How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest
Hi I am trying to find out if there is a utility in z/Linux in my case RHEL 5.2 that will allow me to copy a z/Linux formatted disk to another disk. Also do you know if DDR cares rather there is a VTOC on a volume if it is used to backup the volume without a VTOC? Thank You, Terry Martin Lockheed Martin - Citic z/OS and z/VM Performance Tuning and Operating Systems Support Office - 443 348-2102 Cell - 443 632-4191
Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest
I use dd dd if=/dev/... of=/dev/... John McKown Systems Engineer IV IT Administrative Services Group HealthMarkets(r) 9151 Boulevard 26 * N. Richland Hills * TX 76010 (817) 255-3225 phone * (817)-691-6183 cell john.mck...@healthmarkets.com * www.HealthMarkets.com Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message may contain confidential or proprietary information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. HealthMarkets(r) is the brand name for products underwritten and issued by the insurance subsidiaries of HealthMarkets, Inc. -The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company(r), Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of TennesseeSM and The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company.SM From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:ib...@listserv.uark.edu] On Behalf Of Martin, Terry R. (CMS/CTR) (CTR) Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 8:30 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest Hi I am trying to find out if there is a utility in z/Linux in my case RHEL 5.2 that will allow me to copy a z/Linux formatted disk to another disk. Also do you know if DDR cares rather there is a VTOC on a volume if it is used to backup the volume without a VTOC? Thank You, Terry Martin Lockheed Martin - Citic z/OS and z/VM Performance Tuning and Operating Systems Support Office - 443 348-2102 Cell - 443 632-4191 [cid:image002.jpg@01CB3D25.91EC0700]
Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest
DDR won't care. It will take the VTOC with it. On 08/16/2010 08:29 AM, Martin, Terry R. (CMS/CTR) (CTR) wrote: Hi I am trying to find out if there is a utility in z/Linux in my case RHEL 5.2 that will allow me to copy a z/Linux formatted disk to another disk. Also do you know if DDR cares rather there is a VTOC on a volume if it is used to backup the volume without a VTOC? /Thank You,/ / / /Terry Martin/ /Lockheed Martin - Citic/ /z/OS and z/VM Performance Tuning and Operating Systems Support/ /Office - 443 348-2102/ /Cell - 443 632-4191/ / / /cid:image001.jpg@01C97FB5.5EAFD6C0/// -- Rich Smrcina Phone: 414-491-6001 http://www.linkedin.com/in/richsmrcina Catch the WAVV! http://www.wavv.org WAVV 2011 - April 15-19, 2011 Colorado Springs, CO
Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest
DDR doesn't care about VTOCs or anything. It simply copies whatever is there. A very useful trait in many cases. Peter -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:ib...@listserv.uark.edu] On Behalf Of Martin, Terry R. (CMS/CTR) (CTR) Sent: August 16, 2010 09:30 To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest Hi I am trying to find out if there is a utility in z/Linux in my case RHEL 5.2 that will allow me to copy a z/Linux formatted disk to another disk. Also do you know if DDR cares rather there is a VTOC on a volume if it is used to backup the volume without a VTOC? Thank You, Terry Martin Lockheed Martin - Citic z/OS and z/VM Performance Tuning and Operating Systems Support Office - 443 348-2102 Cell - 443 632-4191 cid:image001.jpg@01C97FB5.5EAFD6C0 The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review retransmission dissemination or other use of or taking any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient or delegate is strictly prohibited. If you received this in error please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. The integrity and security of this message cannot be guaranteed on the Internet. The sender accepts no liability for the content of this e-mail or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of information provided. The recipient should check this e-mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The sender accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this e-mail. This disclaimer is property of the TTC and must not be altered or circumvented in any manner.
Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest
Hi Further explanation. Here is my dilemma in a nut shell: I have a z/Linux volume on a guest that does not have a z/OS VTOC. We typically use DFDSS on z/OS to back the z/Linux disks up and restore them at out DR site. Since this particular guest does not have z VTOC DFDSS cannot open it. So given this we decided to use DDR for this disk but the guests have the disk allocated so we are not able to attach the disk to the user that would be doing the DDR. So the only way I know to get this backed up is shutdown the guest and then attach the disk to the user doing the DDR. So I am assuming that if I do this that DDR will back up everything needed on this pack to do a good restore at the DR site. Are assumption good here and is there other ways to do this say without bringing the guest down? THANKS Thank You, Terry Martin Lockheed Martin - Citic z/OS and z/VM Performance Tuning and Operating Systems Support Office - 443 348-2102 Cell - 443 632-4191 From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:ib...@listserv.uark.edu] On Behalf Of peter.w...@ttc.ca Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 9:38 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest DDR doesn’t care about VTOCs or anything. It simply copies whatever is there. A very useful trait in many cases. Peter -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:ib...@listserv.uark.edu] On Behalf Of Martin, Terry R. (CMS/CTR) (CTR) Sent: August 16, 2010 09:30 To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest Hi I am trying to find out if there is a utility in z/Linux in my case RHEL 5.2 that will allow me to copy a z/Linux formatted disk to another disk. Also do you know if DDR cares rather there is a VTOC on a volume if it is used to backup the volume without a VTOC? Thank You, Terry Martin Lockheed Martin - Citic z/OS and z/VM Performance Tuning and Operating Systems Support Office - 443 348-2102 Cell - 443 632-4191 cid:image001.jpg@01C97FB5.5EAFD6C0 The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review retransmission dissemination or other use of or taking any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient or delegate is strictly prohibited. If you received this in error please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. The integrity and security of this message cannot be guaranteed on the Internet. The sender accepts no liability for the content of this e-mail or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of information provided. The recipient should check this e-mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The sender accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this e-mail. This disclaimer is property of the TTC and must not be altered or circumvented in any manner.
Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest
What about Bacula? Dr Boyes could speak could speak on this point better And you always want to shutdown the guest to get a good backup mace From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:ib...@listserv.uark.edu] On Behalf Of Martin, Terry R. (CMS/CTR) (CTR) Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 10:33 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest Hi Further explanation. Here is my dilemma in a nut shell: I have a z/Linux volume on a guest that does not have a z/OS VTOC. We typically use DFDSS on z/OS to back the z/Linux disks up and restore them at out DR site. Since this particular guest does not have z VTOC DFDSS cannot open it. So given this we decided to use DDR for this disk but the guests have the disk allocated so we are not able to attach the disk to the user that would be doing the DDR. So the only way I know to get this backed up is shutdown the guest and then attach the disk to the user doing the DDR. So I am assuming that if I do this that DDR will back up everything needed on this pack to do a good restore at the DR site. Are assumption good here and is there other ways to do this say without bringing the guest down? THANKS Thank You, Terry Martin Lockheed Martin - Citic z/OS and z/VM Performance Tuning and Operating Systems Support Office - 443 348-2102 Cell - 443 632-4191 From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:ib...@listserv.uark.edu] On Behalf Of peter.w...@ttc.ca Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 9:38 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest DDR doesn't care about VTOCs or anything. It simply copies whatever is there. A very useful trait in many cases. Peter -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:ib...@listserv.uark.edu] On Behalf Of Martin, Terry R. (CMS/CTR) (CTR) Sent: August 16, 2010 09:30 To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest Hi I am trying to find out if there is a utility in z/Linux in my case RHEL 5.2 that will allow me to copy a z/Linux formatted disk to another disk. Also do you know if DDR cares rather there is a VTOC on a volume if it is used to backup the volume without a VTOC? Thank You, Terry Martin Lockheed Martin - Citic z/OS and z/VM Performance Tuning and Operating Systems Support Office - 443 348-2102 Cell - 443 632-4191 cid:image001.jpg@01C97FB5.5EAFD6C0 The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review retransmission dissemination or other use of or taking any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient or delegate is strictly prohibited. If you received this in error please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. The integrity and security of this message cannot be guaranteed on the Internet. The sender accepts no liability for the content of this e-mail or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of information provided. The recipient should check this e-mail and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The sender accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this e-mail. This disclaimer is property of the TTC and must not be altered or circumvented in any manner. - The information transmitted is intended solely for the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of or taking action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this email in error please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.
Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest
If you have flashcopy on your dasd that may be your best option. Use the vmcp z/Linux module to invoke the FLASHCOPY command. Hans -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:ib...@listserv.uark.edu] On Behalf Of Rich Smrcina Sent: August-16-10 9:37 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest DDR won't care. It will take the VTOC with it. On 08/16/2010 08:29 AM, Martin, Terry R. (CMS/CTR) (CTR) wrote: Hi I am trying to find out if there is a utility in z/Linux in my case RHEL 5.2 that will allow me to copy a z/Linux formatted disk to another disk. Also do you know if DDR cares rather there is a VTOC on a volume if it is used to backup the volume without a VTOC? /Thank You,/ / / /Terry Martin/ /Lockheed Martin - Citic/ /z/OS and z/VM Performance Tuning and Operating Systems Support/ /Office - 443 348-2102/ /Cell - 443 632-4191/ / / /cid:image001.jpg@01C97FB5.5EAFD6C0/// -- Rich Smrcina Phone: 414-491-6001 http://www.linkedin.com/in/richsmrcina Catch the WAVV! http://www.wavv.org WAVV 2011 - April 15-19, 2011 Colorado Springs, CO
Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest
Flashcopy does not account for any disk buffers linux still has cached and unwritten. It will mitigate the situation where the disk is changing while it is being backed up. All in all, if you're talking about running images, full-pack backups are basically worthless. -- Robert P. Nix Mayo Foundation.~. RO-OC-1-18 200 First Street SW/V\ 507-284-0844 Rochester, MN 55905 /( )\ -^^-^^ In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice, theory and practice are different. On 8/16/10 9:38 AM, Hans Rempel h...@hmrconsultants.com wrote: If you have flashcopy on your dasd that may be your best option. Use the vmcp z/Linux module to invoke the FLASHCOPY command. Hans -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:ib...@listserv.uark.edu] On Behalf Of Rich Smrcina Sent: August-16-10 9:37 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest DDR won't care. It will take the VTOC with it. On 08/16/2010 08:29 AM, Martin, Terry R. (CMS/CTR) (CTR) wrote: Hi I am trying to find out if there is a utility in z/Linux in my case RHEL 5.2 that will allow me to copy a z/Linux formatted disk to another disk. Also do you know if DDR cares rather there is a VTOC on a volume if it is used to backup the volume without a VTOC? /Thank You,/ / / /Terry Martin/ /Lockheed Martin - Citic/ /z/OS and z/VM Performance Tuning and Operating Systems Support/ /Office - 443 348-2102/ /Cell - 443 632-4191/ / / /cid:image001.jpg@01C97FB5.5EAFD6C0///
Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest
Wouldn't doing a dd in the running Linux guest to a separate disk, then backing up that disk result in a good backup? Assuming that the application has synced its data, of course. -- John McKown Systems Engineer IV IT Administrative Services Group HealthMarkets(r) 9151 Boulevard 26 * N. Richland Hills * TX 76010 (817) 255-3225 phone * (817)-691-6183 cell john.mck...@healthmarkets.com * www.HealthMarkets.com Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message may contain confidential or proprietary information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. HealthMarkets(r) is the brand name for products underwritten and issued by the insurance subsidiaries of HealthMarkets, Inc. -The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company(r), Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of TennesseeSM and The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company.SM -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:ib...@listserv.uark.edu] On Behalf Of RPN01 Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 9:47 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest Flashcopy does not account for any disk buffers linux still has cached and unwritten. It will mitigate the situation where the disk is changing while it is being backed up. All in all, if you're talking about running images, full-pack backups are basically worthless. -- Robert P. Nix Mayo Foundation.~. RO-OC-1-18 200 First Street SW/V\ 507-284-0844 Rochester, MN 55905 /( )\ -^^-^^ In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice, theory and practice are different. On 8/16/10 9:38 AM, Hans Rempel h...@hmrconsultants.com wrote: If you have flashcopy on your dasd that may be your best option. Use the vmcp z/Linux module to invoke the FLASHCOPY command. Hans -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:ib...@listserv.uark.edu] On Behalf Of Rich Smrcina Sent: August-16-10 9:37 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest DDR won't care. It will take the VTOC with it. On 08/16/2010 08:29 AM, Martin, Terry R. (CMS/CTR) (CTR) wrote: Hi I am trying to find out if there is a utility in z/Linux in my case RHEL 5.2 that will allow me to copy a z/Linux formatted disk to another disk. Also do you know if DDR cares rather there is a VTOC on a volume if it is used to backup the volume without a VTOC? /Thank You,/ / / /Terry Martin/ /Lockheed Martin - Citic/ /z/OS and z/VM Performance Tuning and Operating Systems Support/ /Office - 443 348-2102/ /Cell - 443 632-4191/ / / /cid:image001.jpg@01C97FB5.5EAFD6C0///
Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest
On 8/16/10 10:37 AM, Macioce, Larry larry.maci...@com.state.oh.us wrote: What about Bacula? Dr Boyes could speak could speak on this point better And you always want to shutdown the guest to get a good backup Long term, setting up Bacula would probably be a Good Thing, but probably doesn't help much in this scenario, other than to give you a convenient way to dump and restore the contents of the filesystem onto a new disk that doesn't have the missing VTOC problem. The question in my mind is whether the last cylinder of the pack is actually in use and/or whether the filesystem could be resized online to be 180K smaller (so as to free up the last cylinder). DDR is smart enough to be able to relocate the disk image (eg, restore it to cyl+1 on another disk), but that won't fix up any internal references to the filesystem size or LVM magic that might be there, and you will get Weird Failures that you really don't want to try to track down. If it can't be resized or is part of a LVM, then you're SOL on that solution. Ultimately, if you want to keep using DFDSS (and I'll point out that you have been EXTREMELY lucky if you haven't had failures of your backups) the solution is to allocate a new pack with a proper VTOC in cyl 0, and follow the instructions on linuxvm.org to migrate the filesystem from the current disk to the new disk. Short of that, you'll have to use DDR for those two packs (if you use CMSDDR, you can store those two disks as CMS files on one of the other packs, and then restore them back to real DASD from there). That's probably the only way you'll be able to do this quickly enough for your DR test. Larry's suggestion of Bacula is a better long term solution, but that takes a bit of planning you probably don't have time to do now. -- db
Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest
On 8/16/10 10:49 AM, McKown, John john.mck...@healthmarkets.com wrote: Wouldn't doing a dd in the running Linux guest to a separate disk, then backing up that disk result in a good backup? Assuming that the application has synced its data, of course. If you unmount the filesystem you dumped to, yes. But, you have to have as much free disk as you have primary disk for that to work well (and if you're using LVM, that still gets tricky in terms of consistency sets on restore). That's where Amanda and Bacula come into play. -- db
Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest
There's a race condition that the dd can't account for. Think of a transaction in a database, where several records are part of a transaction. Each record gets written in turn, and then the transaction is committed. What happens when the dd goes through that section of disk when only two of the four records have been written? Or one or more of those records are written to the area of disk already backed up, while others are written to a point that will soon be backed up? The image you get in the dd copy is inconsistent with the real world as the application views it, and so may not be useful when you have to restore it later. -- Robert P. Nix Mayo Foundation.~. RO-OC-1-18 200 First Street SW/V\ 507-284-0844 Rochester, MN 55905 /( )\ -^^-^^ In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice, theory and practice are different. On 8/16/10 9:49 AM, McKown, John john.mck...@healthmarkets.com wrote: Wouldn't doing a dd in the running Linux guest to a separate disk, then backing up that disk result in a good backup? Assuming that the application has synced its data, of course. -- John McKown Systems Engineer IV IT Administrative Services Group HealthMarkets(r) 9151 Boulevard 26 * N. Richland Hills * TX 76010 (817) 255-3225 phone * (817)-691-6183 cell john.mck...