NetBase for MPE Reference Guide

Chapter 7
7-4
Disaster Tolerance
You may want to create a local copy as well as a remote copy. If this is the case, NetBase spooling
allows you to create either a permanent or temporary local copy. The COPY option directs NetBase
to create a permanent local copy. If a network failure occurs while a process is outputting to a
remote spooler that is defined with the COPY option, NetBase allows the process to continue using
just the local spool copy. On the other hand, the TEMP option instructs NetBase to create the local
copy as a temporary copy, and to keep it on the local system until NetBase is certain that the spool
file was created successfully on the remote system. Either way, you are protected from network
failures.
NetBase provides an additional feature for network disaster recovery: the ability to specify an
alternate device. If the network link is not functioning between the local system and the primary
destination, and you have specified an alternate destination, NetBase creates the spool file on the
alternate system. With this feature, reports that keep the company in business will always print, if
not at the printer of choice from the primary destination system, then from the second choice
system.
NetBase Spooling relies on the network in order to create the spool files remotely. NetBase
Spooling creates remote spool files while the program runs locally. If the network is down or if the
NetBase job is not running on both systems when the local program runs, the spool files cannot be
created on the remote system. Depending on the NBDIR DEVICE entry, several possible scenarios can
result:
If the NBDIR DEVICE entry specifies an alternate node, NetBase will attempt to create the spool file
on that system as the program runs locally.
D> DEVICE LP=LASERJET,HP995;ALT=LP,HP992
If the NBDIR DEVICE entry specifies a temporary local copy, NetBase will create a permanent one on
the local system which can be moved to the remote system via an NBSpool background job, once
the network is repaired.