MKSYSB backup

UNIX AIX
1

Hi,

Currently we are taking mksysb backup through smitty mksysb command and directing the backup to happen on a tape.We have inbuilt tape drives in the AIX servers. Can we take the mksysb backup through 3rd party software tool (Symantec netbackup of IBm TSM). If yes what is the procedure and whether the tape will be bootable??

Please suggest.

2

You can use TSM to make AIX OS Backup but it needs a special TIVOLI add-on for that. Plus you also need to install and configure NIM Server ; I guess it will be same as NETBACKUP or Veritas.

Best is to burn mksysb image on CD or DVD which will be bootable.

3

Afaik Netbackup 6.0 and 6.5 can't do that, at least not out of the box.

The feature you are looking for is called Bare Metal Restore ie. to restore a bootable backup.

If you set up a NIM server that serves mksysb images as bootable restores, you might not need a 3rd party software.

4

You can take your mksysbs to the NIM server or else create one locally on each LPAR.

You can then subsequently write those files to tape using the regular additonal software.

In the event of a full restore being required, restore the mksysb from tape to the NIM server and use NIM to reinstall the LPAR. You then only need to think about the strategy for restoring the NIM server in case of a crash.

5

Our NIM server has a filesystem named /export/mksysb just to hold mksysb images. We use to have the client LPARs NFS mount this filesystem and create their backups there, but with AIX 6.1 TL5, the NIM server doesn't like it when there is already a /export/mksysb entry in the /etc/exports that he didn't put there. Now, we have our NIM server tell the clients to create their mksysb's to the same /export/mksysb filesystem on our NIM server. The difference is that the backups are being handled by our NIM server and it maintains the entries in the /etc/exports file. These are the NIM commands that we use:

First remove the old mksysb resource and file to create enough space for a new mksysb:

nim -o remove -a rm_image=yes lpar01_mksysb

Create a new mksysb file and NIM resource:

nim     -o define \
        -t mksysb \
        -a server=master \
        -a location=/export/mksysb/lpar01 \
        -a source=lpar01 \
        -a mk_image=yes \
        -a mksysb_flags=iXp \
        -a comments="lpar01_mksysb_AIX$(oslevel -r)_defined$(date +%Y/%m/%d)" \
        lpar01_mksysb

Also, the NIM server doesn't like to make 2 mksysbs going on at the same time because it may not complete correctly due to limited amount of space in the /exports/mksysb filesystem. This can be over riden by adding the "-F" option to the first part like this:

nim     -Fo define \ ...