Ignite tape creation

[Ron Zoeller]

I am fairly familiar with Windows, but am a newby to HP-UX. I am using HP-UX 10.2 and am looking for step by step instructions on how to create an IGNITE tape and how to use it when/if it becomes necessary. Is this like making a full system recovery tape?

[steven Burgess_2]

Hi Ron

This is your best place

http://www.docs.hp.com/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90810/B2355-90810.html

HTH

Steve

[aparna challagulla]

hi Ron,

i have not worked on 10.2 only on 11i so these guidelines may work with some corrections.
first check to see whether u have Ignite-Ux installed or not. u will find it in the Applications CD of hp-ux or on the hp site.

make_recovery is the command to create an IGNITE tape. see man make_recovery for various options and syntax.

the make_recovery tape will create -
a) the boot image

b) the LVM configuration for th eroot volume group

c) archive of critical files and directories in vg00

make_recovery will only boot ur system and reinstall the created image on ur system.
u should have a regular backup plan for ur other critical files, databases, filesystems etc.. using Omniback or fbackup or other backup utilities.

hope this helps.

regards,
aparna

[Jim Mallett]

Ron,

How you use Ignite will vary depending on your environment. It is possible to Ignite your whole system, but I believe the best use of it is to get your root volume group (vg00) and any other necessary files onto an Ignite tape, then backup your other system files using another method (OmniBack, tar, cpio, etc) onto different tapes. There are a few reasons for this, for me it is mainly speed.

An example, using Ignite, of backing up vg00 would be:
/opt/ignite/bin/make_tape_recovery -x inc_entire=vg00 -v
If you really wanted to get more than the root VG you could add them using -x:
/opt/ignite/bin/make_tape_recovery -x inc_entire=vg00 -x inc_entire=vg01 -x inc_entire=vg0# -v

The restore steps will vary, your best bet if you have the resources it to do a few test runs because it can take a little getting used to.
An example of what you would need to do is:
- Put your Ignite tape into the drive.
- Boot the system.
- Interrupt the boot process.
- Interact with ISL, answer YES
- If unknown, search for the path of the tape drive, SEA. I believe SEA IPL will find only bootable media.
- Boot from the path of the tape drive, BO P#
- This is where things start to vary. The process is menu driven from this point and is fairly simple to follow.

Although it is not the most stimulating reading, you should probably take a look at the documentation to see what is best for your environment, it is located here:
http://www.software.hp.com/products/IUX/index.html

Find a good script to gather your system information and have it with you during the rebuilding process. My account rep gave me a copy of SysInfo which was written by an HP employee, I'm sure you can find something comparable by searching the forums.

Good luck...
Jim