make recovery

[Brent Hardesty]

I am trying gain a better understanding of the make recovery process. From my understanding the make recovery will restore vg00 only. If I want to restore vg01 or any other vg I need to use a different backup (Omniback, fbackup, etc).

The following is where I would like some clarification. Will the make recovery create a new lvmtab? More importantly, will all of my volume groups, lvm and directory structures be lost (besides the vg00)? If so, I guess I would have to create a script to go in and rebuild all of that information before I did a restore of non-root data. I take it secondary swap will also have to be recreated (if not on vg00).

Thanks for any help you can provide.

We currently use /opt/ignite/bin/make_recovery -A -d /dev/rmt/0m to create our make recovery tape.

[Vincenzo Restuccia]

make_recovery backup all vg00:all lvm and directory structures. See http://docs.hp.com/cgi-bin/fsearch/framedisplay?top=/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90704/B2355-90704_top.html&con=/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90704/00/00/55-con.html&toc=/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90704/00/00/55-toc.html&searchterms=make_recovery&queryid=20010516-073049

[Jim Moffitt_1]

make_recovery will copy everything in your vg00 group. Including your lvmtab. When restoring with this tape, it will recreate your vg00. If on the same system, having the existing lvmtab won't be a problem. Only if you use this in a d/r test(offsite) would you not want that lvmtab. If you are on the same system, then you don't have to do any additional recovery. Once the tape is created, the other volume groups will be activated. Naturally at an offsite facility you will need omniback, fback etc to recover your non vg00 data.

[Brent Hardesty]

Thanks for the quick responses Vincenzo and Jim.

Vincenzo...I will read through your link...thx

Jim... I have some follow up questions...So when you make recover on the same server the lvmtab will be there...is it there because it still exists on the server or because it was archived on the make recovery tape and put back on the server...2nd..Why is the lvmtab good for the same server but not for a d/r server (different server)?

Finally, let me go back to step one...if you use a make recovery on your current server it will rebuild your vg00. Does it destroy everthing else...all of your vg's, data, etc and make the server 'clean' or does it ONLY build vg00 and not touch anything else...leaving any non-root informatin there.

thx again...

[Jim Moffitt_1 · Accepted solution]

lvmtab will be there because it is archived in your make_recovery tape. I don't recommend using the same lvmtab on a new/different server because some of the disks, might be different, even though disaster recovery sites try to make it the same as your own server there will be subtle differences. What I've done in the past(D/R testing only) is to reboot into single user mode after make_recovery has finished restoring vg00. I've moved off lvmtab and stopped any services from coming up like oracle and then rebooted. I then recreated the other volume groups. The reason why I've done this in the past is because my advocate at IBM Business reocvery service adviced me to do so. I've always had a fully successful recovery by doing it his way.

And for your last question. make_recovery actually uses tar to copy your vg00 data to tape. The first step in make_recovery it to put a LIF at the beginning of the tape to make it bootable. Always use /dev/rmt/Xmn no-rewind when running make_recovery. So what make recovery does is copies everything in your vg00 to tape. That includes all volume information. It won't destroy anything at all. It's harmless. If you are forced to restore on your existing system. The only thing you need to do is to boot off your most current make_recovery tape. Once vg00 is restored and you reboot. Your volume information for all other vg's will already exist and your logical volumes will mount.

I hope this helps.

Jim

[Eileen Millen]

You should use 0mn for the tape device.
That is norewind.
Make recovery writes a LIF area on tape as the 1st file set and then does the archive. I was unable to recover when I had used 0m.

[Jim Moffitt_1]

I think I rambled on, but basically lvmtab gets archived along with all of youre /dev/vgxx/ information. So basically it won't destroy any data when restored and all information to bring in other disks already exist so there isn't any extra legwork there. All non-vg00 information exist in /etc, etc/fstab/, /etc/lvmtab.... /dev/vgxx/ and so on. All this data is archived.

[Brent Hardesty]

Eileen:

thx for the heads up...before the restore, when the tape is loaded cant you just do a rewind on the tape

mt ?t /dev/rmt/ rew

and then boot using the tape drive path obtained from

ioscan ?fnCtape

I have never used a make recovery to restore.. but this is how we have our current procedures...and I believe they have worked in the past.

Let me know your thoughts as I am just trying to fully understand this process.

Jim - thx for the info

[Jim Moffitt_1]

Brent, I wouldn't try to do it that way. In fact if the make_recovery man page stated that /dev/rmt/0mn is the default if no device is stated. The reason for the no-rewind as I understand it. It does 2 things, writes the LIF to the beginning of the tape and then goes into archive mode. Running it with no-rewind ensures that the archive will happen right after the LIF has been written. Hope this helps.

Jim

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Brent:

I'd like to add several comments.

> 'make_recovery' is being replaced by a richer 'make_tape_recovery'. I'd go to the Ignite website and download the newest Ignite software:

http://www.software.hp.com/products/IUX/index.html

> To create a recovery tape for vg00 you can do this:

make_tape_recovery -x inc_entire=vg00 -I -v -a /dev/rmt/0mn

> Notice the new 'inc_entire' option. This allows you to collect data from volume groups other than vg00.

> 'vgexport' map files of all volume groups are captured by 'make_tape_recovery' and placed on its tape. Ignite will use these to 'vgimport' non-vg00 volumes during a recovery. This is quite nice if you are merely using Ignite to resize or repair vg00.

If you are restoring onto "unlike" hardware, as for instance at an off-site disaster recovery center, then you will need to create your volume groups using available disk and restore your data.

...JRF...