Unix Backup and Recovery

Chapter 9. Compaq Tru64 Unix

This chapter explains the procedure that you would use to recover your Compaq Tru64 Unix operating system disk in case of a complete system failure—when you are left with nothing but bare metal. For suggestions on how to avoid this situation, please read the first section of Chapter 7.

Compaq Tru64 Unix, also known as Digital Unix, is a Unix-compatible operating system based on the Mach kernel and is the main survivor of the Open Software Foundation. It is different in a number of ways from Solaris, AIX, and HP-UX. During OS installs or during backup and restores, one difference shows up quickly: there are two different filesystems supported by Compaq Unix. First, there is UFS (Unix File System), which is commonly found on many other Unix flavors. Second, there is Digital’s proprietary filesystem known as the AdvFS (Advanced File System). AdvFS provides a journaled filesystem, cloning, volume management, and other advanced features.

I would advise against using AdvFS on the operating system partitions. There are a number of reasons, but the first is the most compelling: during a bare-metal recovery, simplicity is a virtue. Unless you’re very comfortable with AdvFS, it isn’t simple. The primary advantage of AdvFS is that you are dealing with large data volumes rather than the relatively small and static OS partitions. Also, until very recently AdvF still had a number of bugs that could jeopardize the stability of a system.

Another difference is ...