When it is appended to the PROREST utility, -describe lists basic, yet thorough, information about a database backup file. This can be especially useful when you have many backups and are trying to restore your database quickly. The -describe function can help you identify which backup you want to select based off of the information returned in the request. The -describe function is compatible with all version of OpenEdge database backups. If you upgraded to a more recent version of OpenEdge, but have a database backup from a previous version, and need descriptive information about that backup, then you can use the -describe function to do so.

Syntax

The syntax for the -describe function is similar to other functions for the PROREST utility, like the -vp function.

Below is an example of the syntax:
prorest <db-name> <backup-file-name> -describe
Below are examples of the output of this function.
Table 1. Full backup 


Volume 1 of a full backup for database: /largedisk/dbindigo/demos/PI2021-4/prorest-describe-demo/demodb.db
The backup was taken at: Tue Oct 12 17:46:11 2021
The OpenEdge version where the backup was taken: OpenEdge Release 12.5
The minimum OpenEdge version to restore the backup: OpenEdge Release 12.5
The backup version: 0xd1 (209)
The platform for the backup: Linux
The endianness for the backup: Little Endian
Online backup (online): TRUE
Incremental backup (-incremental): FALSE
Enable AI online (enableai): FALSE
Backup BI clusters (bibackup): TRUE
Volume size (-vs): 0
Blocking factor (-bf): 34
Backup without recovery (-norecover): FALSE
Compression (-com): TRUE
Compression level (-comlevel): 3
Incremental overlap factor (-io): 0
Redundancy factor (-red): 0
Table 2. Incremental backup 1 
Volume 1 of an incremental backup for database: /largedisk/dbindigo/demos/PI2021-4/prorest-describe-demo/demodb.db
The backup was taken at: Tue Oct 12 17:50:20 2021
Incremental backup sequence: 1
Last full backup taken at: Tue Oct 12 17:46:11 2021
The OpenEdge version where the backup was taken: OpenEdge Release 12.5
The minimum OpenEdge version to restore the backup: OpenEdge Release 12.5
The backup version: 0xd1 (209)
The platform for the backup: Linux
The endianness for the backup: Little Endian
Online backup (online): TRUE
Incremental backup (-incremental): TRUE
Enable AI online (enableai): FALSE
Backup BI clusters (bibackup): TRUE
Volume size (-vs): 0
Blocking factor (-bf): 34
Backup without recovery (-norecover): FALSE
Compression (-com): TRUE
Compression level (-comlevel): 3
Incremental overlap factor (-io): 0
Redundancy factor (-red): 0
Table 3. Incremental backup 2 

linuxx86_64:125$
linuxx86_64:125$ prorest foo demodb_incr2.bak -describe
Volume 1 of an incremental backup for database: /largedisk/dbindigo/demos/PI2021-4/prorest-describe-demo/demodb.db
The backup was taken at: Wed Oct 13 10:14:38 2021
Incremental backup sequence: 2
Last incremental backup taken at: Tue Oct 12 17:50:20 2021
The OpenEdge version where the backup was taken: OpenEdge Release 12.5
The minimum OpenEdge version to restore the backup: OpenEdge Release 12.5
The backup version: 0xd1 (209)
The platform for the backup: Linux
The endianness for the backup: Little Endian
Online backup (online): TRUE
Incremental backup (-incremental): TRUE
Enable AI online (enableai): FALSE
Backup BI clusters (bibackup): TRUE
Volume size (-vs): 0
Blocking factor (-bf): 34
Backup without recovery (-norecover): FALSE
Compression (-com): TRUE
Compression level (-comlevel): 3
Incremental overlap factor (-io): 0
Redundancy factor (-red): 0