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 HP-UX Virtual Partitions Administrator’s Guide > Chapter 10 Crash Processing and Recovery

Network and Tape Recovery
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This section covers different methods of network and tape recovery on vPars systems. The following table lists the supported recovery methods on each vPars release.

Table 10-1 Supported Recovery methods by vPars Release

Recovery Method

A.03.xx

A.04.xx

A.05.xx

Network recovery within a vPars environment

yes

yes

yes

Tape recovery within a vPars environment

A.03.01/A.03.02: no

A.03.03 and later: yes

A.04.01/A.04.02: no

A.04.03 and later: yes (PA-RISC)

A.04.04 and later: yes (Integrity)

A.05.01 and later: yes (PA-RISC)

A.05.02 and later: yes (Integrity)

Tape recovery within a vPars environment, using a disk-based install kernel (dual-media boot)

yes

yes

yes

Tape recovery outside of a vPars environment

yes

yes

yes

 

For information on performing a recovery using:

The white papers listed above are available at the following area of the HP Technical Documentation website:

http://docs.hp.com/en/vse.html#Virtual%20Partitions

Using vparboot -I with Ignite-UX on PA-RISC systems:

When using Ignite-UX version C.06.xx or later, note that the bootable kernel path has changed

  • from /opt/ignite/boot/WINSTALL in Ignite-UX B.05.xx and earlier

  • to /opt/ignite/boot/Rel_B.11.NN/WINSTALL in Ignite-UX C.06.xx and later

Thus, when using Ignite-UX C.06.xx or later, you must specify the absolute path for the bootable kernel for the vparboot -Icommand line.

For more information and an example, see “(PA-RISC only) The WINSTALL Boot Kernel Paths with Different Versions of Ignite-UX and the vparboot -I command”.

Using make_net_recovery within a vPars Environment

Archiving Virtual Partition

make_net_recovery works the same for making archives of both non-vPars and vPars systems.

Recovering a Virtual Partition from a Running Virtual Partition

To recover a virtual partition, perform the following from a running virtual partition. (In these examples, the partition winona1 is running and the target partition winona2 is the partition being recovered.)

  1. Record the following:

    1. the autoboot attribute of the target partition using vparstatus. You may need to set it back to this state in the last step.

      winona1# vparstatus -p winona2 [Virtual Partition] Virtual Partition Name State Attributes ========================== ===== ========== winona2 Down Dyn,Manual

    2. the contents of the AUTO file in the LIF area of the primary boot disk pointed to by stable storage. Use the lifcp command to see the contents.

  2. Set the TERM environment variable to hpterm. For POSIX shell, the command is

    winona1# export TERM=hpterm

  3. Boot the target partition and point the boot kernel to use your Ignite-UX server (assume the Ignite server’s IP is ww.xx.yy.zz):

    winona1# vparboot -p winona2 -I ww.xx.yy.zz,/opt/ignite/boot/WINSTALL

  4. Run the Ignite-UX recovery as you would on a hard partition not running vPars, entering the data (boot disk and LAN) of the target partition.

  5. After the target partition has been recovered:

    1. if the autoboot attribute has been changed, set it back to what was recorded in the first step. For example, to set the autoboot attribute back to manual:

      winona1# vparmodify -p winona2 -B manual

    2. if needed, set the AUTO file back to its original contents that were recorded in the first step using the lifrm and lifcp commands.

Recovering All the Virtual Partitions of a Hard Partition

To recover all the virtual partitions within a hard partition, first recover the virtual partition whose boot disk is the disk set as the primary path within system-wide stable storage. Once the virtual partition is recovered, recover the other virtual partitions one by one. (There is no way to recover all partitions simultaneously.)

To recover the initial virtual partition:

  1. From the BCH prompt, boot the hard partition using the Ignite-UX server (assume the Ignite server’s IP is ww.xx.yy.zz):

    BCH> bo lan.ww.xx.yy.zz install interact with IPL? N

  2. From the Ignite-UX window, select "Install HP-UX".

  3. Enter the network data using the data for the virtual partition that owns the boot disk that is set as the primary path within system-wide stable storage.

  4. Select Recovery Archive Configuration -> Go

After this virtual partition is recovered, recover the remaining partitions using the instructions in “Recovering a Virtual Partition from a Running Virtual Partition ”.

