How to backup AIX
Hello everyone,
How does one backup an AIX server? The background is that we are relocating AIX servers and we would like to have a secondary backup. Client currently backs up to tape/DR site but we want a secondary backup just to cover all bases in the event of a loss of equipment.
Can we backup to a disk image on a Windows desktop?
A restore strategy would also be appreciated.
How does one backup an AIX server? The background is that we are relocating AIX servers and we would like to have a secondary backup. Client currently backs up to tape/DR site but we want a secondary backup just to cover all bases in the event of a loss of equipment.
Can we backup to a disk image on a Windows desktop?
A restore strategy would also be appreciated.
Asked:
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1 Solution
anything wrong with doing an additional mksysb backup of the o/s and vg backups of the additional volume groups?
it's helpful if you have the correct install CD's available so you can clone onto different hardware.
Have you tried restoring the backups as is? there is no point having an additional backup and they both dont work..
J
it's helpful if you have the correct install CD's available so you can clone onto different hardware.
Have you tried restoring the backups as is? there is no point having an additional backup and they both dont work..
J
Create local ISO images of your volume groups with "mkdvd" (use the "-v" flag for non-rootvgs), transfer the images to the Windows machine, burn them onto DVD there.
To restore rootvg boot from the rootvg DVD, then follow the instructions.
To restore other VGs use "restvg".
wmp
To restore rootvg boot from the rootvg DVD, then follow the instructions.
To restore other VGs use "restvg".
wmp
If you don't object to using a third party solution, Acronis TrueImage might be a solution. Acronis is Linux-based, so this should work if a) AIX uses a standard Unix drive format and b) the drives being backed up are not software RAID. I use it to image both Linux and Windows systems.
-- Plug in an external USB drive
-- Boot the Acronis standalone backup CD/DVD
-- Back up to the USB drive, compressed or uncompressed as you prefer
-- Unplug the external USB drive
-- Reboot
-- Plug in an external USB drive
-- Boot the Acronis standalone backup CD/DVD
-- Back up to the USB drive, compressed or uncompressed as you prefer
-- Unplug the external USB drive
-- Reboot
I would suggest using mksysb for system image backups so you have bootable image or you could use IBM TSM http://www-01.ibm.com/software/tivoli/products/storage-mgr/ (TSM works will all platforms) with tape library or use storix.com
Just adding to this.
The AIX servers are all virtual servers on ESX.
Can I power down and copy the images from the datastore?
The AIX servers are all virtual servers on ESX.
Can I power down and copy the images from the datastore?
What exactly is your environment?
AIX cannot run under ESX. AIX requires POWER hardware, and ESX does not run on POWER.
Even if your AIX servers were virtual LPARs under PowerVM, there is no supported option to do offline backups.
In order to handle a real disaster scenario you must have an "mksysb" image of AIX's rootvg and some kind of backup of the other volume groups.
mksysb to an ISO image or directly to DVD (if there is an optical writer device) can be done via "mkdvd".
Please let me know if you need detailed instructions here.
"mksysb" to a bootable tape is pretty standard with AIX. There must be a locally attached tape device (or at least a tape device recognized as being "local" by the OS).
You could also write the "mksysb" image to a regular file, but if you don't have a NIM environment ("Network Install Management") you will not be able to boot from this file, so there's no true "disaster recovery".
Backups of non-rootvg data can also be done with "mkdvd", but you can as well use any standard backup method, including of course third party solutions such as TSM.
To repeat it: True disaster recovery of AIX can only be done if there is a bootable "mksysb" image, be it on DVD, tape or on a NIM server.
wmp
AIX cannot run under ESX. AIX requires POWER hardware, and ESX does not run on POWER.
Even if your AIX servers were virtual LPARs under PowerVM, there is no supported option to do offline backups.
In order to handle a real disaster scenario you must have an "mksysb" image of AIX's rootvg and some kind of backup of the other volume groups.
mksysb to an ISO image or directly to DVD (if there is an optical writer device) can be done via "mkdvd".
Please let me know if you need detailed instructions here.
"mksysb" to a bootable tape is pretty standard with AIX. There must be a locally attached tape device (or at least a tape device recognized as being "local" by the OS).
You could also write the "mksysb" image to a regular file, but if you don't have a NIM environment ("Network Install Management") you will not be able to boot from this file, so there's no true "disaster recovery".
Backups of non-rootvg data can also be done with "mkdvd", but you can as well use any standard backup method, including of course third party solutions such as TSM.
To repeat it: True disaster recovery of AIX can only be done if there is a bootable "mksysb" image, be it on DVD, tape or on a NIM server.
wmp
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