Cloning a system questions

[dictum9]

OK, I cloned the system using Ignite.
I only did vg00.

there are other Volume Groups on the SAN that need to be copied over. What's the strategy for that? Do I use vgexport/vgimport?

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

> There are other Volume Groups on the SAN that need to be copied over. What's the strategy for that? Do I use vgexport/vgimport?

If by 'copy' you mean disassociated from one server and attached to another, then, yes, you will need to use 'vgexport' and 'vgimport'.

Begin by 'vgexport'ing your volume group(s) from the old server. If you have alternate paths (pvlinks) I like to use the 'vgexport' syntax that collects the device paths in a file. Thus:

# vgexport -v -m /tmp/vg01_mapfile -f /tmp/vg01_paths /dev/vg01

Having connected the physical devices to the new server; reboot that server to create device files for the new disks; and edit the file containing the disk paths from the old server to present the correct device files for the 'vgimport':

# vgimport -v -m /tmp/vg01_mapfile -f /tmp/vg01_paths /dev/vg01

The rationale for importing using a path list is that you can balance the alternate paths on the new server so that alternate links can be established on different disk controllers in one step from the onset.

Regards!

...JRF...

[isaac_loven]

Check out HP's new Tool: Dynamic Root disk, to clone vg00. I have used it to clone and mirror 6 pairs of disks for preparation of Vpars.

Search for DRD in software.hp.com
Isaac

[skt_skt]

Try this way:-
Pre-requisites : MirrorDisk/UX software installed in the server.
Sufficient space in a different group of disks for mirroring.

=> Create a spare lv ( temporary one ) to fill up the existing free space of the VG.
=> Add adequate spare disks to the VG.
=> lvextend -m 1 /dev/vgname/lvname
=> lvdisplay -v /dev/vgname/lvname |grep -I stale
To make sure there is no stale LVs.
=> Make sure that there is no data modification happening
In case of a db file system halt the database.
=> lvsplit /dev/vgname/lvname
This will create two lvs as /dev/vgname/lvname and /dev/vgname/lvnameb

[Michael Steele_2]

Pulling a spare boot disk with lvsplit is usually how we do upgrades between test and production servers for application releases and O/S upgrades. Doesn't always work though. That's why we have a test machine. But we always consider it before other alternatives.

It's also a disaster recovery procedure that is often included. Especially when restoring an ignite backup server. (* It has to go up before any others can restore from it. *)

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom again,

I still like Ignite Golden Images.

Its more work.

Its less hardware dependent.

Its more reliable.

SEP