topic Re: Clone VM for backup? in Operating System - HP-UX

Clone VM for backup?

squirrel_2 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:18:26 GMT

Hi colleagues,

how can I clone an Integrity VM with Windows and Linux including the data, optionally including a migration from physical disk to a diskfile?

Once I have the machines in diskfiles, I can easily make backup/snapshot copies.

Thanks in advance!

Re: Clone VM for backup?

Ruben Maarsen — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:35:31 GMT

Hi ebbi,

Did you check the following document?
http://docs.hp.com/en/T2767-90180/ch03s06.html

It's all about using the hpvmclone command.
You can change the backing storage device to file while cloning.

Regards, Ruben.

Re: Clone VM for backup?

Steven E. Protter — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:10:09 GMT

Shalom,

hpvmclone clones the vm environment, including any windows/linux guets.

Ignite may be of some utility in getting the boot configuration if you are trying to move from 1 hpvm host to another.

SEP

Re: Clone VM for backup?

squirrel_2 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:01:50 GMT

Thanks for your answers, I already knew this document.

What made me curious was this part:

"The hpvmclone command creates a copy of an existing virtual machine and its configuration information. This command copies the configuration files of the existing guest. It does not copy the actual data and software associated with the guest."

Of course I want to copy the data as well and not only the configuration files.

With VMware Workstation I would simply copy the folder containing the disk files and ESX (Virtual Center) contains an option for cloning.

I'm looking for something similar.

Re: Clone VM for backup?

Ruben Maarsen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:27:36 GMT

Hi Ebbi,

There are 3 type of storage possible to be used as backup Storage : raw disk, LVM and flat files.

There are different methods to clone raw and LVM devices.
1. You can use a SAN clone option (e.g. Business Copy/CA for HP SANs) if you have the licenses and a SAN device of course;
2. You can use the 'dd if= of=' command to clone a raw device.

When using flat files, it you can use the cp command ;)

HTH, kind regards, Ruben.

Re: Clone VM for backup?

squirrel_2 — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:15:22 GMT

Hi Ruben,

thanks for your answer.
Yesterday I simply used "dd" to create an image from the physical disk and attached the image to the VM.
Guess what? It works! :)

I can simply copy these files around to make backups or snapshots.
That's what I wanted.

Now it would be interesting, if it is possible to create and use sparse files as disk files.

Re: Clone VM for backup?

Sergej_5 — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 04:23:34 GMT

Hi Ebbi!

Can you provide commands that you have used to dd disk and make new virtual machine up and running?

Brgds,
S.

Re: Clone VM for backup?

squirrel_2 — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 09:27:10 GMT

Today is Sunday, but I'll check my bash history tomorrow. :)

Re: Clone VM for backup?

Sajith P V — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 13:27:14 GMT

hi..

use hpvmclone command to clone the VM

#hpvmclone -P linux1 -N linux2 -b disk:scsi:0,0,0:file:flename with path

Re: Clone VM for backup?

squirrel_2 — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 07:56:00 GMT

Sounds good!

Mine was quite unspectacular:
dd if=/dev/dsk/c4t0d1 of=/VMdisk/vm001/vm01d1.vfd

It simply worked and still works fine.