Administering system backups

There are multiple ways to backup your system and restore a system backup.

Backing up user files or file systems
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.
Restoring backed-up files
After the data has been correctly backed up, there are several different methods of restoring the data based upon the type of backup command you used.
Creating a remote archive
Use this procedure to archive files to a remote tape device.
Restoring user files from a backup image
If you need to restore a backup image destroyed by accident, your most difficult problem is determining which of the backup tapes contains this file. The restore -T command can be used to list the contents of an archive. It is a good idea to restore the file in the /tmp directory so that you do not accidentally overwrite the user's other files.
Restoring access to an unlinked or deleted system library
When the existing libc.a library is not available, most operating system commands are not recognized.
Restoring a deleted symbolic link
Use the following procedure to restore a symbolic link from the /usr/lib/libc.a library to the /usr/ccs/lib/libc.a path.
Restoring a deleted system library file
This procedure to restore a deleted system library file requires system downtime. The system is booted and then the library is restored from a recent mksysb tape.
Recreating a corrupted boot image
The following procedure describes how to identify a corrupted boot image and re-create it.
Making an online backup of a JFS
Making an online backup of a mounted journaled file system (JFS) or enhanced journaled file system (JFS2) creates a static image of the logical volume that contains the file system.
Making and backing up a snapshot of a JFS2
You can make a snapshot of a mounted JFS2 that establishes a consistent block-level image of the file system at a point in time.
Making and backing up an external snapshot of a JFS2
You can make a snapshot of a mounted JFS2 that establishes a consistent block-level image of the file system at a point in time.
Making and backing up an internal snapshot of a JFS2
You can make a snapshot of a mounted JFS2 that establishes a consistent block-level image of the file system at a point in time.
Compressing files (compress and pack commands)
Use the compress command and the pack command to compress files for storage.

Parent topic: System backup