topic Re: Vax 4300 in Operating System - OpenVMS

Vax 4300

vmsserbo — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 07:14:21 GMT

I am doing a standalone of the system disk this weekend. I just want to verify that I have the proper commands.

$2$DIA0: Mounted VAXVMS62
$2$MUA4: (* Tape drive *)

$ init $2$mua4: 060611SYSTEM.FULL
$ MOUNT/FOR $2$mua4:
$ backup/image/ignore=(INTERLOCK,LABEL,noback)- dia0 $2$mua4:060611SYSTEM.FULL

Is this correct? I am doing it in standalone mode.

Now, to defrag the system disk I will do the following:

$ init $2$DIA0: VAXVMS62
$ MOUNT/FOR $2$dia0:
$ backup/image/ignore=(LABEL) $2$mua4:060611SYSTEM.FULL dia0

Is this correct?

Thanks!

Re: Vax 4300

Ian Miller. — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 07:23:34 GMT

In standalone mode you would

$ backup/image/verify $2$dia0: $2$mua4:060611SYSTEM.FULL/SAVE/INIT/BLOCK=32000

I removed
/IGNORE=internlock - not needed as you are standalone and a Bad Thing anyway
/IGNORE=NOBACK - why do you want to backup the random contents of the page and swapfile?

I added
/VERIFY - you do want to know the backu is good
/BLOCK=32000 - helps to speed up the backup

Use the /INIT qualifier to initalise the tape or initialise the tape before you shut the system down.

To restore
$ BACKUP/IMAGE $2$mua4:060611SYSTEM.FULL/SAVE $2$DUA0:/INIT

I would do two copies to tape before doing this.

Re: Vax 4300

vmsserbo — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 07:29:46 GMT

So , I don't need to mount anything before the commands? Also, Can't I do an init before the actual commands?

Thanks!

Re: Vax 4300

labadie_1 — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 07:32:28 GMT

When you init a tape, the maximum label size is 6 characters, so
$ init $2$mua4: 060611
will be correct

If it is a standalone backup, the /ignore=interlock will be irrelevant
but the syntax is
backup disk tape:label.bck/sav

When defragging, you may want add to the INIT command some qualifiers, /nohigh, /headers=xxx, /maximum_files=yyy
and then
backup/noinit

Re: Vax 4300

Ian Miller. — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 07:39:44 GMT

with traditional VAX standalone backup there is no need to mount anything and you can't as only the BACKUP command is available.

Re: Vax 4300

Ian Miller. — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 07:44:16 GMT

Miles,
while you are here why not assigned a few points to replies to your previous questions

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/pageList.do?userId=CA1322439&listType=unassigned&forumId=1

0-10 points to each reply - entirely up to you. See
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/helptips.do?#33

Re: Vax 4300

vmsserbo — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 07:44:27 GMT

Why do I need to put the "/save". I don't want to put just a saveset file on the system disk, I want to restore all the files, directories and sub directories.

if I use the /save after the restore is finished, won't I only see the /save file instead of all the files directories..etc?

Re: Vax 4300

Ian Miller. — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 08:15:00 GMT

The /SAVE qualifier indicates that the parameter that it is applied to is a saveset.
On the command to backup the disk it is on the 2nd (output parameter). On the command to restore it is on the 1st (input) parameter.
Backup tried to be helpful and defaults to /SAVE for tape devices but it is good practice to use it.

Re: Vax 4300

vmsserbo — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 08:27:45 GMT

Okay so here is what I will use?

$ init $2$mua4: 060611
$ backup/image/verify $2$dia0 $2$mua4:060611/save/block=32000

For the Restore:

$ init/nohigh/owner=system/header=12000 $2$dia0: vaxvms62
$backup/image/noinit $2$mua4:060611/save $2$dia0:

For the vaxvms62 Can I use this it is over 6
or should I use vms062 as the label?

Re: Vax 4300

Ian Miller. — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 08:36:38 GMT

the INIT command for the tape is to be done before you shutdown VMS to perform the backup.

is the figure of 12000 headers based on how many files you have now? The INIT on the restore is only needed if you are going to change something.

Otherwise
$backup/image $2$mua4:060611/save $2$dia0:/INIT

will init the drive with the same parameters that where recorded in the backup.

If this VAX has a 2nd drive have you installed a standalone backup it on it? Its a lot quicker than booting standalone backup from tape.

Re: Vax 4300

Duncan Morris — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 09:05:20 GMT

Miles,

your disk label can be up to 12 chars longs, unlike the tape label.

volume-label

Specifies the identification to be encoded on the volume. For a disk volume, you can specify a maximum of 12 ANSI characters;
for a magnetic tape volume, you can specify a maximum of 6
alphanumeric characters. Letters are automatically changed
to uppercase. HP strongly recommends that a disk volume label
should only consist of alphanumeric characters, dollar signs ($),
underscores (_), and hyphens (-).

Duncan

Re: Vax 4300

Robert Gezelter — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 09:26:06 GMT

Miles,

In addition to what has been said, I would also use the /VERIFY when writing the tape.

Presuming that you are not switching disk drives before the restore, this is a "Bet Your System" operation. Verifying each of multiple tape copies is a good precaution.

I would also consider whether the contiguous space problem can be resolved in other ways. For example, if the problem is caused by a small subset of the files, which would not be unusual on a system disk, I would consider rolling those files off to another place, consolidating the free space, and then restoring the files, rather than a full restore of the disk.

- Bob Gezelter, http://www.rlgsc.com

Re: Vax 4300

John Gillings — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:48:12 GMT

Miles,

Please don't burn any bridges! Tapes break, get eaten by drives, or get bad spots on them. You should perform this task so that you always have a simple fallback - just reboot from the original disk.

Don't restore to the drive you backed up. Get a spare drive and restore to it (or, even better, bypass the tape altogether and backup disk to disk).

If you're really standalone, /IGNORE=INTERLOCK is not needed since there's no one else to be interlocked against

/IGNORE=NOBACKUP is just wasteful. The only files likely to be marked NOBACKUP are page, swap and dump files. You really DON'T need to copy those bits anywhere. The name, security information and allocation size of a NOBACKUP file will be saved, so the correct name, owner and size file WILL be created on restore, but without having to copy all the bits. MUCH faster!

Note that the VAX distribution CDs can be booted into "minimum DCL", just like Alpha, just boot from root 1:

>>> B/R5:10000000 DKA400 (your CD drive)

Just one Gotcha, make sure you say NO to setting the system time during the boot(even though the displayed date is probably wrong!). You can/should SET TIME once you're at the $$$ prompt.