how to backup the whole system on HP-UX 10.20??

[Bernard Chan]

May i know how should i backup my file system . i'm using dds3 tape drive, how to know which is my taoe drive, i'm confuse wif the om,omn...btw, i would like to know more about the dds date catridge...how to erase the data inside the catridge if we want to backup the filesystem using the existing catridge??I'm new to hp-ux so i hope u can answer my easy question...thanx

[Michael Tully]

Hi,

There are a number of ways to backup your system. The best way is to use "ignite". This can be put onto tape and if necessary you can start to recover your whole system from it. You can also use 'tar', 'cpio' and 'fbackup'.

The ignite software can be found here.
http://www.software.hp.com/products/IUX/index.html

The types of devices are basically
0m - normal device
0mn - normal device, but telling the drive not to rewind.

You don't have to erase the tape, it will be done by rewinding the tape and starting a new backup.

Michael

[Clemens van Everdingen]

Hi,

In addition:

Ignite is used normally for backup of your VG00 / root volume group.

Use fbackup to backup the other file systems.
Or you could use sam to create a backup form the other volume groups.

C.

[Bernard Chan]

hi,
that means the existing data on the catridge will be replace by the new data automatically once i use it for another backup?? I'm not sure how to use the catridge...

beside, the iginite command is make_recovery?? wat i want is jx to create a full backup on the hp-ux 10.20 that include everything on the filesystem. So i;m quite confuse wif the wat u told me ....

[Michael Tully]

In my opinion it is best to use 'ignite' to create a bootable recovery tape. You can of course also include other filesystems on the tape should you choose.
To create an 'ignite' tape with just your vg00 volume group (basically your operating system)

# /opt/ignite/bin/make_tape_recovery -x inc_entire=vg00 -I -v -a /dev/rmt/0mn
(note the use of the rewind device)

To backup the rest of your system, use 'sam' to assist you in both scheduling and what to backup.
'sam' uses 'fbackup' to do these. Make sure you use different tapes.

[Bernard Chan]

thanx a lot, now i know what should i do to backup the filesystem. However, there is somethin that i need to know is the difference between dev/rmt/0m & dev/rmt/0mn......if i were use the 0mn, does it mean the data inside the tape will not be replace if i use it again next time?? the data will remain there until the tape is full?? i jx wan to find out how to use the tape catridge....coz i never use it b4 in my life....thanx in advance..

[Stefan Schulz]

Hi,

the n at the end of the devicename means this is a "no rewind" tape.

If you use a tar command on your tapedevice 0m the tape will rewind as soon as the command finishs. If you use the "no rewind" device the tape will stop at this point. This gives you the option to write more data to this tape without overwriting the previous saved data.

Hope this helps

Regards Stefan

[Wong_3]

In the normal practice, use ignite to create a bootable make_recovery tape so that in case of emergency, you have a bootable tape plus / root file system.
After which, use a fbackup to do a full backup of the whole system. Do take note if your system has mirror UX and do a vgchange respectively before performing a full backup.

[Bernard Chan]

hi,
thanks for reply, i have create the system recovery backup tape, but how am i goin to ensure that it is workable?? btw, i use make_recovery instead of make_tape_recovery becoz my workstation dun have this command.thanx

[Michael Tully]

Sounds like your ignite software is out of date. You can download a more recent copy from here, http://www.software.hp.com/products/IUX/download.html which will support the "make_tape_recovery" command, as well as the procedure I listed before. The only way to test it is to boot off the tape or onto another (similar) server. This procedure is used in many many places. Last week I created an image from an L class server and booted in onto an N server. It worked beautifully.

Good Luck
Michael