/var used space got reduce after ignite restore

[Vee_1]

Hello Everyone,
I made an ignite restore to PA-RISC box.It completed successfully without any issues.But when i looked at /var which was 82% is now showing only 47%.Can anyone help me in this regard.

Thanks

[Mel Burslan · Accepted solution]

At the time of the ignite image creation, /var was only 47% full. Let this be because of the size of /var being larger or files in this filesystem was much less than what it was moments before you did your ignite restore.

ignite, unless specifically directed, takes an image of whole vg00 and at the time of restore, recreate the filesystems and restore the contents from the image. So, whatever was on the ignite image's /var got restored to your new server installation.

You realize that, you actually are rebuilding the server when you do a ignite restore, not just restoring few files. Right ?

[Vee_1]

I do agree Mel.Is there anyway to check the filesystem size in the tape media.I presume it only gives the list of files but not the filesystem size .Right..

[Mel Burslan]

That is correct but fresh after the install, whatever you see as the filesystem size for your /var is what it is on the ignite tape. Prior to install, I don't believe you can see this information without first booting from this tape. But if you boot and get to the hpux install gui/tui, you can see the filesystem sizes as they present themselves to the gui from the tape image. You do not have to go through the restore process. You can just stop there and your disks will not be modified.

[Pete Randall]

Basically what you're saying is that you took a backup at some point in the past, say two days ago. At that time, the /var filesystem was only 47% full. Now you've restored this "backup" and overlaid your 82% full /var filesystem with the two day old image of it when it was 47% full. You have to remember that Ignite starts from scratch and rebuilds vg00 and all it's lvols, then restores what it has on the tape into those empty lvols. If all you had was 47% when the tape was created, that's all you're going to end up with.


Pete