HPSIM - Backup?

[Steve York_1]

OK peeps, this could be a bit of a dumb question. But how do you backup the configuration of your HPSIM server?

Or is it just a case of making sure you have a copy of certain directories?

I am thinking of a scenario where you may not need/want to restore the complete server, but need to re-create the HPSIM Server Instance.

Cheers

Steve

[Maurice Skubski_1]

on HP-UX it es easy: Ignite

on Windows maybe it is the best idea to generate an Image.

If you have SIM and SE installed using an Oracle DB, there is a Backup function (mainly related to RMAN).

regards
Maurice

[Steve York_1]

Thanks Maurice,
Guess it would help if I gave all the required information ;-)
I am running on Windows 2000 using MSDE as the database backend.

[Jim Walsh_2]

Personally I do nightly incremental file system backups, and then weekly database dumps and weekly full filesystem backups.

So if you have not setup backups of the database, I'd set that up in SQL. If you need help setting up backup jobs in SQL we can help you out on that as well.

[Seemueller, Andreas]

Hi Steve,

maybe you should consider an upgrade to the Standard Edition of MS SQL server. There you can easily define backup jobs via the Enterprise Manger. This jobs are scheduled and run automatically via the SQL Server Agent.
Then you are able to make periodical disk dumps which can also be backed up during the day because the files are not open.
You can also install the Client Utilities for SQL server on your MSDE but the license is the same as if you use the complete version.

Otherwise you can create such disk dump jobs on the command line via an SQL script and execute them via the command line SQL utility of MSDE (isql.exe I think but I'm noch sure right now) and schedule them via the Windows scheduler.

For backups runnign around midnight or during the weekend It may be useful for you to stop the HPSIM service and you MSDE completely to get a consistent backup of all files which would be open otherwise (I don't know if the HPSIM has permanent open files but it depends on the MSSQL server so it would be a good idea to avoid running HPSIM while having your database stopped).
A imaging tool would be some add-on for a fast desaster recovery but if you create your images online, e.g. via an agent software, you need also to stop your services.
But give the backup job a high priority if more than one are running concurrently to get your HPSIM service started afterwards without having it stopped for too long. Also have an eye of the reports of you backup. If there are entries that open files were not backed up you may have to think about stopping the service which has open this file.

In our Environment:

- Win2k SP4 / MSSQL 2000 SP3a
- 130 servers monitored
- backup to tape runs twice a day
- database creates a disk dump 5 times a day.

best regards

Andi

[David Libby_4]

Guys, backing up is really great... but restoring is even better. Have any of you actually successfully tested your restore procedures? If not I suggest you do so before you have your first "incident".

It's not just the database you need to backup but there's a huge list of config files as well... just one example the discovery templates... they are not stored in the DB. I'm currently constructing a script to backup and restore an HPSIM config on HP-UX, most of the commands are the same on Windows. It's not priority #1 at the moment but I'll post the script to the hpsim scripts and tools forum once it's done.

[David Libby_4]

Hi Guys,

Finally HP have published backup and restore guides... still doesn't mean we shouldn't test them...

HP-UX/Linux
==============
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00740520/c00740520.pdf

Windows
============
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00740865/c00740865.pdf

I guess that's the end of this thread.... still didn't get round to finishing the promised script. Don't hold your breath :-)

All the best,
David

[Steve York_1]

Cheers David, most helpful

Regards

Steve

[David Libby_4]

You're welcome :-)

[Steve York_1]

See David's posting for solution