Backup of entire system

[Rahul Pednekar]

Dear all,

I'm going to install some patches and before i install i want to take a backup of entire system. currently two database instances and an application in running. i cant shutdown the database and i want to take the back of entire system. please let know what should i do and how? should i use make_tape_recovery ? and how will it be secured backup

[Pete Randall · Accepted solution]

Ignite (make_tape_recovery) is best suited for backing up your root VG (vg00), not for backing up your entire system. Regular backup methods are best used for your data in order to take advantage of the features they make available, like incremental backups, etc.

That said, installation of a patch is not going to affect anything other than your root VG. Backing up your data is a good precaution, but your main goal here should be to recover your system in case the patch does not work as intended. In this case, a make_tape_recovery of your root vg should work just fine.


Pete

[Chan 007]

Rahul,

Split your root mirror to have your mirror disk intact, best way if you get your root disk into problems.

Also take a tape backup or ignite for vg00. (Very coucious...)

But for data base backup, you need to shut your instance, as that is a well known method to have a cold backup.

Inform your serious impact of service, so that they will allow a down time for the db.

All the best.

Chan

[Shameer.V.A]

Hi,
You can use make_tape_recovery og ignite-ux for creating root vg backup. But restoration will take more time.

Better if you are having a 2-way/ 3-way mirroring, You can remove one disk while mirror is in-sync (after giving a sync command & checking the lvdisplay -v for no stale PE/LE).

You can apply the patches. If every thing is normal you can put the hdd back. Other wise you have to boot from the removed hdd & do remirror .

Hope these will help you to conclude..

Regards,

Shameer

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom,

You can use make_tape_recovery to back up your entire system.

The database application backup will be useless unless there has been no activity on the database since the last cold backup.

Thats why most folks recommend a second tool to back up the databases, such as fbackup (db in backup mode).

If you use oracle and can put the database in backup mode, make_tape_recovery may successfully back up the database.

Recovering individual files from a make_tape_recovery is a pain to do. Its possible, but the tool is designed to back up a whole system, not individual files.

SEP

[Rahul Pednekar]

thanks for the reply. all i need to know is if i take a backup with make_tape_recovery what all filesystems will it backup? please let me know the exact command for taking the backup carefully.

thanks.

[Shameer.V.A]

Hi Rahul,
You can use the following command for taking the whole root vg backup ( Whatever file system on /dev/vg00 will be backed up).

#make_tape_recovery -a -v

The above command will give verbose output . So you will come to know what is getting backed up.

For more details use #man make_tape_recovery.

Regards,

Shameer

[Bharat Katkar]

Hi Rahul,

To backup OS:

# make_tape_recovery -ACv -a

You can also use "-x incl_entry=/dev/dsk/name|vg_name" option to include VG's ro disks other than VG00.

To Backup Data:

Use Omniback or fbackup.
These tools are more powerful, reliable and safe.


Regards,

[Indrajit_1]

Hi;

Yes, u can go ahead with make_tape_recover command

#make_tape_recover -x inc_entire=vg00

Cheers
Indrajit

[Rahul Pednekar]

Thanks to all.. i would use the make recovery command and backup the data individually. :))