Check_recovery hangs

[R. van Huissteden]

Hi everyone,

Ive tryed to find an answer to my problem in this forum but did not find it.
What i do see is remarks about the use of Check_recovery. "Just make ignite backups on a regular bases" I agree with that but it does not solve the fact that:
After executing check_recovery it raises on top (in top) and consumes a lot of CPU (95%)
When i do an ps -ef i see that it also generates a defunct. Version is 3.2.45
Things done so far:

swremove and swinstall

swremove and then manualy removed "the rest" like /opt/ignite etc. swinstalled it agian.

between this i also made a backup with -c option so there is something to compare.

A lot of other things.

Until i convince "the rest" how unuseful it is to do a check_recovery from a central server to all of our servers i'm stuck with this problem.

Hope to hear from you

Raymond

[Mike Hassell]

Raymond,

check_recovery can be very useful in determining what has changed on your system since your last make_tape_recovery. Note that check_recovery does not work for make_net_recovery.

The first thing I would do is to check that you are running the latest version of Ignite-UX as there is added functionality updated all the time:

http://www.software.hp.com/products/IUX/download.html

After you have swinstall'ed the latest version, then I would take a detailed look at how you are creating your make_tape_recovery backups. Take a look at the following discussion on scripts used for kicking off your Ignite-UX backups:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0xce21eea29889d611abdb0090277a778c,00.html

Also, I think the -c that you are referring to needs to be capitalized, or rather -C, but I don't have a HP-UX box to check on right now, but I'm almost certain that it is -C.

All I can say is that the best verification of your Ignite-UX backups is a full scale test, that will verify the tape device is functioning properly and that a real recovery can occur. If you have any older hardware that you can test with, this should be a scheduled tasks (once every six months or so).

Hope that helps.

-Mike

[Patrick Wallek]

You really should be using make_tape_recovery to create your Ignite/UX backups. If you are using this then you can NOT use check_recovery. There is no '-C' option to make_tape_recovery. That option is only good with the older make_recovery command.

If you do use 'make_recovery -C' then your Ignite backup will take much longer than if you don't use the '-C' option. If you want, try a test where you do a make_recovery with and without the '-C' and see what the time difference is.

HP has also said at one point that make_recovery was going to be obsoleted and with it the '-C' option and check_recovery. Their reasoning that I heard was that the process was quick enough to run that the '-C' added unnecessary time and creating a new tape would be just as easy.

[R. van Huissteden]

Hello Mike and Patrick,

Thanks for your answers.
I agree with everything you both say.

Mike: I did use the capital C and thanks for the links with useful information.
The only thing i miss in al lot of backup scripts is the verification after the backup is made. (mt -t /dev/rmt/?mn fsf ; tar tvf /dev/rmt/?m) I think this is useful.
In the attachement is the script i use to make the backup. Fortunatly we have a few hundred different machines including test machines so i can fool around a lot and experiment with my ideas. Thats also the reason that i started to use 3.2.45 instead of the old A.1.59 wich is in use on every other machine here.

Patrick: Good to here that check_recovery does not work with make_tape_recovery. The problem is that until i convince the rest of the company how unuseful it is to do a check_recovery from a central server to all of our servers with A.1.59 i'm stuck with this problem. But i'm gonna work on that. The newest versions have far to much nice options.

P.S I've just started 3 weeks ago to really use this forum. Its great! Its nice to have friends thinking with you and giving sugestions.

"you never walk alone"

Raymond