fbackup to Sun SAN-Based Storage?

[David Baraloto]

I want to use fbackup and frestore to backup/restore logical volumes from HP9000 systems to a SAN. Access to the SAN is through SunFire servers via NFS. I'm currently doing this with tar and seem to have some problems restoring the data.

Can I use fbackup/frestore and send data to/from an nfs mount? If I use fbackup and write data to a Solaris machine, will frestore be able to read it?

The HP9000's are prototype equipment and I cannot add hardware or software to them.

[Michael Tully]

You won't be able to do remote fbackup/frecover, as it is not supported. There are other methods:

NFS mounted (not my choice) using fbackup
Use cpio
or you could try dump/rdump

[harry d brown jr]

you could try GNU tar! Which you will need for BOTH machines!

Although I find backing up SAN data over a NETWORK (note ethernet) the dumbest idea because the SAN is a NETWORK and should be treated that way. Use the SAN to backup your data. If you CAN'T backup using the SAN, then get a different SAN and/or storage units!

For those of you contemplating building a TAN (Tape Area Network) when your storage is on a SAN, reconsider because it's absolutely stupid.

I can hear it now (think star wars): Luuukkkeee....use the SAN....

live free or die
harry

[David Baraloto]

I need to change the software on the HP workstations - both the OS and applications - across the network. The HP workstations are used for software testing. I store all the previous versions of OS's and apps on the SAN and transfer them across the network to the HP's. Previously, removable hard drives were used in all the workstations, but that is no longer feasible.

I'm currently taring up the logical volumes on the HP's via NFS to the SAN and when I need to change the software on the HP's they untar the required data from NFS mounts.

However I'm beginning to suspect that some of the data is getting corrupted by tar.

I simply want to know if I can perform an fbackup/frestore to and from an NFS mount on a Sun server

[Steven E. Protter · Accepted solution]

Simple answer is yes, you can restore data to an NFS mount on a sun server, or any other Unix server that has exported the filesystem.

fbackup/restore does allow you to do files bigger than 2G which tar, cpio and pax do not current allow.

Be advised that this traffic will go through your regular NIC card. If you have a fibre card and are attached to the SAN you get get better throughput through that media. The fibre card is simply another scsi device on your hp-9000 system. They are not cheap.