[comp.sys.hp] HP-UX and backups

pearmana@prl.philips.co.uk (Andy Pearman) (01/03/90)

Hi,

Can anyone please give me some advice.

I have an HP9000-350 running HP-UX 6.21

I recently added a 2nd disk and moved all /users onto it leaving
the original disk just for system stuff.

I have been using HPs /etc/backup to do full and incremental dumps
which has been fine up to now.  This dumps the whole fileystem,
not partitions.

However, it occurs to me that if I lost my system disk, it would be
difficult to restore the system without restoring /users (which is
mounted from 2nd disk and probably alright).

I was thinking of using dump/restore instead or maybe fbackup (which
is similar to dump) and dump them as separate partitions, but I'm not
sure if dump/restore is part of the "RECOVERY" tape that I built for when
things go wrong.

If its not then I won't be able to restore any files if I lost my 
system disk.

p.s.  I did not really want to unmount /users prior to starting the 
backup.

    Thanks if you can shed some light on the subject,

              Andy.


-- 

Andy Pearman, Computer Dept, Philips Research Labs, Redhill, Surrey, England. 
              pearmana@prl.philips.co.uk

hooft@finch.prl.philips.nl (Peter van Hooft 44327) (01/07/90)

pearmana@prl.philips.co.uk (Andy Pearman) writes:

>I recently added a 2nd disk and moved all /users onto it leaving
>the original disk just for system stuff.

>I have been using HPs /etc/backup to do full and incremental dumps
>which has been fine up to now.  This dumps the whole fileystem,
>not partitions.

>However, it occurs to me that if I lost my system disk, it would be
>difficult to restore the system without restoring /users (which is
>mounted from 2nd disk and probably alright).

You can restore the system seperately from /users, because cpio accepts a
list of files/directories to restore.
tcio -i /dev/backupdevice | cpio -icdmuvx .profile SYSBCKUP bin dev etc hp-ux lib system usr

Alternatively, you could split the backups into system and users backups. 
Change your /etc/backup:

	backupdirs=""
	for arg in $*
	do
		case $arg in
		-archive)	aflag=""	# all files.
				aecho="archive"
				;;
		-fsck)		fflag="yes"
				;;
		-users)		backupdirs="$backupdirs users"
				;;
		-system)	backupdirs="$backupdirs .profile SYSBCKUP bin dev etc hp-ux lib system usr"
				;;
		*)		echo "usage: $0 [-archive] [-users] [-system ] [-fsck]"
				exit 1
				;;
		esac
	done

peter

plb@cbnewsi.ATT.COM (peter.l.berghold) (01/10/90)

From article <1025@prlhp1.prl.philips.co.uk>, by pearmana@prl.philips.co.uk (Andy Pearman):
> Hi,
> 
> Can anyone please give me some advice.
> 
SURE!
> I have an HP9000-350 running HP-UX 6.21
> 
 	[ stuff deleted describing a multivolume disc system 
	  and refrences to backup,dump,etc. ]

On the 3xx system that I adminster I use a backup system as follows:

	INCREMENTALS:

I have a directory under root called /inc.  In /inc are created some 
compressed cpio format files which contain the files that have changed 
in a 24 hour period ( find /dir -mtime -1 ....).  These are pushed off to
tape and deleted about once a week, depending on how large they become.
Instead of searhing from root as most folks do, I implicitly search from 
a list of directories at the root level (/users /usr /etc hp-ux SYSBCKUP) 
or specify files at the root level that need backing up.

	ARCHIVALS:

For archival backups I do something similar only (natch) without specifing 
the time frame (no -mtime).  The command string looks something like:

	find `cat Fsys.List` -depth -print |
	cpio -ocvB |
	compress - |
	tcio {I forget the darn options} /dev/ct0

Doing this, I can get the entire contents of a 7958 and 7912 disk drive 
on ONE tape.


Now for the holes that I can see in my own strategy.  If the system that I 
adminster was a very busy one, the /inc files would get ridulous in a hurry.
Even being compressed.   Solution: use an autochanger tape drive and write 
them directly to tape.



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|             || Peter L. Berghold, AT&T, HRSAG, UUCP: att!violin!plb        |
|   _   /|    ||                                    +1 (201) 615-4419        |
|   \`o_O'    ||============================================================ |
|     ( )     || Disclaimer: If you find an opinion in this posting somewhere|
|      U      || it is no doubt mine, and not my employers.  I'm the only    |
|  Aachk!     || person crazy enough to take this stand!                     |
|      Phft!  ||                                                             |
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV