Hello! I am currently in the process of developing / testing a strategy to utilize TSM's image backup functionality for bare metal system restores. On my test box, I have six EXT4 filesystems with image backups sent to TSM as follows:
# dsmc backup image / -snapshotproviderimage=LINUX_LVM # dsmc backup image /boot # dsmc backup image /home -snapshotproviderimage=LINUX_LVM # dsmc backup image /opt -snapshotproviderimage=LINUX_LVM # dsmc backup image /tmp -snapshotproviderimage=LINUX_LVM # dsmc backup image /var -snapshotproviderimage=LINUX_LVM The test system is also on a regular incremental backup schedule, and so, after submitting the image backups for all filesystems, I add / modify / delete a few files on each filesystem and then run a successful incremental backup as follows: # dsmc incr I then "hose" the box by booting into a live environment and re-formatting each of the six filesystems afresh to EXT4. Within this same live environment, I have the TSM 7.1.0.3 client installed (the same version as I used to send the image and incremental backups to TSM from the system I now wish to restore). With the TSM client installed and configured in the live environment, I confirm that I can see that the image backups are available to restore: Image Size Stored Size FSType Backup Date Mgmt Class A/I Image Name ---------- ----------- ------ ------------------- ---------- --- ---------- 1 16.00 GB 16.00 GB EXT4 09/08/2014 09:08:19 DEFAULT A / 2 500.00 MB 500.00 MB EXT4 09/08/2014 09:00:07 DEFAULT A /boot 3 8.00 GB 8.00 GB EXT4 09/08/2014 09:11:40 DEFAULT A /home 4 8.00 GB 8.00 GB EXT4 09/08/2014 09:21:55 DEFAULT A /opt 5 8.00 GB 8.00 GB EXT4 09/08/2014 09:24:18 DEFAULT A /tmp 6 160.00 GB 160.00 GB EXT4 09/08/2014 09:27:01 DEFAULT A /var Satisfied that all is well, I now mount the now freshly-formatted root ('/') filesystem to the '/rescue' directory in my live environment, and attempt to restore it from the image. Since I have incremental backups that include various additions, changes, and deletions to the filesystem, I've elected to restore the filesystem as follows: [root@livecd ~]# dsmc restore image / /rescue -incremental -deletefiles IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Command Line Backup-Archive Client Interface Client Version 7, Release 1, Level 0.3 Client date/time: 09/10/2014 18:53:18 (c) Copyright by IBM Corporation and other(s) 1990, 2014. All Rights Reserved. Node Name: *******.***.***.*** Session established with server ****: Linux/x86_64 Server Version 6, Release 3, Level 4.200 Server date/time: 09/10/2014 14:53:46 Last access: 09/10/2014 14:53:37 Restore Image Function Invoked. ANS8048W Warning! Performing image restore of the Linux file system '/' to an alternate destination '/rescue' is not recommended as this may result in duplicate UUIDs leading to failed mounts after a successful restore. Continue (Yes (Y)/No (N)) y ***************************** WARNING ******************************** Restoring a file system or raw logical volume will replace any data that currently resides there and all file system parameters. Are you sure you want to replace File System/Volume: '/rescue'? (Yes (Y)/No (N)) y Restoring 17,179,869,184 [Done] Restore processing finished. Restoring 4,096 / --> /rescue/ [Done] Total number of objects restored: 2 Total number of objects failed: 0 Total number of bytes transferred: 16.00 GB Data transfer time: 195.00 sec Network data transfer rate: 86,036.95 KB/sec Aggregate data transfer rate: 79,144.66 KB/sec Elapsed processing time: 00:03:31 ANS4004E Error processing '/': destination file or directory is write locked As can be seen, the image restore completes successfully, but when TSM attempts to reconcile the subsequent changes reflected by the later incremental backup, error ANS4004E is issued. I have tested to confirm whether or not the mounted '/rescue' directory is writeable, and it is. Is it possible that the TSM client application is exercising some sort of protection that prevents the restore feature from recovering a root ('/') filesystem from backup? If so, that certainly would be understandable, but is there an override for scenarios, such as the one above, when that really is what I want to do? What am I missing? Also, for the record, it is worth mentioning that if I don't pass the '-incremental -deletefiles' options, the restore completes successfully and I can then mount the other filesystems within the '/rescue' directory and recover them from their respective image backups. Upon exiting the live environment and attempting to boot the system, I am greeted by a successful boot to the system in the state it was in when the image backups were made, and from what was a completely hosed box, which is precisely what I'm after. However, I'd love to be able to include changes up to the latest incremental backup as part of my bare metal restore operation. Any assistance is greatly appreciated. Thanks! -- Adam ______________________ *J. Adam Craig* UNIX & Windows Operating Systems Engineer VCU Computer Center 804.828.4886 "Don't be a phishing victim -- VCU and other reputable organizations will never use email to request that you reply with your password, social security number or confidential personal information. For more details, visit http://infosecurity.vcu.edu/phishing.html"