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ServerView Resource Coordinator VE Operation Guide

8.2 Backing Up System Images

This section explains how to collect a system image backup.

System images can only be backed up from managed servers that are not in "stop" status.

System images can also be backed up using commands.
Refer to "Chapter 4 Image Operations" in the "ServerView Resource Coordinator VE Command Reference" for details.


Backing up a System Image

Use the following procedure to back up a system image from a managed server.

  1. Put the target server into maintenance mode and stop all of its applications.

    1. In the RC console resource tree, right-click the target server (or its physical OS or VM host) and select [Maintenance Mode]-[Set] from the popup menu.

      The [Set Maintenance Mode] dialog is displayed.

      Because the target server is restarted during backup, all of its applications should be stopped beforehand. When backing up a VM host, all of its VM guests should also be stopped.

    2. In the confirmation dialog, click the <OK> button.

      The target server is put into maintenance mode.

  2. Back up a system image from the target server.

    1. In the RC console resource tree, right-click the target physical OS or VM host and select [Backup/Restore]-[Backup] from the popup menu.

      The [Backup] dialog is displayed.

    2. In the [Backup] dialog, specify the following information.

      Comment

      Enter a comment to identify the system image.
      A comment can be of no more than 128 characters. Percents ("%), backslashes ("\"), double quotes ("), and linefeed characters are not allowed.

      Note

      A list of resources that will be powered off during backup is displayed in the [Backup] dialog. Confirm that it is safe to shutdown those resources before continuing with the backup operation.
      When backing up a VM host, all of its VM guests will also be stopped.

    3. Click the <OK> button.

      The system image is backed up.

      After backing up a VM host, stop and back up all of its VM guests.
      For details on VM guest backup, refer to the server virtualization software manual.

  3. Release the target server from maintenance mode before resuming its applications.

    1. In the RC console resource tree, right-click the target server (or its physical OS or VM host) and select [Maintenance Mode]-[Release] from the popup menu.

      The [Release Maintenance Mode] dialog is displayed.

    2. Click the <OK> button.

      The target server is released from maintenance mode.

Note

  • The number of system image versions that can be kept for a managed server is limited.
    If a new system image backup is collected while this limit has already been reached, the oldest version will be deleted.
    By default, the maximum number of system images is 3.
    This limit can be changed by following the instructions given in "6.3.1.3 Changing the Maximum Number of System Image Versions" in the "ServerView Resource Coordinator VE Setup Guide".

  • When backing up a new system image, its version number will be increased by one. The version number of the first backed up system image of a managed server will always be 1.

  • When backing up a VM host in a high-availability configuration, all VM guests stored on shared disks should be migrated to another VM host beforehand.
    During backup, because the target VM host will be automatically set to VM maintenance mode, the VM host should be in a state that allows for VM maintenance mode to be set.
    After backing up the VM host, migrate back the VM guests to their original VM host.
    Refer to the server virtualization software manual and "A.3 Functional Differences between Products" in the "ServerView Resource Coordinator VE Setup Guide" for information on how to migrate VM guests, or details about the VM maintenance mode.

  • When using PRIMERGY GLS for Admin LAN redundancy, a system image backup may fail if the following message is displayed in the event log.

    FJSVrcx:WARNING:41306:server:NIC takeover on Admin LAN was detected

    In that case, wait for the following message to show in the event log before performing backup again.

    FJSVrcx:INFO:23301:server:admin LAN information was successfully updated