pre requisites for server reboot

[Jayraj]

Hi all,

some times when I reboot the server I find some of the configuration files are changing.. So what are the configuration files that we have to backup before going to a reboot..

ver: HP 11.11

[Duncan Edmonstone]

COnfiguraton files shouldn't get changed when you run a reboot... what files do you think have changed post reboot?

HTH

Duncan

[OFC_EDM]

This is a very generic statement which applies to a lot of things.

If you manually adjust a configuration file instead of using a command to update the file. You may lose your settings upon reboot.

So you have to look at your overall method of managing your server. Are you using correct procedures to update files.

If you can give examples of where you're seeing changes at reboot we may be able to offer more assistance.

If you want to backup the appropriate files before a reboot:

1. Use ignite to backup VG00. That should capture required system files.

- If you can place the ignite image on an Ignite server then you can treat it as a tar file and extract any config files you need to restore.

- If you ignite to tape you can restore VG00.

2. If your root file system is mirrored.
Split the mirror
reboot the server
If all is ok then resync the mirror.

If you have issues you can make changes to fix the server.

If you blow up your server you have your mirror to fall back to. But you may still experience the issues (config files changing) but at least have a more or less known state to work from.

I don't recommend the splitting the mirror as a "normal" procedure before rebooting a server. Simply offered it up in case you're having real issues with this particular server.

Cheers.

[Ganesan R · Accepted solution]

Hi Swaraj,

As said above, none of the configuration file contents get changed after reboot. It is possible that you may have applied some network settings temporarily and not updated netconf file to make it permanent. Obviously those setting goes away followed by a reboot.

Same way temporary mounts and not updated in fstab, you may have started some services and not updated the configuration files under /etc/rc.config.d/ to start automatically after reboot. These settings will be lost after reboot.

As a precaution you can run the below commands to take important config files before reboot. So that you can refer this file if system lost some settings or if you need to rebuild the system.

# script /tmp/backup.txt
# model
# uname -a
# ioscan -fnC disk
# strings /etc/lvmtab
# lvlnboot -v
# bdf
# mount -v
# cat /etc/fstab
# lanscan
# netstat -i
# netstat -in
# netstat -nr
# cat /etc/rc.config.d/netconf
# cat /etc/shell
# cat /etc/mnttab
# crontab -l
# cat /etc/exports
# showmount -a
# showmount -e
# exit

Hope this helps.

[Johnson Punniyalingam]

Hi Swaraj,

when you reboot, your server configuration should be the same, it shoudn't change.

>>pre requisites for server reboot <<

1. uptime
2. bdf
3. netstat -rn --> routing tables
4. ioscan -fn ->

either simple and most effective is by running the nickel.script which will collect all the information about the server,prior to reboot of your server,

take look at the attachement of the nickel.script its very usefull, usually i run the script before i reboot any server.. :)

Thanks,
Johnson

[yulianto piyut]

server reboot not changed the configuration files. Just make a ignite backup to tape or ignite server.

[Suraj K Sankari]

Hi,

If you have nickel then run it and take the output into other server.
like nickel cfg2html also there.

I used to take nickel output before doing any activity.

Suraj

[Analyst]

For complete backup of the system we have many methods as the previous writers mentioned.

1. Using Ignite
2. Using cfg2html
3. Using commands ...

In that last method , I like to add few commands.

cat /etc/hosts
cp /etc/passwd , /etc/group.

Thanks,
Analyst.