Can anyone actually explain Ignite UX to me

[JackieB]

Hi folks,

I'm a little confussed about Ignite. I mean I know it can be used to provision systems, i.e. install the OS on HPUX boxes from a network boot...but that hardly disaster recovery is it? That's just rebuilding a machine, no. I mean if I have a system on the network with loads of data and users and databases on it and it gets trashed..how do I use Ignite to get it back to it's perfect state before it died. Surely a backup tape/disk from Data Protector is going to have the old data? To what extent is Ignite used in the diaster recovery process and what is the ultimate recovery that it should be used for? If I have say 10 different HPUX boxes with differing versions of the OS on a subnet and differing software on them what should I use Ignite for in order to protect them?

Thanks for all feedback and clarification.

Jackie

[john123]

Ignite should ideally used only to recover the Operating system..So normally ignite will be taken for vg00 , So it can recover your server with all its software configuration including the software libraries and bundles..

And your DB or applications should be recovered from the hot and/or cold backups separately..Ignite do not have any mechanism to do a hot backup of ur application or database..

[Ganesan R]

Hi,

Though ignite have options to take backup of all volume groups(non root volume groups), it is preferred to take only the operating system i.e VG00. Because ignite is not designed to deal with huge data backup, online database backups, etc.. etc.. These things normally done by special tools like HP data protector, Veritas netbackup. These tools are well designed to handle this kind of backup not ignite.

So when system crash we can easily restore the operating system either from tape or from ignite server and restore the data from the backup tools DP or netbackup. This will reduce the downtime of disaster recovery.

[Prasu]

You can use it for..

1. Disaster revocey (from tape & ignite server)
2. can use to restore single file/directory
3. multiple version of hpux machines can be served from single ignite server


Regards
Prasu

[Pete Randall]

The key to Ignite is that it rebuilds your root volume group in it's entirety. That includes (hopefully) the backup software that you used to protect the rest of your data (as well as all your other application software). With vg00 rebuilt, you can then go on to restore your data using your conventional backup software, taking full advantage of that software's features for source control, volume management, etc.

It's a quick, convenient way to get your root volume group back.


Pete

[JackieB]

Very good folks. That makes sense.
If each of my 10 HPUX servers is an Ignite client can I have an Ignite server automatically "collect" their vg00's each week say and then if any of them (the HPUX servers) completely crashes can I boot the crashed machine from the network and have the Ignite Server push its particular archived vg00 back to the crashed machine?

Does my question make sense?

Jackie

[Ganesan R]

Hi Jackie,

Ofcourse it is possible and that is for ignite is designed.

You just need to put an entry in crontab to schedule the ignite backup of clients once in a week.

During the system crash you can pull the image from the ignite server to restore the client.

[Bill Hassell]

Ignite is just for your boot disk(s), typically vg00. Your Data Protector tapes are worthless until you can boot HP-UX so in a disaster where everything is lost (smoke and rubble), your replacement system must first be Ignited so it can boot up. Note that using a pre-installed system will require immense amount of work to get everything right, so you replace whatever is on the boot disks with your Ignite image. Then you run Data Protector to first update your vg00 mountpoints with newer files, and finally, restore all the other volume groups as necessary.