Solaris

It may be a count of 512 byte sectors, not a count of kilobytes.

Hi,
I hope that I can help you because there are one or two confusing thinks.

To make a note:
c0t3d0 --> This is your actual root disk.
c0t1d0 --> Your backup disk.

So fare I understand you want to backup the information of the root disk.

First of all you have four used partition on the root disk.
/root on slice 0
/usr on slice 6
/export on slice 5
/w.local on slice 7

By the way you forgot the swap -l command so I am not sure if the swap area is on 1,3 or slice 4.
Never mind! Because no one dump a swap device!


First step:
Partition of the backup disk:
format
0 # just type and return
p # just type and return
p # just type and return

If there is no data on this disk we have to partition the disk.
Now you can see something like this:

Part Tag Flag Cylinders Size Blocks
0 swap wu 0 - 550 1.95GB (551/0/0) 4099440
1 root wm 551 - 54520 191.47GB (53970/0/0) 401536800
2 backup wm 0 - 65532 232.49GB (65533/0/0) 487565520
3 var wm 54521 - 60026 19.53GB (5506/0/0) 40964640
4 unassigned wm 60027 - 65532 19.53GB (5506/0/0) 40964640
5 unassigned wm 0 0 (0/0/0) 0
6 unassigned wm 0 0 (0/0/0) 0
7 unassigned wm 0 0 (0/0/0) 0


With h you can get the help:

partition> h
Expecting one of the following: (abbreviations ok):
0 - change `0' partition
1 - change `1' partition
2 - change `2' partition
3 - change `3' partition
4 - change `4' partition
5 - change `5' partition
6 - change `6' partition
7 - change `7' partition
select - select a predefined table
modify - modify a predefined partition table
name - name the current table
print - display the current table
label - write partition map and label to the disk
!<cmd> - execute <cmd>, then return
quit

Because you have limited disk space on the backup disk I I would say use one partition for the whole disk.
So first delete all partition like you can see in this example
!!!! But not the second partition !!!!!

So do this for all slices except the slice 2!
partition> 2 # this is for the slice 2
Part Tag Flag Cylinders Size Blocks
4 unassigned wm 60027 - 65532 19.53GB (5506/0/0) 40964640

Enter partition id tag[unassigned]:
Enter partition permission flags[wm]:
Enter new starting cyl[60027]:0
Enter partition size[40964640b, 5506c, 65532e, 20002.27mb, 19.53gb]:0

Now create on slice 0 one partition with the whole free disk space.
It is the same procedure as delete partition but now you must insert a value for the size.


then label the disk with the label command.

then exit the format utility.
q
q


Creating of a file system:
newfs /dev/rdsk/c0t1d0s0
Mount it on the filesystem.
mount /dev/dsk/c0t1d0s0 /mnt

and use the ufsdump command to backup all the mentioned file systems at the root disk. to the /mnt folder.

Example for the /var filesystem.
ufsdump -f /mnt/dump_var /var

After you backup all the slices of the root disk you have a complete backup of the old system on the backup disk
So feel free to delete modify or new install the root disk!

Best regards and post questions if there are some!

joerg

Hi Joerg

Thanks for the inputs you gave me. However, I still have some questions/favors to ask of you...

1> What are the file systems from the root disk that I need to back up using the ufsdump command?
2> I also tried to create a back up using "mirror", however, after doing the mirror process, I got this message:
/usr/platform//lib/fs/ufs/bootblk : file not found
and the when I try to boot form the new disk, it won't boot...

I'm very grateful for the inputs you gave me and I'm exploring these things and I'm trying my best to learn/catch-up. So please bear with me if I still have confusions. Thanks and God Bless!!!

For the complete backup you need the following slices:
/root on slice 0
/usr on slice 6
/export on slice 5
/w.local on slice 7

If you have mount the second disk at /mnt you can use this:
ufsdump -f /mnt/dump_root /root
ufsdump -f /mnt/dump_usr /usr
ufsdump -f /mnt/dump_export /export
ufsdump -f /mnt/dump_w.local /w.local

Now on the second disk are four new files :
cd /mnt
ls
dump_root
dump_usr
dump_export
dump_w.local


The reason that the mirrored disk can not boot is the not available boot sector at the second disk.
This command to create a boot block.
installboot /usr/platform/sun4m/lib/fs/ufs/bootblk /dev/rdsk/c0t1d0s0

Best regards
joerg

Hi Joerg,

I still have a problem...
I tried this commandinstallboot /usr/platform/sun4m/lib/fs/ufs/bootblk /dev/rdsk/c0t1d0s0
and rebooted disk 1 but to no avail...
This is the message that I got...
bootblk : can't find the boot program.

What do you think I should do next with my problem?
Thank you very for all the inputs you gave me and just keep them coming.
Thanks and God Bless!!!

Hi,
you are sure that you are boot from the right disk?
Please send the complete Output From the OK Prompt level till the error messages.
You are using the right devalias?

If you want to mirror the complete root disk then please follow the complete description.
BigAdmin - Submitted Tech Tip: Boot Disk Mirroring Using Solaris Volume Manager Software

Best regards joerg

hi joerg,

I still can't get it to work right. I have been studying about UNIX lately to finds ways/alternative options where I can solve my problem and found dd an interesting topic...
The thing that I'm trying to do now is to create a clone of my working disk using this command...
Can you show me how to do it if for example I just want to clone the important slices from my working disk? Will this work?
Your response is surely appreciated.
Thanks and God Bless!!!