replacing root disk in server

[Bruce Vanderford_2]

I need to start replacing root disks in my 4 servers.
I also have DEC raid units attached to each server, with several volume groups
per raid unit. I have lost one or two servers in the past two years, and have
not had any luck in recovering my volume groups. I have always needed to
recreate and then retore data from backup. This can be a very time consuming
operation. I keep a buckup of my vol?.conf on all servers for all servers but
cannot recover from this.


I run vgcfgrestore -n (backup volume group name) (SC4600 disk name to restore
to) and have no luck??


What else do I need to do??

[Jason Luginbuhl_1]

Paul has given a very good description how to handle your non-vg00 volume
groups.

The vgcfgrestore command that you have mentioned is helpful for restoring the
lvm configuration (i.e. sizes and position of lvols) of a particular volume
group but it does nothing for the data. You will still have to create
filesystems and restore the data from tape.

If you are looking for a good way to restore your vg00, unfortunately the
vgexport/vgimport method explained by Paul will not work. A volume group needs
to be inactive in order to vgexport it. That is a contradiction with vg00. Your
system cannot be up and running without your root vg active. However, a
excellent work-around for this is the make_recovery utility which is part of
the Ignite-UX product. This product is free to be downloaded at
http://www.software/hp.com/products/IUX

The web site contains all the information you will need on how to install and
use ignite. The "make_recovery -A" command will allow you to create an exact
copy of your vg00 on a bootable tape. The result is that you can replace the
disk(s) in vg00, boot from the tape and the vg00 is restored to the way it was
when the tape was made. Putting this together with Paul's info:

1) Deactive and vgexport non-vg00 volume groups. Make sure the map files reside
in vg00.
2) Use "make_recovery -A" to backup all of vg00.
3) Halt the system to replace the vg00 disk(s).
4) Boot from the Ignite tape to reimage the disk(s) in vg00.
5) vgimport the non-vg00 volume groups back using the map files in vg00.

That should get you back to the way you were.