SUMMARY: Best system backup method?

From: Nigel Harwood <nharwood_at_cnw06.coles.com.au>
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 11:53:51 +1000 (EST)

Folks,

Original question:

> I am just starting out with OSF/1 and would like to know how most
> have you have decided to perform full backups of your systems?
>
> On my SVR4 UNIX boxes I do full disk image backups using a utility
> called SCSI Navigator which runs from floppy without UNIX being up.
>
> Your thoughts?

The most basic approach seems to be:

As long as your system has a CD-ROM drive and a tape then the system
backup/restore can be done via the OSF/1 bootable CD-ROM under System
Management mode using dump and restore.

Other approaches use Polycenter networker etc and a server on the network.

FULL REPLIES:

> From: Helgi Viggosson <helgi_at_ott.is>
>
> Use vdump for image backup in single user mode. If no OSF/1 (UNIX) is
> bootable (or installed) you can restore a vdump image, by booting from the
> operating system CDROM, choosing the System Management option (3).
>
> From: chu_at_musp0.jpl.nasa.gov (Eugene Chu)
>
> If you have a CD-ROM drive and the CD that your OSF/1 binaries came on,
> you can boot off of the CD-ROM to get into a mini-root which should
> allow you to do system maintenance tasks such as back-ups, assuming that
> you also have a back-up storage device like a tape. I usually use dump
> and restore. I haven't yet figured out how to do it over the network on
> a system without these devices.
>
> From: "Crash Test Dummy for the Information SuperHighWay ... Jan M. Holzer (ISV Engineering Technical Support) Digital Equipment GmbH Munich 865-1421 / [49]89/9591-1421" <jmh_at_mfr.dec.com>
>
> I'm not aware of any save and restore utilities available
> at the boot prompt (">>>") level but some other possibilities
> would be to use (v)dump and (v)restore to perform full backups
> and restores of your system.
> As (v)dump and (v)restore are part of the SAS (standalone system
> environment) on the base OS CDrom you don't need to have any OSF/1
> installed on your system prior to restoring such a fullbackup.
> Another possibility would be to use the PolyCenter Networker
> Save & Restore product and to setup a small RIS (Remote Installation
> Service) area which contains all Networker utilities needed to restore
> your backups .
> If you're concerned about the consistency of online backups you could
> use the snapshot feature available with AdvFS and/or LSM which would
> allow you to perform consistent backups of your filesystems .
>
> If you need more information don't hesitate to contact me .
>
> From: "Helleb\x Knut" <bgk1142_at_bggfu2.nho.hydro.com>
>
> As far as I know, there are a few backup products that does what you want.
> I know of DEC's NSR (Network Save and Restore). This product can back
> up/restore anything you want. It even does the backup on live filesystems.
> If you have different architectures to back up, the NSR package can be used
> in combination with Legato's NetWorker (these products are two of the same
> kind).

Regards
-- 
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<  Nigel Harwood  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
<<  Post: Coles Supermarkets, PO Box 480, Glen Iris 3146, Australia >>
<< Phone: +61 3 829 6090              E-mail: nharwood_at_coles.com.au >>
<<   FAX: +61 3 829 6886                                            >>
Received on Tue Jan 24 1995 - 19:59:48 NZDT

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