fbackup, make_recovery and imported file systems

[Omar Alvi_1]

Hi,

Is it possible to backup (NFS and Samba) imported filesystems using fbackup and make_recovery?

Regards,

-Alvi

[Sridhar Bhaskarla · Accepted solution]

Hi Alvi,

It is possible to backup NFS using fbackup using the option "-n". By default it does not cross NFS mounts.

make_recovery has been outdated and replaced by make_tape_recovery. Load the latest Ignite/UX software from software.hp.com. I would use Ignite/UX only for taking the OS image. It is not intended for regular data backups.

-Sri

[Steven E. Protter]

Yes you can backup remote filesystems that are mounted by NFS and/or Samba with fbackup.

Oracle and other databases need to be down or scripted into backup mode for fbackup to effectively back them up.

make_recovery is obsolete and should not be used. make_tape_recovery can not be easily used to back up remove filesystems as far as I know. The command line usually discriminates by volume group.

make_tape_recovery is desinged to make bootable tapes/backups. IT has the same issues with databases as fbackup does. See the script I attache.

SEP

[G. Vrijhoeven]

Hi Alvi,

For fbackup it is a yes:
add the -n option.

-n Cross NFS mount points. By default, fbackup does not
cross NFS mount points, regardless of paths specified
by the -i or -g options.

For make_recovery i would not know how and why. You need this tape in case of server crash. I hope only one server crashes at a time :-).

HTH,

Gideon

Gideon

[Patrick Wallek]

The others have answered your question concerning fbackup.

It would be possible to do this with Ignite/UX as well. You should use a recent version and use the make_tape_recovery command instead of make_recovery.

Let's say you wanted to backup the NFS filesystem mounted at /nfs_mount in addition to VG00. You would use the following command line:

# make_tape_recovery -a /dev/rmt/?mn -I -v -m tar -x inc_entire=vg00 -x include=/nfs_mount

Note that you must use the appropriate no-rewind tape device with the -a option.

Be aware that if you do backup the nfs mounted filesystem via make_tape_recovery, it WILL be restored if / when you restore your system from the tape. NFS will NOT be available at that point so it will be restored locally so if it is a large filesystem you will need to plan for the appropriate amount of disk space.