Towards Standardization and Interoperability of Database Backups

Summary The current business model of modern companies is increasingly dependent on information technology. Thus, it is necessary to keep security copies of the data (backup) which may be used to restore them after a data loss event. On the other hand, this dependence encourages strong competition among suppliers and this leads to new releases of computing commodities, seeking competitive advantages. In this context, it is usual for corporations to deploy more than one DBMS to store their data, creating heterogeneous environments, and creating difficulties for data interoperability. Current DBMSs use proprietary backup formats and this means that other tools cannot access their data. This work describes the development of BKPML, an XML-based language to standardize backup files. It is aimed at removing this dependency of the original environment of the data, allowing the manipulation of such files by any DBMS or tool, making systems integration and data interoperability easier. A prototype tool, called BKPML Manager, was also developed to support the use of BKPML.