System Backup for AIX

An AIX clone disk is the backup replacement disk of the AIX rootvg. It is used to retain the original state of AIX. It can be used as a backup means to quickly roll back to the original system after the software is upgraded, it can also be used to test two different versions of AIX systems. The system can retain two boot disks, both of which support startup and boot from any disk. Cloning a disk is also a regular backup method.

The clone operation is implemented through a set of commands related to "alt_disk.

Alt_disk_copy copies the currently running rootvg to another idle disk. After the replication, the new target disk becomes a new volume group named altinst_rootvg. In this altinst_rootvg volume group, all logical Volume LV names are prefixed with alt, And the boot sequence of the system is changed to the default boot altinst_rootvg. If AIX is restarted, it will automatically boot from altinst_rootvg. After AIX is booted and started, altinst_rootvg will be automatically renamed as rootvg, and the original rootvg volume group will be renamed as old_rootvg.

Note:
1. The cloned disk is not an image. Therefore, After cloning, the cloned disk remains static and does not change with the data of rootvg.
2. the VG where the cloned disk is located can be activated. Even if activated, the LV cannot be seen because the LV information of the cloned disk has been deleted from the ODM and the logical volume has a conflict of the same name.
3. You no longer need to execute LVM commands on the cloned disk altinst_rootvg, such as exportvg, importvg, and varyonvg.

You can not only use the alt_disk_copy command to create a cloned disk from rootvg, but also use the backup file of mksysb.
# Mksysb-I/usr/sys/rootvg. bk
After creating the bk file of mksysb, you can create a clone disk from the mksysb file in smit.

Bootlist-m normal-o to view the default startup list.
If you do not want to boot from altinst_rootvg after creating a cloned disk, you need to change the boot sequence:
Bootlist-m normal hdisk1 (here hdisk1 is the original rootvg)

Alt_rootvg_op-X [rootvg_NAME] delete a cloned Disk
Alt_rootvg_op-W-d [hdiskX] Wake up and mount the cloned VG
Alt_rootvg_op-S-t [hdiskX] hibernate the cloned VG.

AIX backup policy
Local backup of files and directories: tar, cpio, pax, and backup
Device hard copy: dd
System Backup: mksysb, savevg
Partial recovery of files and directories: restore
System Recovery: restvg
Tape operation: tctl, tcopy
File compression: compress, uncompress, pack, unpack, gzip, gunzip, zcat, etc.

Mksysb is the most commonly used method for system backup. Its backup media can be tape and disc.
One special feature of tape backup is that you can use it to boot the AIX system and execute a recovery system installation after it is started.
Common parameters:
-E exclude directories and files listed in the/etc/exclude. rootvg file in the backup operation.
-I. The/image. data file is automatically generated during the backup process.
-M calls the mkszfile command to generate a ing file.
-X automatically scales/tmp as needed
# Mksysb-m-I-X/dev/rmt0 // create mksysb to/dev/rmt0

VG backup
Rootvg can use mksysb, but other VG has another tool, savevg.
# Savevg-if/dev/rmt0 datavg // back up datavg to rmt0 tape

File System Backup
# Backup-f/db/backup. file-0-u/db // backup/db file System to/db/backup. file

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