Compressing a dump using gzip and split

Use the gzip and split commands to compress the dump and split it into parts. Alternatively, you can use the makedumpfile command.

Procedure

  1. Compress the dump and split it into parts of 1 GB by using the gzip and split commands.
    • For a DASD dump:
      # zgetdump /dev/dasdd1 | gzip | split -b 1G
    • For a tape dump:
      # mt -f /dev/ntibm0 rewind
      # mt -f /dev/ntibm0 fsf
      # zgetdump /dev/ntibm0 | gzip | split -b 1G
    • For a SCSI dump:
      # cat /dumps/mydumps/dump.0 | gzip | split -b 1G
      
    The split creates several compressed files in your current directory:
    # ls
    # xaa xab xac xad xae
  2. Create md5 sums of parts:
    # md5sum * > dump.md5
  3. Upload the parts together with the MD5 information to the support organization.
  4. The receiver (the service organization) must do the following:
    1. Verify md5 sums:
      # cd dumpdir
      # md5sum -c dump.md5
      xaa: OK
      xab: OK
      ...
    2. Merge parts and extract the dump:
      # cat x* | gunzip -c > dump