Unix Backup and Recovery

System Cloning

Cloning a system is the action of restoring the complete image of one system onto a completely different system. The “restored” system is then a perfect image of the original one. This could be useful in the case of a fire or a similar catastrophe in which the hardware is completely lost. In such a case, you could use an offsite mksysb or Sysback to recover the old system onto new hardware.

AIX 3.2.x Operating System

To perform system cloning of an AIX 3.2.x system, follow the same procedure explained for mksysb restores and Sysback restores. The new system will become an image of the system backed up on tape. No special procedure must be followed since AIX 3.2.x supports only the channel architecture.

AIX 4.x Operating System

The newer version of AIX requires special attention since not all the drivers are installed with the BOS. In this case, you are left with two choices:

• Install all device drivers for all available architectures before taking the mksysb or Sysback backup of the system. That allows the tape to be booted from and restored onto any IBM RS/6000 and is the only viable option for Sysback.

• If device drivers were not installed, you can simply boot the new machine from the CD- ROM containing the AIX 4.x operating system. After the boot, choose the “Restore from tape backup” option, insert the mksysb tape, and start the restore. This last method is the one recommended by IBM in its documentation; this option works only for mksysb tapes and is not available ...