Re: Copying system disk to standby disk

andrewr@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Hi,

I have a Tru64UNIX system that has 1 system disk with the root, swap,
usr, var and tmp filesystems on. usr, var and tmp are all in the same
Advfs domain.

I want to copy the system disk to a standby disk that I can boot off
in the event of the system disk drive failing.

What is the best way to do this?

Thanks
Andrew


There are several different solutions for making a copy of your system disk. Which one is best depends on your need and wether you want it to be automatically updated or if you want to do it manually.

The easiest way in terms of maintenance work is to use LSM. It makes a mirror copy of the system disk. Then you don't need to make manual copies. It needs a license, of course. Either the LSM license or a NAS server license. How the setup is done is well documented in the LSM documentation.

Another solution is to make an identical copy of the system disk to the other disk using vdump/vrestore. First you have to make the disk label exactly similar on the new disk as it is on the system disk (remember to use the "-t advfs" switch to make the disk bootable). Then you just make a vdump -> vrestore copy of the system disk filesystems. You should do it when your system is in single user mode. The syntax of the copying command line is documented on the vrestore man page.
This solution needs continuous updates to keep the standby disk current.

Then there are some other possibilities, but they need a lot more care. Therefore I suggest you use either of the described solutions.

I can provide more detailed descriptions, if you need.

Regards,

Kari


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Relevant Pages

  • Copying system disk to standby disk
    ... I have a Tru64UNIX system that has 1 system disk with the root, swap, ... usr, var and tmp filesystems on. ...
    (comp.unix.tru64)
  • Re: Copying system disk to standby disk
    ... I have a Tru64UNIX system that has 1 system disk with the root, swap, ... usr, var and tmp filesystems on. ... a vdump -> vrestore copy of the system disk filesystems. ...
    (comp.unix.tru64)