You use a backup template of type PIPE to transfer data to other programs or to transmit data from one computer to another. You therefore can use the backup tools directly supported by the SAP MaxDB database software and also connect to third-party backup tools if they can read data from pipes.

You log on to Database Manager CLI as a DBM operator, connect to the database for which the backup template is to be created, and define a backup template of type PIPE for the log backup.

You can only use a backup template of type PIPE for interactive log backup, and not for automatic log backup.

Depending on your operating system, you can define where you want to store the pipe in the system. If you enter a relative path, it is interpreted as relative to the working directory of the database. The specified directory must already exist.

If you enter a path that includes blank characters, these must be written in quotation marks in the DBM command. Be sure to observe the naming rules for pipes in your operating system.

Database Manager stores the backup template internally. The pipe is only created and opened, and data is written to it, when the backup template is used for a backup.