Using make_tape_recovery Outside of a vPars Environment

The creation of make_tape_recovery tapes is supported on vPars-enabled servers.

However, for the vPars releases that do not support tape boot, recoveries using these tapes must be done outside of the vPars environment; they cannot be used to recover a system from within a virtual partition. For example, the tape cannot be used with the vparboot -I command on PA-RISC servers.

NOTE: The exception to this is using a dual-media boot. For information on using a dual-media boot, see “Using make_tape_recovery and Dual-media Boot”.

The following sections describe:

  • archiving and recovering a virtual partition

  • archiving and recovering a virtual partition using another virtual partition as the Ignite-UX server

Assumptions

In the following example, it is assumed that the version of vPars in the tape archive is the same as that installed in the other virtual partitions.If the virtual partition being recovered owns the system or hard partition's primary boot path, and if changes have been made to the vPars configuration since make_tape_recovery was run, then the recovered vPars database (/stand/vpdb) will be out of date.If the recovered configuration is out of date, the recovery will require one of the following additional steps:

  • Boot the vPars Monitor from an alternate boot disk with the current vPars database. When the recovered virtual partition is booted, the database will be synchronized with the current configuration.

  • Recover an up-to-date database file from a backup before booting the vPars Monitor.

  • Boot the vPars Monitor and the recovered partition, and then update the configuration with vparmodify, vparcreate, and vparremove.

Archiving and Recovering a Virtual Partition

Archiving the Virtual Partition(s)

This section describes how to create the recovery tape.

NOTE:

  • To recover a single virtual partition from a tape, all active virtual partitions must be shutdown.

    The exception to this is using a dual-media boot. For information on using a dual-media boot, see “Using make_tape_recovery and Dual-media Boot”.

  • The make_tape_recovery command is not a backup utility. The virtual partition should be backed up separately. A well thought out backup strategy should be part of every recovery plan. Your normal backups may be required to recover the virtual partition. Test your recovery plan to make sure it works properly

  1. The virtual partition must have a tape drive attached, as it will be used in step 4 to boot the tape. The tape drive must be available to the nPartition at boot time.

    # make_tape_recovery -A -a /dev/rmt/1mn

    The following is archived to tape when make_tape_recovery is run:

    1. The data necessary to recover the virtual partition on a “cold” system (nothing running on it, including vPars). This includes the system filesystems (root, /stand, etc.)

    2. The files required by vPars: the vPars Monitor (the default is /stand/vpmon) and the vPars database (the default is /stand/vpdb).

  2. You must document the following information about the system (not the virtual partition) and must be available in hard copy or electronically in an accessible location not on the system itself.

    1. The primary and alternate boot paths. You must get this information from the boot console handler (BCH). You cannot retrieve this information via the setboot command from a virtual partition.

    2. The contents of the AUTO file in the boot LIF. An example is lifcp /dev/rdsk/<dev>:AUTO - where /dev/rdsk/<dev> is the boot device for the system, the primary boot path in part (a). Note: If you attempt this within a virtual partition you must do it from the virtual partition that has access to the device, as only one virtual partition will be able to see it.

Recovering the Virtual Partition(s)

  1. Shutdown all virtual partitions and reset the nPartition.

  2. Boot the make_tape_recovery tape created in step 1 in the nPartition. Note that nothing is running in the nPartition. You are booting without vPars at this point.

  3. Once the recovery tape has completed recovering the system, you will still be running without vPars. To re-enable vPars perform the following steps:

    1. Correct the primary and alternate boot paths if necessary by using setboot. This works at this step because vPars is not active.

    2. Correct the autoboot setting if necessary (mkboot -a “string” /dev/rdsk/<dev>:AUTO where /dev/rdsk/<dev> is the boot device for the system and “string” is the contents of the AUTO file from step 2b above. The device file name may be different from that found in step (2)(a).

  4. Reboot the nPartition. The vPars Monitor will start automatically if step 5 completed correctly. Any virtual partition that has been defined to autoboot will boot at this stage. You may have to manually start any virtual partitions not configured to autoboot. The vPars Monitor will only start automatically if the AUTO file was originally configured to do so. If not, you will boot up in standalone mode.

