Disaster Recovery

[admin1979]

Hello,

We have variety of TRU64 Systems ( 5.0 , 4.0F & 4.0G ). I want to make sure that I should have proper recovery procedure in case of systems crashes.

I have already taken vdump backup of the root filesystems as a precautionary measures.

I am new to TRU64 , to be very frank, even dont know the difference between 4.0F and 4.0G.

Hence I would like to know from you all experts what are the current disaster recovery measures that we should opt? I am not looking for a sophisticated expensive full fledge DR system , but the one we administrators rely on.
You know what I mean.

Something like mirroring root disk , volsave to save LSM ...etc

If the reply is going to be very descriptive ,
kindly divert me to a link so that I can go through it and revert if I have any specific questions.
Please ask if you need any information.

Thanks,
Sac

[Rob Leadbeater]

Hi Sac,

I guess it depends on your definition of Disaster Recovery...

As a starting point you should ensure that you have vdumps of all the file systems that you think you might need to recover. root, usr and var would be essential.

A recent, printed copy of the output from "sys_check -all" would also be useful to have, as it will detail the hardware in the machine, disklabels, file domain structures etc.

Recovery is generally straight forward. My usual approach is to boot up from the OS CD, and then drop to the Unix shell, from where you can run vrestore etc. to start pulling things back off tape.

If you do want in depth details, let us know...

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Rob

[John Manger]

Just to expand one of Rob's points, you need to have the O/S CD from which to perform the initial recovery boot. That means the you should really have the V4.X or V5.X O/S CD available alongside the tape(s) when the recovery is performed.

Also, another useful recovery option is that of having alternate boot disks. A working alternate root/usr boot disk can save a lot of time during a recovery. That can be achieved with or without LSM.

JM

[admin1979]

Thanks Rob. I really want to know the detailed procedure that you people follow. I may soung greedy but it just that I want to be fully prepared for the forthcoming crashes.
Yes I do have latest vdumps. But not so much confident whether or how they will really be helpful when required? Hence I am asking for the steps.

The mirroring disk option, John suggested, also sounds good but could you be more specific please.

Thanks so far to both of you.



Sac