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PRIMECLUSTERGlobal Disk Services Configuration and AdministrationGuide 4.5
FUJITSU Software

6.4.6 Backing Up

4) Parting the proxy groups

Once synchronization copying is completed, the master group and the proxy group become synchronized. Snapshots of a master group can be collected in a proxy group by parting the synchronized master group and proxy group.

4-1) Secure consistency of the file systems.

To secure consistency of snapshot file systems, restrain update of the file systems. However, file systems such as /, /usr, and /var are necessary for the system to operate, they cannot be unmounted during system operation. You can follow the procedure as below in order to reduce write occurrences to system disks and write occurrences to system disks that are not updated yet.

  1. Boot the system in single user mode. (This can be skipped.)
    When creating backups using the OPC function in ETERNUS Disk storage system SAN boot environment, this procedure is not recommended. If this procedure is executed, rebooting the system in the multi-user mode is impossible until OPC physical copying is compete.

  2. Exit all active application programs writing in the system disks. (This can be skipped.)

  3. Execute the sync(1M) command to write file system data updated in memory but not yet written to the disks.

Note

The system may hang up if a / file system is locked not to be written in with the lockfs(1M) command. In addition, GDS and GDS Snapshot commands hang up if a /var file system is locked not to be written in. Therefore, / and /var should not be applied the write lock.

Even if all the steps a., b., and c. are enforced, it is impossible to completely restrain update on the file system. As a result, inconsistency similar to that after a system panic might occur in a snapshot file system.

If a., b., and c. are all enforced, a snapshot file system will be similar to a file system after a panic occurs in single user mode.

If only c. is enforced skipping a. and b., a snapshot file system will be similar to a file system after a panic occurs during the system operation.

In any of these situations, a file system may have inconsistency, and the file system should be checked for consistency and repaired as described in step 5-2).

4-2) Part the proxy groups.

# sdxproxy Part -c System -p Proxy1,Proxy2

See

When using GDS Management View, see "Part" in "5.3.2.2 Backup (by Synchronization)."

Information

ETERNUS Disk Storage System SAN Boot Environment

When the OPC function is available, after proxy groups are parted, use the following command to copy data from the master groups to the proxy groups. When using GDS Management View, see "Update" in "5.3.2.3 Backup (by OPC)." In the Update Proxy dialog box, select "Yes" to " Instant Snapshot."

# sdxproxy Update -c System -p Proxy1,Proxy2 -e instant

4-3) When the system was booted in single user mode in a. of step 4-1), reboot it in multi-user mode.

If OPC is used, reboot the system in multi-user mode after OPC physical copying is completed. The progress of OPC physical copying can be checked in the STATUS field of the sdxinfo -S command.

4-4) When application programs were exited in b. of step 4-1), launch the application programs.


5) Configuring an alternative boot environment

Make booting available through the proxy volumes in preparation for an error due to a failed system disk or damaged data.

5-1) Set the access mode attribute of the proxy volumes to rw (read and write).

If the access mode attribute of proxy volumes created in the proxy group is ro (read only), it must be changed to rw (read and write). The access mode attribute can be viewed in the MODE field output by the sdxinfo -V -e long command. If the access mode attribute is already set to rw (read and write), executing the following commands is not necessary.

# sdxvolume -F -c System -v Proot,Pusr,Phome,Pswap,Pvar,Popt
# sdxattr -V -c System -v Proot -a mode=rw
# sdxattr -V -c System -v Pusr -a mode=rw
# sdxattr -V -c System -v Phome -a mode=rw
# sdxattr -V -c System -v Pswap -a mode=rw
# sdxattr -V -c System -v Pvar -a mode=rw
# sdxattr -V -c System -v Popt -a mode=rw

5-2) Verify and repair the file systems on the proxy volumes.

There may be inconsistency in file systems on proxy volumes, and so verify and repair them using the fsck(1M) command.

# sdxvolume -N -c System -v Proot,Pusr,Phome,Pswap,Pvar,Popt 
# fsck -y /dev/sfdsk/System/rdsk/Proot
# fsck -y /dev/sfdsk/System/rdsk/Pusr
# fsck -y /dev/sfdsk/System/rdsk/Phome
# fsck -y /dev/sfdsk/System/rdsk/Pvar
# fsck -y /dev/sfdsk/System/rdsk/Popt

5-3) Configure the alternative boot environment.

# sdxproxy Root -c System -p Proxy1,Proxy2

Once the alternative boot environment is configured, the following message is output.

SDX:sdxproxy: INFO: completed definitions of alternative boot environment: 
current-boot-device=/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@0,0:a pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@1,0:a
alternative-boot-device=/pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@2,0:a /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@3,0:a

Be sure to keep a copy of the output boot device names in the current boot environment (current-boot-device value) and in the alternative boot environment (alternative-boot-device value).

Note

Permission of the /etc/vfstab file and the /etc/system file

For a group permission of the /etc/vfstab file and the /etc/system file in an alternative boot environment, root that is the permission to execute the sdxproxy Root command is set. When restoring the system by using the alternative boot environment, the group permission of the /etc/vfstab file and the /etc/system file in a current boot environment is changed from sys to root. Even if the group permission is changed, it does not impact the system operation. If you want same group permission as one before restoration, use the chgrp command to change the group permission to sys.

# mount -F ufs /dev/sfdsk/System/rdsk/Proot /mnt
# chgrp sys /mnt/etc/vfstab
# chgrp sys /mnt/etc/system
# umount /mnt

Information

ETERNUS Disk Storage System SAN Boot Environment

When using the OPC function, confirm that the OPC physical copying is completed.

# sdxinfo -S -c System
OBJ    CLASS   GROUP   DISK    VOLUME  STATUS
------ ------- ------- ------- ------- --------
slice  System  Group1  Root1   root    ACTIVE
slice  System  Group1  Root2   root    ACTIVE
slice  System  Group1  Root1   usr     ACTIVE
slice  System  Group1  Root2   usr     ACTIVE
slice  System  Group1  Root1   home    ACTIVE
slice  System  Group1  Root2   home    ACTIVE
slice  System  Group2  Var1    swap    ACTIVE
slice  System  Group2  Var2    swap    ACTIVE
slice  System  Group2  Var1    var     ACTIVE
slice  System  Group2  Var2    var     ACTIVE
slice  System  Group2  Var1    opt     ACTIVE
slice  System  Group2  Var2    opt     ACTIVE
slice  System  Proxy1  Proot1  Proot   STOP
slice  System  Proxy1  Proot2  Proot   STOP
slice  System  Proxy1  Proot1  Pusr    STOP
slice  System  Proxy1  Proot2  Pusr    STOP
slice  System  Proxy1  Proot1  Phome   COPY
slice  System  Proxy1  Proot2  Phome   COPY
slice  System  Proxy2  Pvar1   Pswap   STOP
slice  System  Proxy2  Pvar2   Pswap   STOP
slice  System  Proxy2  Pvar1   Pvar    COPY
slice  System  Proxy2  Pvar2   Pvar    COPY
slice  System  Proxy2  Pvar1   Popt    COPY
slice  System  Proxy2  Pvar2   Popt    COPY

If the copying is in process, COPY is displayed in the STATUS field for slices of the copy destination proxy group. If the STATUS of every slice in the proxy group is STOP, the copying is completed.

5-4) Stop the proxy volumes.

To protect data in the alternative boot environment from illegal write access, the proxy volumes should be inactivated.

# sdxvolume -F -c System -v Proot,Pusr,Phome,Pswap,Pvar,Popt

Information

When using GDS Management View, select a proxy volume and execute [Operation]:[Stop Volume] in the Main Screen.


6) Verifying the alternative boot environment. (This can be skipped.)

Confirm that the system can be booted in the alternative boot environment.

6-1) Boot the system through the alternative boot environment.

Execute the boot command in the OpenBoot environment. For the boot command, you can specify one of the boot devices in the alternative boot environment output in the message as shown in step 5-3).

# shutdown -y -g0 -i0
ok boot /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@2,0:a

Information

The boot command may fail as below if the number of the boot device names in the alternative boot environment output in step 5-3) exceeds the number of boot devices in the alternative boot environment.

ok boot /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@2,0:a
Rebooting with command: boot /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@2,0:a
Boot device: /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@2,0:a  File and args:
Evaluating: boot /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@2,0:a
Can't open boot device
ok

If this happens, you should specify another boot device name in the alternative boot environment output in step 5-3) and try the boot command again.

6-2) Confirm that it was booted normally.

Using the mount(1M) command or the sdxinfo command, make sure that it was booted normally in the alternative boot environment and that GDS objects do not contain errors. Additionally, according to need, you should confirm that file system contents in the alternative boot environment are correct and that applications can normally run.

6-3) Return to the original boot environment.

Execute the boot command in the OpenBoot environment. For the boot command, you can specify one of the boot devices in the current boot environment output in the message as shown in step 5-3).

# shutdown -y -g0 -i0
ok boot /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@0,0:a

Information

The boot command may fail as below if the number of the boot device names in the current boot environment output in step 5-3) exceeds the number of boot devices in the current boot environment.

ok boot /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@0,0:a
Rebooting with command: boot /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@0,0:a Boot device: /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@0,0:a File and args: Evaluating: boot /pci@1f,4000/scsi@3/disk@0,0:a
Can't open boot device
ok

If this happens, you should specify another boot device name in the current boot environment output in step 5-3) and try the boot command again.

6-4) Stop the proxy volumes.

To protect data in the alternative boot environment from illegal write access, the proxy volumes should be inactivated.

# sdxvolume -F -c System -v Proot,Pusr,Phome,Pswap,Pvar,Popt

Information

When using GDS Management View, select a proxy volume and execute [Operation]:[Stop Volume] in the Main Screen.


7) Rejoining the proxy groups

To back up the system disks again, copy contents in the system disks to the backup disks again by rejoining a group of the backup disks (proxy group) to a group of the system disks (master group).

Note

Copying by rejoining is finished quickly since only the updated blocks in the master and the proxy are copied through the just resynchronization mechanism (JRM). However, if the system is rebooted after the proxy is parted, the JRM is disabled and the entire volumes will be copied when the proxy is rejoined. Therefore, copying of the entire volumes is conducted instead of just resynchronization when the proxy groups are rejoined in step 7-1) if the system is rebooted after step 4-3) or step 6).

Information

ETERNUS Disk Storage System SAN Boot Environment

When using the OPC function, do not rejoin the proxy groups.

7-1) Rejoin the proxy groups.

# sdxproxy Rejoin -c System -p Proxy1,Proxy2

See

When using GDS Management View, see " Rejoin" in "5.3.2.2 Backup (by Synchronization)."

7-2) Confirm that synchronization copying is complete.

# sdxinfo -S -c System
OBJ    CLASS   GROUP   DISK    VOLUME  STATUS
------ ------- ------- ------- ------- --------
slice  System  Group1  Root1   root    ACTIVE
slice  System  Group1  Root2   root    ACTIVE
slice  System  Group1  Root1   usr     ACTIVE
slice  System  Group1  Root2   usr     ACTIVE
slice  System  Group1  Root1   home    ACTIVE
slice  System  Group1  Root2   home    ACTIVE
slice  System  Group2  Var1    swap    ACTIVE
slice  System  Group2  Var2    swap    ACTIVE
slice  System  Group2  Var1    var     ACTIVE
slice  System  Group2  Var2    var     ACTIVE
slice  System  Group2  Var1    opt     ACTIVE
slice  System  Group2  Var2    opt     ACTIVE
slice  System  Proxy1  Proot1  Proot   STOP
slice  System  Proxy1  Proot2  Proot   STOP
slice  System  Proxy1  Proot1  Pusr    STOP
slice  System  Proxy1  Proot2  Pusr    STOP
slice  System  Proxy1  Proot1  Phome   COPY
slice  System  Proxy1  Proot2  Phome   COPY
slice  System  Proxy2  Pvar1   Pswap   STOP
slice  System  Proxy2  Pvar2   Pswap   STOP
slice  System  Proxy2  Pvar1   Pvar    COPY
slice  System  Proxy2  Pvar2   Pvar    COPY
slice  System  Proxy2  Pvar1   Popt    COPY
slice  System  Proxy2  Pvar2   Popt    COPY

If synchronization copying is in process, COPY is displayed in the STATUS field for slices of the copy destination proxy group. If the STATUS of every slice in the proxy group is STOP, the synchronization copying is completed.

Information

On the GDS Management View main screen, slices composing proxy volumes are indicated as below.

  • If synchronization copying is in process, the status is "copy" and the icon color is blue.

  • After synchronization copying is completed, the status is "stop" and the icon color is black.

7-3) Part the proxy groups, configure the alternative boot environment, and confirm that the alternative boot environment is valid following the step from 4) to 6).