option to Certify backup afterwards is available when an online backup is taken. Since the certification process can take some time, it may be appropriate to run a certified backup once a week, instead of daily. If the online backup is taken in quiescent mode, the database is available to users during the post-backup certification, as the certification is done on the backed up database, not the live database.

Since backups will most commonly be performed online, the task scheduler manages the certification process. However, a certification can also be applied by using the jdbutil.exe form. This would be appropriate if backups are being performed offline.

To run the certify utility, select the Certify Files option from the Operation menu. Click Add All files, and then click OK.

While this operation running, a progress dialog displays to the form that enables you to monitor the progress of the operation. You can abort the run, by clicking the Cancel button. When the operation is finished, this message displays:

190 file(s) were processed without errors

Refer to certify.log for an analysis

This process generates the file specified in the ActivityLogDirectory line of the PersistentDb section of the .ini file. If ActivityLogDirectory = <default> in the .ini file, output is written to the \Logs directory.

If the dialog indicates that all files were processed without errors, then the certification is successful and the database is sound. If, however, the dialog indicates that one or more files were processed with an error, then the integrity check has failed. You must restore a recent backup, and you must ensure that the backup does not contain certification errors.

The only course of action for a database that has certification errors is to restore from a clean backup.

Even if a rebuild corrects the certification errors, the rebuilt database should not be trusted as the rebuild process may have purged objects that were in error.

The compact process may take some time. Use your backup strategy test plan to establish approximate timings for this utility.

The certification process activated by running jdbutil.exe performs a physical check on files. A logical certification should also be run periodically to check for errors in system logic.