@healthmarkets.com * www.HealthMarkets.com Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message may contain confidential or proprietary information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. HealthMarkets(r) is the brand name for products underwritten and issued by the insurance subsidiaries of HealthMarkets, Inc. -The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company(r), Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of TennesseeSM and The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company.SM -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:ib...@listserv.uark.edu] On Behalf Of RPN01 Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 9:47 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest Flashcopy does not account for any disk buffers linux still has cached and unwritten. It will mitigate the situation where the disk is changing while it is being backed up. All in all, if you're talking about running images, full-pack backups are basically worthless. -- Robert P. Nix Mayo Foundation.~. RO-OC-1-18 200 First Street SW/V\ 507-284-0844 Rochester, MN 55905 /( )\ -^^-^^ In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in practice, theory and practice are different. On 8/16/10 9:38 AM, Hans Rempel h...@hmrconsultants.com wrote: If you have flashcopy on your dasd that may be your best option. Use the vmcp z/Linux module to invoke the FLASHCOPY command. Hans -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:ib...@listserv.uark.edu] On Behalf Of Rich Smrcina Sent: August-16-10 9:37 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest DDR won't care. It will take the VTOC with it. On 08/16/2010 08:29 AM, Martin, Terry R. (CMS/CTR) (CTR) wrote: Hi I am trying to find out if there is a utility in z/Linux in my case RHEL 5.2 that will allow me to copy a z/Linux formatted disk to another disk. Also do you know if DDR cares rather there is a VTOC on a volume if it is used to backup the volume without a VTOC? /Thank You,/ / / /Terry Martin/ /Lockheed Martin - Citic/ /z/OS and z/VM Performance Tuning and Operating Systems Support/ /Office - 443 348-2102/ /Cell - 443 632-4191/ / / /cid:image001.jpg@01C97FB5.5EAFD6C0///
Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest
On Monday, 08/16/2010 at 10:47 EDT, RPN01 nix.rob...@mayo.edu wrote: Flashcopy does not account for any disk buffers linux still has cached and unwritten. It will mitigate the situation where the disk is changing while it is being backed up. All in all, if you're talking about running images, full-pack backups are basically worthless. The thing that I don't understand is why so many computer professionals are so eager to overlook the effects of caching and consistency when taking backups. It's a variation of the classic 'time-of-test to time-of-use' problem. Heisenberg comes into play, too, after fashion. :-) If you want to know the precise position (value) of ALL the bits on the disk, their velocity, as it were, must be zero. Raise it up a few quanta and you can apply it to multiple disks. Up another level and you have multiple servers. And while an in-band backup (dd) will give you a valid filesystem, there's no guarantee of consistency of file contents if the app is still running. Back in my application developer days, the app was taken down on the weekend and the in-band Time Zero DR backup was obtained. During the week, transaction logs were collected in order to replay them in the event the db needed to be restored. Apps that need to stay up while backups are being taken need to include that capability in their design. Alan Altmark z/VM Development IBM Endicott
Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest
Thanks to all for the information this will help prepare backup and recovery processes moving forward: First, we do not count on Full pack backups for our restores normally we use FDRUPSTREAM to backup the guests file systems on a daily and weekly basis, however the guests are still running when this is done other than the Data Base backups where the guest is shutdown and a full backup is taken of the Oracle data base using FDRUPSTREAM. Since we just started adding the z/VM and z/Linux environment as part of the DR testing we are still feeling things out. For instance this will be the first time that we will be taking FDRUPSTREAM with us. The last DR test which was the first one we restored one guest all ECKD DASD from FULL DFDSS backups running on z/OS. Second, for this exercise there is no LVM involved these are just ECKD devices. So synchronization will be less of an issue for these guests and for this test. Thank You, Terry Martin Lockheed Martin - Citic z/OS and z/VM Performance Tuning and Operating Systems Support Office - 443 348-2102 Cell - 443 632-4191 -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:ib...