mkvgdata Command

Purpose

Creates a file containing information about a volume group for use by the savevg and restvg commands.

Syntax

mkvgdata [ -X] [ -m] [ -x file ] VGName

Description

The mkvgdata command creates a file containing information about a volume group for use by the savevg and restvg commands. The information includes the list of logical volumes, file systems and their sizes, and the volume group name. One of the following files is created, depending on the type of volume group:

Item Description
/image.data Created for information about the root volume group (rootvg). The savevg command uses this file to create a backup image that can be used by the bosinstall routine to reinstall the volume group to the current system or to a new system. The mkvgdata command overwrites this file if it already exists. The /image.data file is located in the / directory.
vgname.data Created for information about a user volume group. The vgname variable reflects the name of the volume group. The savevg command uses this file to create a backup image that can be used by the restvg command to reinstall the user volume group. The mkvgdata command overwrites this file if it already exists. The vgname.data file is located in the /tmp/vgdata/vgname directory, where vgname is the volume group name.

The information in either of these files can be edited by the user before issuing the savevg command.

Flag

Item Description
-m Creates map files that specify the mapping of the logical-to-physical partitions for each logical volume in the volume group. This mapping can be used to allocate the same logical-to-physical mapping when the image is restored. The map file locations are stored in the MAPFILE field in the /image.data file for each logical volume. Sufficient space would exist in the /tmp file system for map creation because the installation routines place the maps in the /tmp file system before issuing the mklv command.

For example, for the hd7 logical volume, the location of the map file is /tmp/vgdata/rootvg/hd7.map. The MAPFILE field in the /image.data file for the hd7 logical volume is under the entry MAPFILE=/tmp/vgdata/rootvg/hd7.map.

The map files in the backup image are copied after the image.data or vgname.data files.

-X Expands /tmp if needed.
vgname Name of volume group to backup.
-x file Excludes the file systems that are listed in the file from the output file. File system mount points must be listed one per line.
Note: Use care when excluding file systems because a resulting backup can be unusable for system restoration.

Files

Item Description
/image.data Created when the volume group is rootvg.
/tmp/vgdata/vgname/vgname.data Created when the volume group is not rootvg and where vgname is the name of the volume group.