Making & using a DAT recovery system

Prepared by Peggy Bruehl 3/26/97

If you have a DDS DAT tape drive, you can use the new 10.X software called COPYUTIL to create a "bootable" image of your file system on tape. The advantage of a bootable tape over a regular backup tape is that you can boot and restore your fully configured system from the tape in the event of a root disk failure.

Currently, only DDS DAT tape drives are supported with COPYUTIL. I am in the process of trying to find a script that will support our 8mm tape drives. If I am successful, I will amend these instructions and notify the unix_admin@comet.ucar.edu mailing list.

As you can tell from the instructions below, you will not want to make a bootable tape very often. However, every time that you make significant changes to your root file system, you should consider making another tape.

Creating a recovery system

  1. Put the HP-UX 10.2 Support CD into the CD-ROM drive.

  2. Reboot your workstation, and interrupt the boot process by pressing the Escape key. This will bring you to the BOOT_ADMIN prompt.

  3. Now, boot from the CD-ROM to ISL:

    BOOT_ADMIN> b scsi.2.0 ipl

    assuming your CD-ROM is located at SCSI ID 2.

  4. At the ISL prompt, start up the Offline Diagnostic Environment (ODE):

    ISL> ode copyutil

  5. COPYUTIL will now scan the SCSI bus looking for disk and tape drives. Each device is given an index number.

  6. At the COPYUTIL prompt, specify that you want to create a backup:

    COPYUTIL> backup

  7. Now enter the index number (or line number) of the disk that you want to back up. Choose your root file system.

  8. Now enter the index number (or line number) of the tape device that you want to use to create the bootable tape.

  9. The COPYUTIL process will now start. Answer any questions and follow any instructions that appear on the screen. To create a 1GB bootable tape, it will likely take one to two hours.

  10. After the tape is made, remove it from the drive. Label it, turn the write protection on, and put it in a safe place away from any magnets.

  11. Exit from the COPYUTIL program (exit) and power cycle the machine.

Restoring from your Recovery System

  1. In the event of a disk failure, or a serious problem with the 9.X->10.2 upgrade process, you may want to restore your system from your recovery tape. In the case of a disk failure, replace or repair your disk before continuing.

  2. Put the HP-UX 10.2 Support CD into the CD-ROM drive.

  3. Reboot your workstation, and interrupt the boot process by pressing the Escape key. This will bring you to the BOOT_ADMIN prompt.

  4. Now, boot from the CD-ROM to ISL:

    BOOT_ADMIN> b scsi.2.0 ipl

    assuming your CD-ROM is located at SCSI ID 2.

  5. At the ISL prompt, start up the Offline Diagnostic Environment (ODE):

    ISL> ode copyutil

  6. COPYUTIL will now scan the SCSI bus looking for disk and tape drives. Each device is given an index number.

  7. At the COPYUTIL prompt, specify that you want to restore from a tape:

    COPYUTIL> restore

  8. Now enter the index number (or line number) of the tape device that will read your bootable tape.

  9. Now enter the index number (or line number) of the disk that you want to restore as the boot drive.

  10. The COPYUTIL recovery process will now start. Answer any questions and follow any instructions that appear on the screen. To read a 1GB bootable tape, it will likely take one to two hours.

  11. After the tape is read, remove the tape from the drive and return it to its safe place away from any magnets.

  12. Exit from the COPYUTIL program (exit) and power cycle the machine.