make_tape_recovery vs make_recovery

[Chris Fadrowski]

I just installed the latest version of Make_recovery 4.1.61. I was using 3.82.x. i would like to know the difference. I used to do make_recovery -A to grab the entire vg00. Does make_tape_recovery -A do the same thing? or is it make_tape_recovery -x inc_entire=vg00 ?

I will be using MR is the event of system failure and make_recovery -A worked just fine. want to make sure i am getting the same thing using the new version. thanks.

[Patrick Wallek · Accepted solution]

The short answer is YES. I believe -A and -x inc_entire=vg00 do essentially the same thing. The difference is -A will identify what it needs based on what files need to be included in the tape and then the -A will take ALL of whatever VG or VGs contains those files.

The man page contains a very good explanation of what the command does.

Since all of my OS type stuff is kept in VG00, I use the following:

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

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Chris:

'make_recovery' is deprecated in favor of 'make_tape_recovery'. 'make_tape_recovery' is patterned after 'make_net_recovery' and it more robust than the old 'make_recovery'.

To use 'make_tape_recovery' to create a tape archive for all of vg00.

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

Don't confuse the '-i' option of the old 'make_recovery' with the '-i' option of its replacement, 'make_tape_recovery'. The '-I' option of make_tape_recovery is the *same* as the '-i' option of make_recovery. '-I' means cause the Ignite process to be interactive when booting from tape.

Regards!

...JRF...

[Patrick Wallek]

To further elaborate on the essential files, the following directories are considered essential by Ignite/UX:

/sbin
/dev
/stand
/stand/vmunix
/usr/bin
/usr/ccs
/usr/conf
/usr/lbin
/usr/lib
/usr/newconfig
/usr/sbin
/usr/sam
/usr/share
/usr/obam
/bin
/lib
/etc

Now, when you use the -A option to make_tape_recovery it will look at that list, determine which VG or VGs contain those files and include the ENTIRE VG, or VGs if appropriate.

I say VG or VGs since it is possible to have /usr in a separate VG from the rest of the OS stuff. So if /usr were in VG01, using the -A option would include ALL OF VG00 AND VG01 on the tape. I personally don't recomment that setup, but to each his/her own.

With the '-x inc_entire=vg00' option in the above scenario you would NOT get your /usr filesystem since it's on a different VG, thus your tape would be pretty useless.

I personally still like the '-x inc_entire=vg00' option since I KNOW how my machines are set up and I know I am getting everything I need.

You just need to verify how your stuff is setup and act accordingly.

Good luck.

[Chris Fadrowski]

thank you. Everything is on vg00 (ie.. /usr) so it sounds like i could use either -A or -x inc_entire=vg00.

[Steven E. Protter]

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

This is the way I do it in production. Except I don't specify the tape device Ignite goes for the default.

What you end up with is a bootable tape that you can stick in your tape drive and recover vg00 without changing any of the data in vg01.

So it makes sense to keep OS stuff in vg00 and application data in other volume groups.

Thats what makes it very useful. You back up your databases with approved methods but you can recover from a bad batch installal or a major kernel screw up with ease. Take it from a guy whose had to use that tape several times in the past.

make_recovery is just the older version, not as reliable, slated for elimination. Its a good idea to get it out of cron jobs, scripts or anything else you have it in.

SEP