Backup strategy

[u856100]

HI,

I know this is a very open question, but what procedures do HP suggest for backing up their systems?

So far I am assuming the following :
up to date :
- make_tape_recovery's (two copies)
- printout of volume group structure
- fbackup tape(s)

thanks for your help

John

[Bill McNAMARA_1]

test the backup!

I'd recommend also:

/opt/ignite/bin/print_manifest

Do you have your Gold Book?!

Later,
Bill

[Vijeesh CTK]

hi

yes..u can take ignite-UX backups..as well as fbackup of all filesystems..

if u want to take the full system information please refer the link..this s/w is very helpful

http://members.tripod.com/rose_swe/cfg/cfg.html

Regards,

Vijeesh CTK

[Santosh Nair_1]

By backup strategy, I assume you're talking about disaster recovery. If that's the case, then yes, make_tape_recovery and output from print_manifest would help greatly in rebuilding a system. Remember that make_tape_recovery only backs up the root VG by default.

If on the other hand you're talking about regular system backup, then I'm sure HP would highly recommend Omniback. There are of course other option, like Legato's Networker, Veritas' NetBackup, etc.

-Santosh

[Paula J Frazer-Campbell]

Hi

Normal backup I use:-

One tape /backup - (full system)
31 tapes numbered 1-31
at End of month that tape is extracted and stored forever.

Make recovery - once a week unless changes made.

Daily copies of all system confif files to backup tape - passwd, groups, services, inittab etc.

Just some ideas.

Ps don't forget DR solutions - ie what id prime system disk failed ? do you have it mirrored?

Paula

[Bill McNAMARA_1]

I prefer
http://www.grc.hp.com/docs/nickel/

rather than collectInfo.

It is more complete and presentable!

Later,
Bill

[Patrick Wallek · Accepted solution]

Here is what I do on my systems:

1) Weekly make_tape_recovery tapes. These run on Sunday afternoon at 2:00PM so the latest copy of my backup software's database will be included.

2) FULL system backups once a week. Incremental backups the rest of the time. I use Alexandria backup software from CA.

The type of backups you do really depends on your system, the amount of data you have, recovery requirements, recovery speed, etc.

Ignite/UX make_tape_recovery backups are a must for anyone. Ignite just can't be beat for recovering your VG00 if something goes wrong.

As far as backing up your other system data: fbackup is fine for smaller systems that don't have much data and the backup fits on a single tape. If you have a system with hundreds of GB's of data, fbackup is going to be pretty useless. In that case you should be looking at a tape jukebox with multiple tape drives and backup software that can handle that such as OmniBack, Legato Networker, etc.

[S.K. Chan]

Take a look at ..
http://www.hp.com/cposupport/information_storage/support_doc/lpg50113.html#P23_4051
which talks about "data" backup tape rotation strategy.

Apart from what you got listed, it is also a good practice to extract and keep system information online so that in the event of a failure those information can be easily accessible. Ways of doing it includes ..
- customized scripts (sysinfo)
see ..
http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/QuestionAnswer/1,,0x47e2911284f5d5118ff40090279cd0f9,00.html
- nickel (from HP)