If you have a Linux® logical partition that uses i5/OS® resources, tools are available in i5/OS for backup and recovery. You can use the Save (SAV) and Restore (RST) control language (CL) commands to save and restore entire virtual disks in their current state.
The SAV command saves the directory that has the same name as the virtual disk under the QFPNWSSTG directory in the integrated file system. This method of backup and recovery is most effective if the Linux kernel is saved in a PowerPC Reference Platform® (PReP) start partition on the virtual disk. On most Linux distributions, this usually occurs as part of a default installation.
Backups using i5/OS commands are at drive level. This means that i5/OS backs up the entire contents of a virtual disk, or network storage space, rather than individual files. Thus, the correct SAV command backs up any information on the drive, including a kernel in the PReP start partition.
If you save the Linux kernel in a PReP partition, you can restore and start the partition after a total system reinstallation. You can also transport and restore saved virtual disks to other IBM® System i® servers using File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and tape.