[Q]is there any method to preserve filesystems during HPUX installation ?

[Tony, Lim]

In case of AIX (IBM UNIX), there is a preserve installation that is able to Cold install except some filesystems.
Only Core filesystems are re-installed.
In HPUX 11.11, what installation method is possible to preseve some existing filesystem during re-installation.
Is there any method to preserve filesystems during HPUX 11.11 installation ??

[Devender Khatana]

Hi,

The same is available even in HPUx. But atleast one disk is required to loose all its file systems while freshly installing HPUx. The same disk will be the OS disk after installation.

Other disks by default will not be touched during installation and the vg's can be imported after installation.

HTH,
Devender

[baiju_3]

Hi Yes,

This will work only if you have a OS installed on seperate disk and all other file system configured on other Disks .


Istalling new OS will overwrite the root disk ,but other volume groups can be imported using vgimport command .

thx,
bl.

[Scot Bean]

Perhaps you need the update-ux command.

This command "updates" your OS, while preserving your data.

See the appropriate "Installation and Update Guide", here: http://docs.hp.com/en/oshpux11iv2.html#Installing%20and%20Updating

[Victor BERRIDGE]

Hi Tony,

A cold install under HPUX is destructive so you cannot preserve anything in vg00, so you loose all what was installed in vg00...
AIX can "preserve" because of its root filesystem in NVRAM (ODM, thats the reason also why you can extend / online in aix...) so with preserve in aix the definitions of volume groups, passwd etc... are preserved.
You can almost achieve this manually by saving all important files such as /etc/fstab etc... on another box via nfs or on a tape and by using exportvg -m of all your VGs.
after install just copy back the the mapfiles and the other files you saved and you should be ok.
The only other alternative would be an update...

all the best
Victor

[Bharat Katkar]

hi,
If you are talking about cold install (reinstall)then it is not possible. You won't be able to retain data.
But if you have vg00 with one internal disk and all other disks belongs to separate VG say vg01,02 etc then you will be able to retain those disks and filesystems.
In that case you will have to create map files of all vg's except vg00 (since this will be destroyed and newer one will be created during new install) and import it on the newly insatlled OS.

Refer to vgexport and vgimport commands.

Hope that helps.
Regards,

[Geoff Wild]

On top of those suggestions - make sure you have a backup!

It is amazing how many configuration files you may have under /etc (smb.conf, sendmail.cf, etc)...then after cold install - select only those files from your backup you need.

Rgds...Geoff

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Tony:

Victor's comments are quite germane. While a cold-install *is* destructive of vg00, I stongly believe in keeping vg00 devoid of anything but the standard operating system logical volumes. Doing this makes the choice of cold-installation easier in my opinion.

As far as collecting and preserving key configuration files before an OS "upgrade", it isn't too difficult to enumerate files you need. If you take an Ignite tape backup beforehand, for instance, you can always extract anything you missed. I use the new OS versions of configuration files as my template and add back my previous version's localizations. In that fashion, I get the most current documentation and enhancements upon which to (re)build.

I strongly favor a cold-install as an opportunity to resize the standard vg00 logical volumes for a new OS release rather than find that a larger, richer set of binaries now reside in a tighter space. Too, a cold-install intrinsically rids the server of predecessor-release patches.

Regards!

...JRF...