  5. Once the virtual partition has started you can complete any other recovery of application data, or other virtual partitions.

Archiving and Recovering a Virtual Partition Using Another Virtual Partition as the Ignite-UX Server

Archiving the Virtual Partitions Using a Virtual Partition as the Ignite-UX Server

The following steps describe how one or more virtual partitions can be archived using make_tape_recovery. These first steps describe how to create a disaster recovery tape.

  1. One of the virtual partitions is an Ignite server. Its root disk is the one that is booted first, when the vPars Monitor is booted. It has the vPars Monitor (/stand/vpmon) and the vPars database (/stand/vpdb) that is used to bring up virtual partitions in the nPartition. It must also have a tape drive which will be used by make_tape_recovery in step (3). This tape drive will also be used in step (4) to boot the tape created in step (3) thus it must be available to the nPartition at boot time.

  2. The Ignite server makes recovery tapes of all the other virtual partitions using make_net_recovery. This is done when the Ignite server is running in a virtual partition, archiving the other virtual partitions while they are running.

  3. The Ignite server makes a recovery tape of the system it is running on using make_tape_recovery and “normal” filesystem recovery tapes. This is performed while the Ignite server is running in a virtual partition. It allows the Ignite server to archive itself while the other virtual partitions are running production work. The tape created by make_tape_recovery in this step will have:

    • The data necessary to recover the Ignite server on a “cold” system (nothing running on it, including vPars).

    • The files required by vPars: the vPars Monitor (/stand/vpmon) and the vPars database (/stand/vpdb).

    • The files created in step (2) by make_net_recovery. These files will be used to recover the other virtual partitions in step (8).

    • Normal filesystem recovery archive of the Ignite server.

Recovering the Virtual Partitions Using one of the Virtual Partitions as the Ignite-UX Server

  1. The nPartition must have a tape drive available to boot from. Note that nothing is running in the nPartition. Boot the make_tape_recovery tape created in step (3) in an nPartition. The system is being booted without vPars at this point.

  2. Recover the Ignite server that was archived to tape in step (3). This is done using the make_tape_recovery tape that was booted in step (4) along with normal filesystem recovery.

  3. Reboot the nPartition, this time using the root disk that was recovered in step (5). Stop at the MON> prompt.

  4. Use vparload at the MON> prompt to load the virtual partition recovered in step (5). This is the Ignite server.

  5. Use vparboot -I to recover the other virtual partitions using the make_net_recovery files created in step (2).

  6. There may be normal filesystem recoveries that need to be done to fully recover the virtual partitions after they are booted in step (8).

  7. Modify the autoboot string (using mkboot -a ...) so that the virtual partitions will autoboot at the next system boot.

  8. Reboot the nPartition to test if all the virtual partitions come up as expected.

Using make_tape_recovery and Dual-media Boot

A dual-media boot allows you to boot the target partition using another disk and then recover using the tape device. Currently with Ignite-UX, you cannot boot over the network and then recover from tape; you must boot from a disk device.

Setting Up a Disk for Dual-Media Recovery

IMPORTANT: Dual-media recovery is only supported if you boot the install kernel from the same version of Ignite-UX that was used to create the recovery tape. HP does not support using mismatched versions of Ignite-UX.

Before attempting a dual-media recovery, you must set up a disk that contains the Ignite-UX install kernels. You can do this in one of the following ways:

  • If the virtual partition to be recovered is up, run bootsys from your Ignite-UX server. Do not reboot the partition immediately. Confirm that the boot path and the kernel to be loaded (/stand/WINSTALL for PA-RISC servers and /stand/IINSTALL for Integrity servers) have been set correctly, as the bootsys command has limited support for vPars. If they are not correct, use vparmodify to correct them. You can also shut the system down and boot the vPar using the Ignite-UX install kernel explicitly, for example:

    winona1# vparboot -p winona2 -B io_hw_path -b /stand/WINSTALL

  • Alternatively you can manually place the install kernel and file system from Ignite-UX in /stand (WINSTALL and WINSTALLFS for PA-RISC servers and IINSTALL and IINSTALLFS for Integrity servers), then use vparboot to boot from the install kernel.

