Restoring IVM Partition Data

Resolving The Problem

Integrated Virtualization Manager (IVM) supports backup and restore functions for the partition configuration. The backup and restore is available from both the graphical and command line interface. This feature allows the user to recover the partition configuration should it be damaged due to user error or a hardware failure. It can also be used to restore the configuration after a hardware upgrade or even migrate some settings of the configuration to another server.

The backup and restore functions in the graphical interface are located under Service Management, Backup/Restore. The restore option in the graphical interface supports restoring a backup file to the same server that the backup was taken on. Machine type, model, serial number, and hardware must match the backup.


The command line interface (CLI) restore option has additional options not available in the graphical interface. These options allow the partition configuration to be restored to another server (cloning) or after a hardware upgrade, such as a MES upgrade to a new model with the same serial number. The additional options on the rstprofdata command are as follows:

--ignoremtms	Do not fail if the type, model, or serial number of the managed system does not match the type, model, and serial number in the backup file.
--ignoremac	Do not try to restore the virtual Ethernet MAC addresses. Use automatically generated MAC addresses.
--ignoreio	Do not try to restore I/O slot or Host Ethernet resources. No I/O slots or Host Ethernet resources will be assigned to client partitions.
--ignorehea	Do not try to restore Host Ethernet resources. No Host Ethernet resources will be assigned to any partitions.

Further information can be found by running man rstprofdata.

MES Upgrades - Model update only
In this type of upgrade, only the model is being updated (for example, 9408-M25 to 8203-E4A). All other hardware remains the same. Because the MTMS will not match, you must use the --ignoremtms parameter on the command.

System cloning and MES Upgrades - Hardware
Depending on how closely the configuration matches the old system, you may need to add additional parameters like --ignoremac or --ignorehea (in other words, if the new system has a different type of HEA card).

Other Considerations
The backup of the partition configuration (bkprofdata) is a formatted ASCII text file and can be edited by hand, if needed. The format for the partitions is largely similar to the IVM CLI mksyscfg -r lpar command input. See man mksyscfg for further information on the syntax.

AIX/VIOS, may not support migrating rootvg from one MTMS to a different MTMS without a VIOS backup/restore until VIOS 2.1.2 (FP22). Update to latest VIOS level prior to any upgrade. Contact VIOS support for further information.