Backing up user files or file systems

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Two procedures can be used to back up files and file systems: the SMIT fast paths smit backfile or smit backfilesys, and the backup command.

  • If you are backing up by i-node file systems that may be in use, unmount them first to prevent inconsistencies.
    Attention: If you attempt to back up a mounted file system, a warning message is displayed. The backup command continues, but inconsistencies in the file system may occur. This warning does not apply to the root (/) file system.
  • To prevent errors, make sure the backup device has been cleaned recently.

To back up user files and file systems, you can use the SMIT fast paths smit backfile or smit backfilesys.

You can use the SMIT interface for backing up single and small file systems by name, such as /home on your local system. Note that SMIT cannot make archives in any other format than that provided by the backup command. Also, not every flag of the backup command is available through SMIT. SMIT might hang if multiple tapes or disks are needed during the backup.

Use the backup command when you want to back up large and multiple file systems. You can specify a level number to control how much data is backed up (full, 0; incremental, 1-9). Using the backup command is the only way you can specify the level number on backups.

The backup command creates copies in one of the two following backup formats:

  • Specific files backed up by name using the -i flag.
  • Entire file systems backed up by i-node using the -Level and FileSystem parameters. The file system is defragmented when it is restored from backup.
Attention: Backing up by i-node does not work correctly for files that have a user ID (UID) or a group ID (GID) greater than 65535. These files are backed up with UID or GID truncated and will, therefore, have the wrong UID or GID attributes when restored. For these cases, you must back up by name.
Backing Up User Files or File Systems Tasks
Task SMIT Fast Path Command or File
Back Up User Files smit backfile
  1. Log in to your user account.
  2. Backup: find . -print | backup -ivf /dev/rmt0
Back Up User File Systems smit backfilesys
  1. Unmount files systems that you plan to back up. For example: umount all or umount /home /filesys1
  2. Verify the file systems. For example: fsck /home /filesys1
  3. Back up by i-node. For example: backup -5 -uf/dev/rmt0 /home/libr
  4. Restore the files using the following command: restore -t
Note: If this command generates an error message, you must repeat the entire backup.