Db2 – Apply DB2 logs from production to DR

Unfortunately, it's not possible to take an online backup of a DB2 database if it's in circular logging mode, which is the default for DB2 databases when they are created.

You can check whether your database is using circular logging by issuing:

./db2 get db cfg for dbemp | grep LOGARCH

If both LOGARCHMETH options are switched off...

First log archive method       (LOGARCHMETH1) = OFF
Second log archive method      (LOGARCHMETH2) = OFF

... then you'll need to change your database configuration to use archive logging before backups can be taken. I'm not 100% sure of this but I believe you'll need to restart your database and take an offline backup before you can start taking online backups.

There's an overview of how to do this in IBM's "configuring database logging options" documentation.

Note that if you change from CIRCULAR LOGGING to ARCHIVE LOGGING, you'll need to figure out what to do with your archived log files. Storing them on SAN/NAS/Tape to allow roll-forward recovery can be a really good idea if this data is important to you.

You really should be reading manuals, not "pruning logs". Your database is set up for circular logging, which means there is nothing to "prune". If transactions occasionally require extra log space, increase the value of LOGSECOND. Too many primary logs will slow down the database startup, as they are preallocated. Secondary logs are allocated as needed, they will remain in the active log directory until the database is restarted.

"Pruning logs" will not affect the amount of active log space (with one exception that I will mention later): it is dictated purely by the sum of LOGPRIMARY and LOGSECOND, multiplied by LOGFILSIZ. If you were using the archive log mode, you would be able to remove older archived log files to free up some disk space, but the amount of active log space would not change. Even then, you would delete logs created prior to the previous backup, not prior to the first active log file.

Only if your archived logs and active logs share the same file system (which is not a good idea in itself), the uncontrolled accumulation of archived logs may prevent the active log space to grow, when necessary, to its configured maximum size.