Restoring my system from MKSYSB

[szewczykm]

Well, if you've seen my other threads you know the whole saga.

Dropping all previous posts, this is my situation.

I've got a 7013 that was running AIX 4.2 when something happened to it to make it semi-disfuntctional.

Where I am now is, I have 4 blank disks. I've installed AIX 4.2 and I'm at # prompt as root.

I have a MKSYSB tape.

I tried restoring the system from the mksysb tape but I get messages about file systems being out of space.

I booted from the old disk, noted FS sizes, then rebooted with the vanilla AIX 4.2 hdisk again. I extended all the filesystems so they match the old system.

I then rebooted and did a restore from the mksysb tape. Again with the "out of space" problems.

There's no way to change to "use mappings" so I can only guess that the MKSYSB tape was made without the -m.

But when I restore, it messes up all the file systems. Makes them all small again. If there's no -m why would it do that?

Anyhow, I don't know. If you have any general tips about wiping a system and then putting it all back via a mksysb tape, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[szewczykm]

I should add that I've read the documentation once. I'll go back and do it again, but I don't think I missed anything.

 

[AIXSPadmin]

If you installed 4.2 why are you restoring a mksysb? If you wanted to restore from the mksysb you don't have to install 4.2 from scratch, it will overwrite anything that is on the disk.

To restore from a mksysb on a tape you need to turn the key to service mode and make sure the bootlist has rmt0 in it first (best choice now) then when the system is turned on or restarted it will boot off the tape (presuming it is a good tape - tape is notorious for being bad). Then it will prompt you with a message for install, and I believe you want the last option, #3, to restore from mksysb.

When it is complete it will reboot the machine. You will also be told that anytime before the installation is done to turn the key to normal.

That is all there is to a mksysb restore. Then you can importvg the other volume group you had before and you will be back up and running.

 

[old1]

Mike,
Try this
Follow these steps:

Boot the system from an AIX CD, an AIX product tape or the mksysb tape.

From the Installation and Maintenance menu, select option 3.

From the Maintenance menu, select option 4.

Choose the tape drive that contains the mksysb tape image.
Change/Show Installation Settings and Install option 2.


System Backup Installation and Settings
Type the number of your choice and press Enter.

1 Disk(s) where you want to install hdisk0
2 Use Maps No
3 Shrink Filesystems No
0 Install with the settings listed above

Set option 3 to yes
3 Shrink Filesystems YES
This will shrink all file system on the mksysb

good luck
old1

 

[AIXSPadmin]

Another possibility is that the mksysb has rootvg spread across say 4 disks, and now you have only 2 disks assigned to rootvg. You can change how the mksysb will restore with a different configuration than the original one, but it isn't easy to do.

 

[szewczykm]

Going by the numbers, this is what happens:
-------------------------------------------------------
Installing Base Operating System

If you used the system key to select SERVICE mode,
turn the system key to the NORMAL position any time before the
installation ends.

Please wait...

Restore unable to write to file './home/vsi/TanData/Esql/dist.tar' .. Aborting!
Restore : No space left on device

Approximate Elapsed time
% tasks complete (in minutes)


Restore unable to write to file './home/vsi/TanData/Esql/dist.tar' .. Aborting!
Restore : No space left on device
BOS Install: Restore of Base Operating System from rmt0 failed.
ID# OPTION
1 Continue
2 Perform System Maintenance and Then Continue
Enter ID number:

----------------------------------------------------------
... so I thought that I could maybe install the OS and just do a regular file restore off the mksysb. I don't understand why I can't recreate my system just using this mksysb.

The only think that makes sense to me is that it was created not using mksysb -m.

I tried this with shrink on and off and I get the same stuff either way...

 

[szewczykm]

Oh, rootvg on my old system was all tucked nicely on hdisk0. Nothing special.