  • If the system has a Fibre Channel interface that supports boot, and you have an unused Fibre Channel LUN available, you can create a minimal CD/DVD boot image using the procedure in the “How do I create the CD equivalent of a tape created by make_boot_tape?” section of the Ignite-UX Custom Configuration Files manual available at:

    http://www.docs.hp.com/en/IUX/infolib.html

    Once you have created the image you can dd it onto the Fibre Channel LUN and then boot from the FC LUN using the following command from another vPar:

    winona1# vparboot -p winona2 -B io_hw_path -b :WINSTALL

  • If the virtual partition contains a DVD or CD drive, you can create a minimal CD/DVD boot image as described in the Ignite-UX Custom Configuration Files, burn it to a CD or DVD, and boot from that. Alternatively, you can boot the virtual partition from your OE media (assuming it has the same version of Ignite-UX on it as the tape was created with).

Recovering the Virtual Partition

NOTE: The target virtual partition (the partition that is being recovered) must own a tape device.

  1. Make sure the target virtual partition is in the down state. For example, if it is up, shutdown the virtual partition:

    winona2# shutdown -hy 0

  2. Boot the virtual partition. The exact vparboot command line depends on how you set up the install kernels. For example, if you used bootsys, use this command:

    winona1# vparboot -p winona2 -B hardware_path -b /stand/WINSTALL

  3. When the main Ignite-UX menu is displayed, select Install HP-UX.

  4. When the User Interface and Media Options screen is displayed, select Media only installation from the Source Location Options, and Advanced Installation from User Interface Options, then select OK.

  5. From the Media Installation Selection, select Boot from CD/DVD, Recover from Tape. Note that there does not need to be a CD or DVD in the server. Select OK.

  6. From the Tape Drive Selection menu, select the appropriate tape drive, and press the Enter. Once you enter the Ignite-UX itool screen, proceed as normal with the recovery.

Using make_tape_recovery within a vPars Environment

For PA-RISC servers, vPars supports tape drives beginning with vPars A.03.03 for HP-UX 11i v1, vPars A.04.03 for HP-UX 11i v2, and vPars A.05.01 for HP-UX 11i v3. This includes recovery of a virtual partition within a vPars environment and without using an Ignite-UX server as a boot helper.

For HP Integrity servers, vPars supports tape drives beginning with vPars A.04.04 for HP-UX 11i v2, and vPars A.05.02 for HP-UX 11i v3, including recovery of a virtual partition within a vPars environment and without using an Ignite-UX server as a boot helper.

Requirements and the BOOT Attribute

To use the tape device during a recovery, you must meet the following requirements:

  • The tape device must be owned by the target virtual partition (the partition that is being recovered).

  • The tape drive must be connected through an external SCSI device or be internal to the machine.

  • On PA-RISC systems, the tape device must be an explicitly specified resource with the attribute TAPE. The TAPE attribute is not specified on HP Integrity systems.

    This is similar to specifying the boot device with the attribute BOOT. For example, on a PA-RISC system:

    # vparcreate -p winona2 -a io:1/0/14/0/0/4/0.5.0:TAPE

    or

    # vparmodify -p winona2 -a io:1/0/14/0/0/4/0.5.0:TAPE

    Note that when modifying io resources, the target virtual partition must be in the down state.

    On PA-RISC systems, the vparstatus -v command should show the tape device with the TAPE attribute:

    # vparstatus -p winona2 -v [Virtual Partition Details] Name: winona2 . . . [IO Details] 1.0.14 1.0.12 1.0.14.0.0.4.0.10.0.0.0.0.0 BOOT 1.0.14.0.0.4.0.5.0.0.0.0.0 TAPE . . .

Archiving

The process of creating an archive is the same as for non-vPars OS instances:

# make_tape_recovery -A -a /dev/rmt/1mn

Recovering

To begin recovery, specify the -B TAPE option to boot the target virtual partition using a tape drive:

winona1# vparboot -p winona2 -B TAPE

On HP Integrity systems, all tape devices assigned to the virtual partition are listed. Select the one from which to boot. On PA-RISC systems, the tape device specified with the TAPE attribute is booted.

Then proceed with the recovery as normal.

NOTE: The system may appear but is actually not hung when booting from tape due to the increased time it takes to load a kernel from tape instead of from disk.


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