System Backup 10.20

[graf]

Is it possible to take the whole disk backup( hpux,oracle etc) on tape ? So that in case of hard disk failure or system crash the backup can be restorted back. If , yes then what is the procedure . as it is possible in SCO.

 

[bi]

SAM actually has a pretty good backup function. You can specify by filesystem rather than disk (which is probably what you would want to do, anyway) what you want to back up. Then, SAM lets you schedule the time when the backup should be done. You can specify full or incremental backups. Backups (and restores) are a little slower than you can get with an application like OmniBack, but it is a good system, especially if you don't want to (or can't) spend the money on another application for backups. Recovery is also very easy.

Start sam and check out the Backup windows and online help. It is pretty intuitive.


For a disaster recovery situation, you will also want to do regular make_recovery tapes. This backs up all of vg00 and gives you a bootable tape. make_recovery is part of the Ignite-UX product.

You can check the man page for ignite and make_recovery for more information.

 

[graf]

Hi Bi,

Thanks for your reply . Actually can you help me to know better as I am new to HPUX .My intention is to know that is it possible to have whole disk back up .so in case of hard disk failure whole backup can be restorted back that is on the tape to the new hard disk without doing any configuraion etc . How to add new hard disk and then transfer the backup to the disk.How will it identify the tape as no operating system is there .And I don't have the media CD with me.Can booting tape can be made from the running system without stopping it..I mean cloning the disk on tape.

 

[MikeLacey]

Yes - you can make a bootable tape, and the utility is available for 10.20. It is called [tt]make_recovery[/tt].

[tt]Make_recovery[/tt] is part of Ignite UX; link to FAQ below, please make sure you read it carefully, and apply *all* of the recommended patches (otherwise you might end up with an unusable system after a restore).

http://www.software.hp.com/products/IUX/docs/iux_faq

Mike
michael.j.lacey@ntlworld.com
Email welcome if you're in a hurry or something -- but post in tek-tips as well please, and I will post my reply here as well.

 

[bi]

Hi again graf.

Maybe this example will explain better why you do your backups more by filesystem than disk.

Let's say you have 6 disks. Two of them belong to vg00. That is where your operating system is and a make_recovery tape will back that up. (You can also do regular backups of the filesystems in vg00 through sam, too.) The make_recovery will configure the disks for vg00 during the recovery. The HP system will recognize the tape as having the operating system on it, even though there is no operating system on a hard disk.

The other 4 disks are in vg01. The disks are named c1t0d0, c1t2d0, c2t0d0, and c2t1d0. Each of the disks is 9 GB.

In your volume group vg01, you have 2 logical volumes, one named lvbig and one named lvlittle.

lvlittle is 2 GB and its filesystem is /little. It is on c1t0d0.

lvbig is 12 GB and its filesystem is /big. 7 GB is on c1t0d0 and 5 GB is on c2t0d0.

Let's say c2t0d0 fails, and your logical volumes are not mirrored, so you have to recover the data that is on that disk.

Once the disk is replaced and configured, you pull out your backups of /big. You will have to recover the whole 12 GB, not just the 5 GB that were on c2t0d0.

And that is why you back up filesystems, not just disks.

You can find out which disks your logical volumes are on by using the lvdisplay -v <LV path, such as /dev/vg01/lvlittle> command.

Pipe the output to more. After about 15 lines of information about the logical volume, there is a section called Distribution of logical volume. The names of the physical volumes the logical volume is on are listed.

And a final thing: I have to admit I'm not sure what the operating system will do when you replace the disk. You may have to do some configuration work (bring the disk into the volume group, and then rebuild the logical volumes and filesystems).

 

[bi]

And one more thing:

When you do your backups of the Oracle data, be sure to bring the database down if you are using a simple backup solution like the one in SAM. Otherwise, the restore may cause some problems with the Oracle database.