POWER6 information

viosbr command

Purpose

Performs the operations for backing up the virtual and logical configuration, listing the configuration, and restoring the configuration of the Virtual I/O Server.

The viosbr command can be run only by the padmin user.

Syntax

To perform a backup:

viosbr -backup -file FileName [-frequency daily|weekly|monthly [-numfiles fileCount]]

To view a backup file:

viosbr -view -file FileName [-type devType] [-detail]

viosbr -view -file FileName -mapping

viosbr -view -list [UserDir]

To restore a backup file:

viosbr -restore -file FileName [-validate] [-type devType] [-inter]

viosbr -restore -file FileName [-type devType] [-force]

To disable a scheduled backup:

viosbr -nobackup

Description

The viosbr command uses the parameters -backup, -view, and -restore, respectively, to perform backup, list, and recovery tasks for the Virtual I/O Server.

This viosbr command backs up all the relevant data to recover a Virtual I/O Server after a new installation. The -backup parameter backs up all the device properties and the virtual devices configuration on the Virtual I/O Server. This includes information regarding logical devices, such as storage pools, file-backed storage pools, the virtual media repository, and PowerVM™ Active Memory Sharing (AMS) paging devices. It also includes the virtual devices, such as Etherchannel, shared Ethernet adapters (SEAs), virtual server adapters, and server virtual fibre channel (SVFC) adapters. Additionally, it includes the device attributes, such as the attributes for disks, optical devices, tape devices, fibre channel SCSI controllers controllers, Ethernet adapters, Ethernet interfaces, and logical Host Ethernet Adapters (HEAs). All the configuration information is saved in a compressed XML file. If a location is not specified with the -file option, the file is placed in the default location /home/padmin/cfgbackups if the user does not specify a full path for saving the file. This command can be run once or can be run in a stipulated period of time by using the -frequency parameter with the daily, weekly, or monthly option. Daily backups occur at 00:00, weekly backups on Sunday at 00:00, and monthly backups on the first day of the month at 00:01. The -numfile parameter specifies the number of successive backup files that will be saved, with a maximum value of 10. After reaching the given number of files, the oldest backup file is deleted during the next backup cycle. The format of the file name is <givenfilename>.xx.tar.gz, where xx starts from 01.

The viosbr command does not back up the parent devices of adapters or drivers, device drivers, virtual serial adapters, virtual terminal devices, kernel extensions, the Internet Network Extension (inet0), virtual I/O bus, processor, memory, or cache.

The -view parameter displays the information of all the backed up entities in a formatted output. This parameter requires an input file in a compressed or noncompressed format that is generated with the -backup parameter. The -view parameter uses the option flags type and detail to display information in detail or to display minimal information for all the devices or for a subset of devices. The -mapping option flag provides lsmap-like output for Virtual Small Computer System Interface (VSCSI) server adapters, SEA, server virtual fibre channel (SVFC) adapters, and PowerVM Active Memory Sharing paging devices. The entities can be controllers, disks, optical devices, tape devices, network adapters, network interfaces, storage pools, repositories, Etherchannels, Shared Ethernet Adapters, VSCSI server adapters, server virtual fibre channel (SVFC) adapters, and paging devices. The -list option displays backup files from the default location/home/padmin/cfgbackups or from a user-specified location.

The -restore parameter uses an earlier backup file as input and brings the Virtual I/O Server partition to the same state as when the backup was created. With the information available from the input file, the command sets the attribute values for physical devices, imports logical devices, and creates virtual devices and their corresponding mappings. The attributes can be set for controllers, adapters, disks, optical devices, tape devices, and Ethernet interfaces. Logical devices that can be imported are volume groups, storage pools, logical volumes (LVs), file systems, and repositories. Virtual devices that can be created are Etherchannel, shared Ethernet adapter, server virtual fibre channel (SVFC) adapters, virtual target devices, and PowerVM Active Memory Sharing paging devices. The command creates mappings between virtual SCSI server adapters and the VTD-backing devices, between a virtual Fibre Channel (VFC) server adapter and a Fibre Channel (FC) adapter, and between PowerVM Active Memory Sharing paging devices and backing devices. The viosbr command with the -restore option needs to be run on the same Virtual I/O Server partition as the one where the backup was performed. The command uses parameters to validate the devices on the system and restores a category of devices. The -restore option runs interactively so that if any devices fail to restore, the user can decide how to handle the failure.

Flags

-file [Attribute ]	Specifies the absolute path or relative path and file name of the file that has backup information. If the file name starts with a slash (/) it is considered an absolute path; otherwise, it is a relative path.
-frequency	Specifies the frequency of the backup to run automatically. The user can add a cronjob entry for backup frequencies other than daily, weekly, or monthly.
-numfiles	When backup runs automatically, this number indicates the maximum number of backup files that can be saved. The oldest file is deleted during the next cycle of backup. If this flag is not given, the default value is 10.
-mapping	Displays mapping information for SEA, virtual SCSI adapters, VFC adapters, and PowerVM Active Memory Sharing paging devices.
-type	Displays information corresponding to all instances of the device type specified. The devType can be pv, optical, tape, controller, interface, sp,fbsp, repository, ethchannel, sea, svsa, svfca, pool, or paging. With the -restore option, devType can be net, vscsi, npiv, or ams. When deploying a given type of device, all the dependent devices also are deployed. For example, when deploying vscsi, related disks, attributes are set, the corresponding storage pool is imported, and all file-backed storage pools are mounted.
-detail	Displays all the devices from the XML file with all their attribute values.
-validate	Validates the devices on the server against the devices on the backed-up file. If the -inter option is specified, the user is prompted to specify how to handle items that do not validate successfully. Without the -inter option, if items do not validate successfully, the -restore operation fails.
-inter	Interactively deploys each device with user confirmation. Note: User input can be taken to set properties of all drivers, adapters, and interfaces (disks, optical devices, tape devices, fibre channel SCSI controllers controllers, Ethernet adapters, Ethernet interfaces, and logical HEAs) or each category of logical or virtual devices. This includes logical devices, such as storage pools, file-backed storage pools, and optical repositories, and virtual devices such as Etherchannel, SEA, virtual server adapters, and virtual server fibre channel adapters.
-force	If this option is specified in noninteractive mode, restoration of a device that has not been successfully validated is attempted. This option cannot be used in combination with the -inter or -validate options.
-list	This option displays backup files from either the default location /home/padmin/cfgbackups or a user-specified location.
-nobackup	This option removes any previously scheduled backups and stops any automatic backups.

