Question : AIX Backup Logical volume

I'm running aix 5.3 ml 5

I have one uservg that has 2 hard disks ( hdisk1 and hdisk2) inside it.


hdisk1 has error reported and need to be replaced.

in hdisk1 has all logical volume not be mounted ( i dont know it is previously mounted or not coz this is old project system) and i dont know what the filesystem name is.

and hdisk2 has the paging space and 1 logical volume that been mounted to filesystem.

the problem is ... Is it POSSIBLE to back up LOGICAL VOLUME not filesystem in hdisk1 using savevg cmd or any other cmd that i do not know?

i want to back it up to a tape.


Thank you.

Answer : AIX Backup Logical volume

Depending on the size of tape you have and the size of the LVs, you may be able to fit more than one LV on a single tape.

This command will write the content of one LV only a single tape.

dd if=/dev/kplus_dat6dev of=/dev/rmt0 bs=512

If you have enough space on tape you may be able to write more than one file as follows:
TAPE=/dev/rmt0.1
export TAPE
rewind $TAPE
dd bs=512 of=/dev/$TAPE if=/dev/arch_dat1dev
dd bs=512 of=/dev/$TAPE if=/dev/arch_dat2dev
...

Using  the tape device with a ".1" suffix means to not rewind after the completion of the command. I would suggest checking the tape has been written correctly by comparing the output of "md5sum /dev/arch_dat1dev" and "dd if=/dev/rmt0.1 | md5sum" for each LV.