OpenVMS v. 8.x - running on BL860c Blades + EVA 4400 full backup & restore procedure

[Petr X]

Hello all from ITRC,
I'm seeking for a easy to use option which could be applied as full backup/restore procedure. I'm dealing with 4 node blade cluster + EVA 4400 storrage, no tapes. My intention is to have a kind of BIG image as it is so in case system is screwed I can do something like boot from OpenVMS CD run a "restore command" and all things = Openvms + all data will be restorred. After that operation one reboot which will load a regular OS + data + applications as they were running before the system becomed screwed.

Is there such solution? is my first question and second is there a non-3rd party solution?

Thanks to all for response.

[Hoff]

Various sites I work with have a pool of system disk clones; disks are cheap, after all.

Set up InfoServer and/or the vDVD stuff.

Set up your standard archival processing. Particularly focus on your data, and consistent copies of your databases. (OpenVMS itself is usually recoverable. Your data is unique.)

Set up a second system disk and the EFI boot aliases.

Look to use split shadowsets (see the HBVS manual) or BACKUP /IMAGE or such off a secondary disk or DVD to create copies of your system disk.

And keep as much of the local stuff off the box as you can; with few and preserved and cataloged customizations involved, you can replicate your disk off distributions. This approach also reduces the frequency you'll need to back up the whole system disk; you just need to copy the core and modified files, and the system authentication database for this case.

But what you need to do here depends heavily on your environment, your local modifications, and your goals.

[Petr X]

Hi

Situation is this:

- Customer is reachable only via remote connections (like ssh, telnet ...)
- EVA Firmware upgrade is needed
- Customer is having doubts about this upgrade/update and would like to have a nice solution for backup/recovery procedure.
- Customer does not have any additional backup solution in place
- There is not much space/time to search for useful 3rd party solution or for any long-term implementation

I know I can do "backup /image" for system but still, I'll have to do additional backup for appz + its data.
So, I was wondering, if there isn't a solution which might be extremly unefficient, yet applicable for my case = do a biiiig image of everything and in case things screw up do recovery with one commad. Customer would agree to that solution I'm sure. Management likes easy things from Win env.

[Hoff]

Possible? Sure.

What you're asking for is one of the system management and command sequences described in the OpenVMS installation and upgrade manual and in system management documentation. Check the core OpenVMS documentation for the full sequence; the installation and upgrade documentation for OpenVMS I64, the system disk archival processing in the system manager's manuals, and the BACKUP chapter.

Would I implement this solution? Unlikely. It's big, slow, comparatively wasteful, and unnecessarily adds substantially more time to the recovery; it's a "tape" solution in the "disk" era. Disks are cheap. Tapes are good for archival and off-site, but they're not good for fast disk recovery.

If you're going to park a BACKUP saveset on a disk, why not park a bootable system disk copy on the same disk? Skip a few steps...