Exit Status

Table 1. Command specific return codes

Return code	Description
0	Success
-1	Failure

Examples

1. To back up all the device attributes and logical and virtual device mappings on the Virtual I/O Server to a file called /tmp/myserverbackup, type:

   viosbr -backup –file /tmp/myserverbackup

2. To back up all the device attributes and virtual device mappings daily on the Virtual I/O Server and keep the last five backup files, type:

   viosbr -backup –file mybackup -frequency daily –numfiles 5

   The backup files resulting from this command are located under home/padmin/cfgbackups with the names mybackup.01.tar.gz, mybackup.02.tar.gz, mybackup.03.tar.gz, mybackup.04.tar.gz, and mybackup.05.tar.gz for the five most recent files.
3. To display information about all the entities in a backup file called myserverbackup.012909.tar.gz, type:

   viosbr -view -file myserverbackup.012909.tar.gz

   The system displays information similar to the following:

   Controllers:
   Name        Phys Loc
   scsi0       U787B.001.DNWFPMH-P1-C3-T1
   scsi1       U787B.001.DNWFPMH-P1-C3-T2
   fscsi0      U789D.001.DQD42T5-P1-C1-T1
   iscsi0      U787B.001.DNWFPMH-P1-T10
   lhea0       U789D.001.DQD42T5-P1
   fcs0        U789D.001.DQD42T5-P1-C1-T1
   
   Physical Volumes:
   Name         Phys loc
   hdisk1       U787B.001.DNWFPMH-P1-C3-T2-L4-L0
   hdisk2       U789D.001.DQD90N4-P3-D2
   
   Optical Devices:
   Name        Phys loc
   cd0         U78A0.001.DNWGLV2-P2-D2
   
   Tape devices:
   Name        Phys loc
   rmt0        U78A0.001.DNWGLV2-P2-D1
   
   Ethernet Interface(s):
   Name
   en0
   en1
   
   Etherchannels:
   Name  Prim adapter(s)     Backup adapter
   ent4  ent0                 NONE 
         ent1    
   
   Shared Ethernet Adapters:
   Name  Target Adapter            Virtual Adapter(s)
   ent3  ent0                      ent1
                                   ent2
   
   Storage Pools (*-default SP):
   SP name          PV Name
   testsp           hdisk1
                    hdisk2
   
   mysp*            hdisk3
                    hdisk4
   
   File-backed Storage Pools:
   Name             Parent SP
   myfbsp           mysp
   
   Optical Repositories:
   Name             Parent SP
   VMLibrary_LV      mysp
   
   
   VSCSI Server Adapters:
   SVSA      VTD        Phys loc
   vhost0    vtscsi0    U9133.55A.063368H-V4-C3
             vtopt1
   vhost1    vtopt0     U9133.55A.063368H-V4-C4
             vttape0
   
   
   SVFC Adapters:
   Name         FC Adapter   Phys loc
   vfchost0     fcs0         U9117.MMA.06AB272-V5-C17
   vfchost1     -            U9117.MMA.06AB272-V5-C18
   
   VBSD Pools:
   Name
   pool0
   pool1
   
   VRM Pages:
   Name      StreamID
   vrmpage0  0x2000011b7ec18369
   vrmpage1  0x2000011b7dec9128

4. To display information for only physical disks, type:

   viosbr -view –file myserverbackup.002.tar.gz –type pv

   The system displays information similar to the following:

   Physical Volumes:
   =================
   Name        Phys Loc
   ----        --------
   hdisk0      U789D.001.DQD42T5-P1-C1-T1-W500507630513402B-L4010400000000000
   hdisk1      U789D.001.DQD42T5-P1-C1-T1-W500507630513402B-L4010400100000000
   hdisk2      U789D.001.DQD42T5-P1-C1-T1-W500507630513402B-L4010400400000000
   hdisk3      U789D.001.DQD42T5-P1-C1-T1-W500507630513402B-L4010405C00000000

5. To restore all the possible devices and display a summary of deployed and nondeployed devices, type:

   viosbr -restore  –file /home/padmin/cfgbackups/myserverbackup.002.tar.gz

   The system displays information similar to the following:

   Deployed/changed devices:
     <Name(s) of deployed devices>
   
   Unable to deploy/change devices:
     <Name(s) of non-deployed devices>

Related Information

The lsdev command, the lsmap command, the backup command, the backupios command, the restore command, the restorevgstruct command, the savevgstruct command, the alt_root_vgcommand, and the save_base command.

Parent topic: Virtual I/O Server and Integrated Virtualization Manager commands listed alphabetically

Parent topic: Maintenance commands