@listserv.uark.edu] On Behalf Of David Boyes Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 10:51 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest On 8/16/10 10:37 AM, Macioce, Larry larry.maci...@com.state.oh.us wrote: What about Bacula? Dr Boyes could speak could speak on this point better And you always want to shutdown the guest to get a good backup Long term, setting up Bacula would probably be a Good Thing, but probably doesn't help much in this scenario, other than to give you a convenient way to dump and restore the contents of the filesystem onto a new disk that doesn't have the missing VTOC problem. The question in my mind is whether the last cylinder of the pack is actually in use and/or whether the filesystem could be resized online to be 180K smaller (so as to free up the last cylinder). DDR is smart enough to be able to relocate the disk image (eg, restore it to cyl+1 on another disk), but that won't fix up any internal references to the filesystem size or LVM magic that might be there, and you will get Weird Failures that you really don't want to try to track down. If it can't be resized or is part of a LVM, then you're SOL on that solution. Ultimately, if you want to keep using DFDSS (and I'll point out that you have been EXTREMELY lucky if you haven't had failures of your backups) the solution is to allocate a new pack with a proper VTOC in cyl 0, and follow the instructions on linuxvm.org to migrate the filesystem from the current disk to the new disk. Short of that, you'll have to use DDR for those two packs (if you use CMSDDR, you can store those two disks as CMS files on one of the other packs, and then restore them back to real DASD from there). That's probably the only way you'll be able to do this quickly enough for your DR test. Larry's suggestion of Bacula is a better long term solution, but that takes a bit of planning you probably don't have time to do now. -- db
Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest
Hi Terry - As a couple other folks have mentioned, dd will work to do that, even if you dump the image out to a tape or a disk file. However, you will need to make sure that no changes are taking place on the disk you are dumping while you are dumping it, which leads back to the same issue as using DDR from z/VM, or at least almost. I keep the OS volumes separate from my data volumes for just this reason. Does this need to be a disk image or will a file by file backup suffice? If the latter, dump or tar may be good candidates. Any backup utility that can recognize and retry open files would probably provide the necessary integrity for your backups. If you really need a disk image on the other hand, a shutdown of the guest to gain exclusive access to the disk and using DDR or dd is the best bet I think. If it is a disk image of a data volume, then just umount the data volume under linux, and remount it read only. Then use dd to get your image off to wheresoever you need it to be. Umm- make sure it is mounted read/only everywhere of course. If it is cross mounted all over creation with NFS, then you might have a different issue. Don't know if it will help any, but here, I roll OS/Images out with DDR to physical 3590 tapes. Data partitions are written out to virtual tapes on the VTL via dd, and file by file backups are written out with Tivoli, again to the VTL. Our VTL automatically replicates tapes to the DR site, meaning I can test by restoring the tapes at the remote site. This works for us because we are not running on a 24X7 schedule for our operations data, though we are providing 24x7 web access and services. I would run the DDR physical tapes out to the VTL too if I could figure out how to get z/VM to talk to 'em. :) Yours, -Paul -Original Message- From: Martin, Terry R. (CMS/CTR) (CTR) [mailto:terry.mar...@cms.hhs.gov] Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 09:32 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest Hi Further explanation. Here is my dilemma in a nut shell: I have a z/Linux volume on a guest that does not have a z/OSVTOC. We typically use DFDSS on z/OS to back the z/Linux disks up and restorethem at out DR site. Since this particular guest does not have z VTOC DFDSScannot open it. So given this we decided to use DDR for this disk but theguests have the disk allocated so we are not able to attach the disk to theuser that would be doing the DDR. So the only way I know to get this backed up is shutdown theguest and then attach the disk to the user doing the DDR. So I am assuming thatif I do this that DDR will back up everything needed on this pack to do a goodrestore at the DR site. Are assumption good here and is there other ways to do thissay without bringing the guest down? THANKS Thank You, Terry Martin Lockheed Martin - Citic z/OS and z/VM Performance Tuning and Operating Systems Support Office - 443 348-2102 Cell - 443 632-4191 From: The IBM z/VM Operating System[mailto:ib...