Backups

Backups of shared volume groups should be done frequently.

Some applications have their own online backup methods.

You can use any of the following:

• mksysb backups
• sysback, splitlvcopy online backups.

Using mksysb

You should do a mksysb on each node prior to and following any changes to the node environment. Such changes include:

• Applying PTFs
• Upgrading AIX® or PowerHA® SystemMirror® software
• Adding new applications
• Adding new device drivers
• Changing TCP/IP configuration
• Changing cluster topology or resources
• Changing LVM components of rootvg (paging space, file system sizes)
• Changing AIX parameters (including the tuning parameters: I/O pacing, syncd ).

Using splitlvcopy

You can use the splitlvcopy method on raw logical volumes and file systems to do a backup while the application is still running. This method is only possible for LVM mirrored logical volumes.

By taking advantage of the LVM's mirroring capability, you can stop the application briefly to split off a copy of the data using the AIX splitlvcopy command. Stopping the application gives the application its checkpoint. Then restart the application so it continues processing while you do a backup of the copy.

You can do the backup using tar, cpio, or any other AIX backup command that operates on a logical volume or a file system. Using cron, you can automate this type of backup.