Stand alone backup

[nipun_2]

Hi,
I am trying to do stand alone backup and wanted to confirm the following sequence of commands

Mine is a common environment cluster and I am tyring to backup the common system disk (dkb0) on the server

shutdown the cluster
start the DCL commands from VMS CD-rom on the server

$$$ INITIALIZE MKA300:sysbk
$$$ mount /override=identification DKB0
$$$ mount /foreign mka300
$$$ backup /image /verify dkb0: mka300:MAY10_05_BACKUP.BCK/SAVE_SET

So this should enable me to do the system backup for my entire system disk files.

I would not like to do incremental backup so I kept the /image backup.

If there is any glitch in the sequence of commands or some better way to use
backup with some other qualifiers (e.g interlock etc.) please let me know

Thanks in Advance.
Nipun

[Uwe Zessin · Accepted solution]

$$$ INITIALIZE MKA300:sysbk

There is a space (" ") missing after the ":".

$$$ mount /override=identification DKB0

I would add /NOWRITE - just a minor additional safety and rather write "DKB0:".

$$$ mount /foreign mka300
$$$ backup /image /verify dkb0: mka300:MAY10_05_BACKUP.BCK/SAVE_SET

I think BACKUP will complain about the tape label. Adding /IGNORE= LABEL_PROCESSING should 'fix' this. You don't need INTERLOCK, because no process has any user files open on this disk.

[Volker Halle]

Nipun,

just some small suggestions:

$$$ MOUNT/OVER=ID/NOWRITE DKB0:

Just to protect your disk, if you would make a mistake and specifiy that disk as the output of your BACKUP command.

$$$ BACKUP ...add /IGNORE=LABEL/BLOCK=65535
and /MEDIA=COMPACTION (if you tape supports this). A larger block size than the default of 8192 bytes can extremely speed up your backup.

Volker.

[Jan van den Ende]

Uwe wrote:


I think BACKUP will complain about the tape label.
/quote>

I do not think so, I know for sure! And not only at the label, for that matter.
The maximum total length of the saveset name is 17 chars (name, ".", extension; all counting).
If not specified with /LABEL=.. , then the label will equal the NAME part of the saveset, and a label has a max length of 6 chars!
And (a matter of taste, and experience) I would include the disk name in the saveset name, where the string "BACKUP" is superfluous.
Using DKB0 in the example would be unkind, because all non-zero SCSI disks have 3-digit numbers.
How about: (your example) DKB0_050510.BCK ( & DKB200_050511.BCK for tomorrow's DKB200).
Just check: exactly 17 chars!
Do not forget /LABEL=

Success.

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[Uwe Zessin]

DKB0: is short for DKB000: (=Target 0, LUN 0). OpenVMS is lazy :-)

I haven't specified long saveset names on tape for a long time, but I recall that BACKUP or some other component in VMS used to silently truncate the name.

[Jan van den Ende]

Uwe,

just try!

When one of us recently changed the savesetname algorithm and came to an over-17 length result, it just balked.

I am pretty sure that it was after we changed to SAN, ie, we were already at VMS 7.3-2

Proost.

Have one on me.

jpe

[Uwe Zessin]

Sorry, don't have a tape drive connected.

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

If your tape has been used before, I would add /dens=xxx to the init command (xxx=highest density available for your drive).

Only the init command can change the density of the tape. So, if your tape was previously used on an older tape drive, you would loose speed and capacity.

Wim

[Antoniov.]

For me, /IGNORE=INTERLOCK may be useless but I use it.
If backup some system file, backup could stop.

Antonio Vigliotti

[Volker Halle]

Antonio,

this thread is about STANDALONE backup. Using /IGNORE=INTERLOCK would not be applicable here, as files cannot be open for write on the CD.

Volker.