backup & recovery commands

[Goh Cheng Chuan]

we hv a ver 10.20 UX which we want to backup all the systems files (r they at '/stand' directory?) to a tape. questions :
. what wld the command be like if this task is to be scheduled late at nite like 12 midnite

. how wld one recover the OS fr the tape if the OS is deemed faulty?
pls advice

[Rainer_1]

for system recovery backup use Ignite/UX
Download from: http://www.software.hp.com/products/IUX/download.html#10
Other daily backup do with fbackup
See man fbackup or SEARCH in the forum for fbackup

[Dan Hetzel]

The backup tool in HP-UX is 'fbackup'.
You can easily run it from inside 'sam' where you can set up automated
backups.

Start 'sam', select 'backup and recovery'
followed by 'automated backup'. You'll be able to schedule
your backup at any convenient time.

Your system files are mainly located in
/stand and /etc bit it would make sense
do do a full backup if you don't have one
handy, or at least the /stand/, / and /usr filesystems.

The 'make_recovery' tool can be used to
create a bootable recovery tape from an up
and running system. This is NOT a regular backup tool but it can prove useful in case of a major system crash.

Dan

[Goh Cheng Chuan]

hi Dan
we hv set up the auto backup for the files using sam. there's a selection mentioning whether NFS or not, we don't know what files r these so we omitted them. must the backup be done at single user mode?

the 'make_recovery' sounds very useful, how do we do this? think this is at command level & not sam?

[Dan Hetzel]

Hi Goh Cheng Chuan,

Sorry, I can't figure out which one is your first name ;-))

The NFS filesystem is a remote filesystem.
For example, let's say that host A exports its /home filesystem with the appropriate
permissions. Host B will be able to mount
this filesystem (on /home2 for example) and the files will be
accessible as if they were on a local disk.
(some restrictions apply nevertheless)

The command 'mount'on host B will show a line like
/home2 on A:/home .....(flags go here)
instead of
/tmp on /dev/vg00/lvolxx for a local filesystem.

What fbackup is asking you is if you want to
backup only local files or remote files as well.
It won't hurt to try backing up NFS filesystems if you don't have any, but it can take a LONG time to backup if you have many remote filesystems. This will depend mainly on your networking capabilies (i.e: 10Mb vs 100Mb vs 1GB)

As far as the 'make_recovery' is concerned, it would be a bit long to rewrite the manual page, you'd better type 'man make_recovery' to get the basics.

An example:
make_recovery -A -C -d /dev/rmt/?m will
create a recovery tape with the entire root volume group

You could use cron to schedule this at any time.

Dan

[augusto cossa]

Goh,

use a make_recovery -A -C -d /dev/rmt/0m command to create your Ignite tape which you can use for recovery in case of system crash. It's work perfectly.

To recovery thru Ignite just insert tape and switch power on and boot from your DLT. To find your DLT path issue the command search and you'll see DLT path.

enjoi it.

Augusto

[Goh Cheng Chuan]

will attempt the make_recovery command, but can we run this while there r users in the system? if not, how do we use cron to schedule it?

what is DLT? hv tried using a find to look for the directory.

thx
goh

[Rainer_1]

make_recovery can be run at any time.
Just choose a time where the system is not too busy.
DLT is a tape drive (Digital Linear Tape)
ioscan -fnC tape lists all tapes connected to the system.

[Goh Cheng Chuan]

tried the make_recovery command, had an err msg 'sh: make_recovery not found'. the man command also can't find this.

for system recovery, do we just boot up fr
fr the DLT (is it /dev/rmt/0m in our case?) without specifying anything? Just like as if booting fr the disk dr of a PC?

thx
goh

[Dan Hetzel]

Hi Goh,

DLT is a "high speed/high capacity" tape
driver model.
Maybe you don't have any but all comments given for DLT are valid for DAT (the small 4mm tape, standard on nearly all HP servers)

To reboot from your tape, you'll have to:

1. make sure that recovery tape is inserted,
2. interrupt the automatic boot sequence
3. do a 'search ipl' -> this should show the tape device
4. boot from that device

Dan