VM backup for OS upgrade

Olga_1 · ‎01-22-2010

Hello all,

We are planning to upgrade OS from hp-ux v2 to hp-ux v3 on our HP server (VM host HP-UX B.11.23 U ia64) and on VM clients, which are configured on LV.

What would be the best way to backup VM clients.

I am planning to backup OS on the VM host using Ignite-ux.
If I include vg01 along with vg00, will it save the VM clients configurations?

VM ver A.03
I understand that I also have to upgrade VM software to v 4 in order to run it on hp-ux 11i.31.
Thank you very much,
Olga

Steven E. Protter · ‎01-22-2010

Shalom Olga,

1) Drop the upgrade plans. Do not use upgrade-ux. It is unreliable and has trouble correctly upgrading the OS. Plan a cold install of the OS into a new VM machine, followed by re-installation of all applications.

An Ignite backup of the HOST system, will include configuration of the guest vm systems. Take ignite backups of them as a precaution.

SEP

Steven E Protter
Owner of ISN Corporation
http://isnamerica.com
http://hpuxconsulting.com
Sponsor: http://hpux.ws
Twitter: http://twitter.com/hpuxlinux
Founder http://newdatacloud.com

Olga_1 · ‎01-22-2010

Thank you, Steven.

I tried running ignite and saw warnings in recovery.log
* /opt/ignite/bin/save_config -f /var/opt/ignite/recovery/client_mnt/0x0
01CC43AEBD6/recovery/2010-01-22,14:34/system_cfg vg00 vg01
save_config: warning - /dev/vg01/469d3 has unknown type of filesystem on it
save_config: warning - /dev/vg01/419d1 has unknown type of filesystem on it
save_config: warning - /dev/vg01/469d1 has unknown type of filesystem on it
save_config: warning - /dev/vg01/469d2 has unknown type of filesystem on it
save_config: warning - /dev/vg01/419d3 has unknown type of filesystem on it
save_config: warning - /dev/vg01/419d2 has unknown type of filesystem on it
save_config: warning - /dev/vg01/469d4 has unknown type of filesystem on it
save_config: warning - /dev/vg01/419d4 has unknown type of filesystem on it
I guess this is normal, as VMs are configured on LVs. But my concern that the net_recovery needed only 30 GB of space for the image. Does it includes my VM clients?
Do I have to then run individual ignite backups for each VM client in order to save their OS and data?

Johnson Punniyalingam · ‎01-22-2010

>>Do I have to then run individual ignite backups for each VM client in order to save their OS and data?<<<

offcourse , you have to "precaution" better than cure. so meaning backup the OS is always better.

>>save_config: warning - /dev/vg01/419d4 has unknown type of filesystem on it<<

above errors shows some thing different, becoz

* while do Ignite backup we d'not include "other" volume group expect "vg00" only

* so Ignite doesn't understands file system type like "419d4" it always understand some thing like "/dev/vg01/lvolxx" so please check why does your "volume group" vg01 -> shows like that in numbers instud of showing like logical volume "lvol"

* or i would advice only to include only "vg00" while performing the Ignite backup" You can exclude other volume group hence other volume group may contain application data while can be backup using backup software like "Data proctector" or Netbackup which is more realiable than "Ignite backup" for Volume group / file system other than "vg00" operating file system