Backup methods

[Mike Smith_33]

I have two rp3440s clustered with MC Serviceguard. Each node has an internal Ultrium 460 tape drive. The configuration is active /active in that one node functions as the test/development box while the other is running production. I would like to know how you backup and if you have any recommendations for this configuration. Do you use third party software, fbackup, SAM???

Any scripts that can be shared are appreciated.

[Patrick Wallek]

How much data are you taling about? Any databases, like Oracle? If so, do you shut them down or do hot backups? What kind of backup window?

We use fbackup for a few things, and some home-grown scripts for a few others. Generally we use Syncsort Backup Express for almost all of our backups.

[Pete Randall]

We use DataProtector, though any of the Enterprise level backup tools are generally pretty good. The advantage over native backup methods like fbackup is the extensive database that can track your backup media, the scheduling capabilities, etc. etc.


Pete

[A. Clay Stephenson]

I use Data Protector in conjunction with pre & post exec scripts to shutdown applications/databases,do vxfs snapshot mounts, restart the applications/databases, and finally unmount the snapshots when finished. This way you have almost all the uptime of a hot backup with all the safety of a cold backup.

You really need to consider a tape library so that it's easy to create duplicate media for offsite storage. Also, a tape library makes "point and click" restores possible w/o ever having to look for media.

I can tell you that one potential concern you may face (if this cluster stores any kind of financial data) is SOX compliance. Combining test and production environments within the same MC/SG cluster raises red flags for the auditors. Never mind that test users are never supposed to be able to modify production; proving that that is not possible under all circumstances can be very difficult.

[Mike Smith_33]

** Points will be given at close of thread

I have about 110 gb total and the database is Oracle. The dba is working on a script to cpio - gzip (hot backup) the files to a location and I would pick them up from there. We just found out cpio has a 2gb limit so he is reviewing fbackup. The rest of the data is just regular files.

[Patrick Wallek]

We do something similar with our Oracle backups. However, we leave tar, cpio, fbackup, etc. completely out of the picture.

The script we use looks for the Oracle datafiles, finds the full path to it for the source, then basically pre-pends a directory name to the path for to make the destination. Our directory structure is basically duplicated that way.

We then take the source and destination and run compress.

So if we have:

Source = /u20/proddb/oradata/db01.dbf
Destination = /oraback/u20/proddb/oradata/db01.dbf.Z

compress command is:

compress < /u20/proddb/oradata/db01.dbf > /oraback/u20/proddb/oradata/db01.dbf.Z

We then back up the /oraback directory via gnu tar, but will soon move to a backup server.

There are more steps involved in the script, especially with regard to re-creating the directory structure under /oraback, but hopefully you get the basic idea.

[Yogeeraj_1]

hi,

here we use Oracle RMAN and Data Protector!

Oracle RMAN is used to do do HOT backup of our database to disk

then

Data Protector is scheduled to backup those files and Oracle RMAN backup files to the Ultrium Drive. (not that with this approach, we do not backup the Oracle database datafiles since the database is always up!)

Also, you can also use RMAN and the appropriate media management software to backup the database directly to the Ultrium drive.

hope this helps too!

kind regards
yogeeraj

[Mike Smith_33]

Thanks to all who took the time to respond and share with me.