Unix Backup and Recovery

The copyutil Utility

HP provides a bare-metal recovery tool on the HP-UX Support Media called copyutil . This utility is used to perform a block-by-block copy to tape of the contents of a hard drive. In the event of a failed system drive, copyutil may be used to create an image of any remaining readable blocks on tape, which can then be restored to a new drive. Any lost data should then be restored from standard backup media. copyutil is not the best choice for normal system backups, due to the fact that it requires that the system be taken completely offline. It can be used to preserve as much of the existing configuration as possible, rather than reinstalling a clean operating system from scratch. This section lists the requirements, issues to consider, and details of the use of copyutil.

copyutil Requirements

copyutil requires that the system be booted into the offline diagnostic environment (ODE). This means the machine will not be available for any other purpose during the backup and restore process. Booting into ODE requires the HP-UX Support Media and an appropriate device (the media is available on 4-mm DAT and CD-ROM). A tape drive with enough blank media to contain the entire disk contents is required to write the disk contents to tape. copyutil can span multiple tapes in the event that a single tape cannot store the entire contents of the disk to be dumped.

copyutil Issues

copyutil backups are based on physical devices, not logical volumes. In the event that a filesystem ...