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[Tip] Backup and restore on AIX
Quote:
Originally Posted by bakunin
And for system-wide backups i would use "mksysb" and "savevg" solely under AIX - neither "tar" nor any of the other aforementioned programs.
Just my 2 cents.
bakunin
Pretty penny's.
Just remember that mksysb and savevg are just front-ends for backup.
In other words, backups on AIX are organized by volume groups. mksysb is specialized for rootvg and savevg is used for other volume groups.
Ignoring that rootvg also creates files needed to boot a system that basic content and layout is the same.
Note: when mksysb is written to a file, rather than bootable medium, there is no boot program appended to the file (see above).
restvg - restore volume group - is the standard tool for restoring backups created by savevg.
"Booting" is the normal interface for restoring an mksysb image. Since a file does not have a normal boot interface a nim server can be used to restore practically any mksysb image. Two commands are needed to create the resources needed to restore an mksysb image "asis".
And then a nim bos_inst command using the two resources just defined to boot and install the image.
Getting back to restvg:
restvg -l -f savevg_or_mksysb.file will tell you what is in the backup - sort of like doing an lsvg -l command.
That is all for now. Questions and Comments to see where this takes us.
---------- Post updated 02-25-13 at 11:27 PM ---------- Previous update was 02-24-13 at 11:42 PM ----------
Questions is other threads remind me the importance of clearing limits for root user.
This sets all ulimt settings to unlimited for root in /etc/security/limits
There may be reasons to hold some limits but this is a default I use in my nim fb_scripts (first boot scripts).
Note: you may need to perform a similar command for other applications using large files: e.g., oracle, itdsldap.
If you want to remove limits for everyone the command is simple (editing files is so 1985 :wink: )
Moderator's Comments:
edit by bakunin: added prefix "[Tip]" to the threads title.
Last edited by bakunin; 02-26-2013 at 06:33 PM..
These 2 Users Gave Thanks to MichaelFelt For This Post:
Just remember that mksysb and savevg are just front-ends for backup.
In other words, backups on AIX are organized by volume groups. mksysb is specialized for rootvg and savevg is used for other volume groups.
Yes, but in fact it is the other way round: a carefully designed system organises data which are logically related (like, for instance, data used by one application) into the same volume group. These groups of logically related data make logical items to be backed up together, which is not surprising.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelFelt
Ignoring that rootvg also creates files needed to boot a system that basic content and layout is the same.
True. In fact "savevg" uses the same 4-part-layout "mksysb" does, but with the first 3 parts filled with dummy-entries. "savevg" even used to be a link to "mksysb", so this comes not as a surprise. The "mksysb"-file format is this (every part can be filled by dummy-entries):
1. boot code. Gets only written if destination file is a tape drive.
2. Installation section. contains installation commands, bosinst.data, etc.
3. TOC. A file in "inutoc" format of all the packages installed.
4. Data. The content of the volume group in backup-file-format (used to be "tar" in historic versions)
To restore a single file (directory, ...) from such a backup: always keep in mind, that the different parts are marked by a EOD on the tape. You have to skip forward to the fourth part and then use normal "restore" to pull it out of the backup-format file. IBM tape drives under AIX rewind automatically after every operation, you have to address the tape therefore with the auto-rewind feature switched off, which is done by using /dev/rmtX.1:
Quote:
"Booting" is the normal interface for restoring an mksysb image. Since a file does not have a normal boot interface a nim server can be used to restore practically any mksysb image.
Yes. It is also possible to boot the system with a normal boot CD and then restore from a non-bootable "mksysb"-image - for instance one which was taken to a file and later burned on CD.
Quote:
Questions is other threads remind me the importance of clearing limits for root user.
Good idea.
Quote:
If you want to remove limits for everyone the command is simple (editing files is so 1985 :wink: )
I once heard the basic tenet of UNIX is: everything is a file. Editing these can't be so bad, can it? Whatever can be edited in a file can be scripted and automated. Try scripting one of these graphical true-colour 3-D clicky-thingies and you will instantly appreciate the old-fashioned ways. The ones, where it isn't necessary to use your mouse at 3 o'clock in the morning but a script started by "at" does that for you and mails you the outcome. But that is perhaps another issue for another thread.
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