@listserv.uark.edu] On Behalf Of peter.w...@ttc.ca Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 9:38 AM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest DDR doesn’t care about VTOCs or anything. It simply copies whateveris there. A very useful trait in many cases. Peter -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:ib...@listserv.uark.edu] OnBehalf Of Martin, Terry R. (CMS/CTR) (CTR) Sent: August 16, 2010 09:30 To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest Hi I am trying to find out if there isa utility in z/Linux in my case RHEL 5.2 that will allow me to copy a z/Linuxformatted disk to another disk. Also do you know if DDR caresrather there is a VTOC on a volume if it is used to backup the volume without aVTOC? Thank You, Terry Martin Lockheed Martin - Citic z/OS and z/VM PerformanceTuning and Operating Systems Support Office - 443 348-2102 Cell - 443 632-4191 The information transmitted is intended only for the personor entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/orprivileged material. Any review retransmission dissemination or other use of ortaking any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entitiesother than the intended recipient or delegate is strictly prohibited. If youreceived this in error please contact the sender and delete the material fromany computer. The integrity and security of this message cannot be guaranteedon the Internet. The sender accepts no liability for the content of this e-mailor for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of informationprovided. The recipient should check this e-mail and any attachments for thepresence of viruses. The sender accepts no liability for any damage caused byany virus transmitted by this e-mail. This disclaimer is property of the TTCand must not be altered or
Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest
On 8/16/10 11:10 AM, Martin, Terry R. (CMS/CTR) (CTR) terry.mar...@cms.hhs.gov wrote: First, we do not count on Full pack backups for our restores normally we use FDRUPSTREAM to backup the guests file systems on a daily and weekly basis, however the guests are still running when this is done other than the Data Base backups where the guest is shutdown and a full backup is taken of the Oracle data base using FDRUPSTREAM. OK, if you're running the FDR/Upstream agent inside the guest, you probably are going to be OK. That satisfies the requirement of backing up the systems from within the guest, so the backup will likely be reasonably consistent. Second, for this exercise there is no LVM involved these are just ECKD devices. So synchronization will be less of an issue for these guests and for this test. *whew* LVM is a PITA for this sort of stuff. Necessary, but a PITA. Still, once you get back, it's probably smart to fix those two packs. -- db
Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest
Hi David, Thanks I agree and I have already started working on getting those packs fixed up. Thank You, Terry Martin Lockheed Martin - Citic z/OS and z/VM Performance Tuning and Operating Systems Support Office - 443 348-2102 Cell - 443 632-4191 -Original Message- From: The IBM z/VM Operating System [mailto:ib...@listserv.uark.edu] On Behalf Of David Boyes Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 12:34 PM To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Subject: Re: How to copy a disk using a z/Linux guest On 8/16/10 11:10 AM, Martin, Terry R. (CMS/CTR) (CTR) terry.mar...@cms.hhs.gov wrote: First, we do not count on Full pack backups for our restores normally we use FDRUPSTREAM to backup the guests file systems on a daily and weekly basis, however the guests are still running when this is done other than the Data Base backups where the guest is shutdown and a full backup is taken of the Oracle data base using FDRUPSTREAM. OK, if you're running the FDR/Upstream agent inside the guest, you probably are going to be OK. That satisfies the requirement of backing up the systems from within the guest, so the backup will likely be reasonably consistent. Second, for this exercise there is no LVM involved these are just ECKD devices. So synchronization will be less of an issue for these guests and for this test. *whew* LVM is a PITA for this sort of stuff. Necessary, but a PITA. Still, once you get back, it's probably smart to fix those two packs. -- db
