HP OpenVMS Version 8.3 Upgrade and Installation Manual > Appendix E Backing Up and Restoring the System Disk
Alternative Backup and Restore Procedure (Minimum OpenVMS Environment)
This section describes an alternative method of performing
backup and restore operations. This method is similar to creating
a Standalone Backup directory on a disk, as supported by OpenVMS
VAX systems and certain earlier versions of OpenVMS Alpha (using
SYS$UPDATE.STABACKIT.COM). Supported by both OpenVMS Alpha and
I64 systems, this method installs a Minimum OpenVMS Environment
(install with no options) on another disk from which you can perform
your backup and restore operations on the system disk. The Minimum
OpenVMS Environment is created in the SYSE root ([SYSE]) on the
disk, which runs a subset of OpenVMS and is indicated by the triple
dollar sign ($$$) system prompt. Use this method under the following
If you do not have access to the operating
system media and its menu system
If you want to back up a shadowed system disk without
disabling the shadow set
|NOTE: You can back up your running system disk by using the
/IGNORE=INTERLOCK qualifier with the BACKUP command and ignoring
warning messages. However, that method requires that all other
use of the system be suspended, including disabling logins, stopping
print and batch queues, and turning off networking software. In
addition, you cannot use this method to restore files to the running
system disk. Because of these limitations, HP recommends that,
if you must use an alternative backup or restore method, you use
the method described in this section.|
Preparing an Alternate
Prepare an alternate system disk as follows:
Log in to a privileged account on your running
Using the SHOW DEVICE command, identify a data disk
on which you can install the operating system, with no options.
This is your target disk during that installation. To install
the operating system with no options on your target disk, you need
the following amount of free disk space:
Alpha: approximately 5,389,000 blocks (10.78 GB)
OpenVMS I64: approximately 4,748,000 blocks (9.5
Existing data remains on the disk.
The target disk must be mounted privately to your process.
(This prevents other users from accessing this disk during the
installation and backup procedures.) Therefore, if the target disk was
mounted with the /SYSTEM, /CLUSTER, /GROUP, or /SHARE qualifier,
dismount that disk and mount it without those qualifiers or the
/FOREIGN qualifier. For example:
$ MOUNT/OVERRIDE=IDENTIFICATION DKA200
For OpenVMS I64, enter the following command:
$ @SYS$SYSTEM:I64VMS$PCSI_INSTALL_MIN.COM [target-disk]
For OpenVMS Alpha, enter the following command:
$ @SYS$SYSTEM:AXPVMS$PCSI_INSTALL_MIN.COM [target-disk]
(The procedure prompts you for a device name if you do not
specify it on the command line.)
As the procedure completes the installation, the display
is similar to the following:
HP I64VMS OPENVMS V8.3: OpenVMS and related products platform
COPYRIGHT (c) 5-JUN-2006
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
Execution phase starting ...
The following product will be installed:
HP I64VMS VMS V8.3
Portion Done: 0%..10%..20%..30%..40%..50%..60%..70%..80%..90%..100%
The following product has been installed:
HP I64VMS VMS V8.3
The installation of minimum OpenVMS I64 is now complete.
Use EFI or the boot option you just created or validated (if any)
to boot minimum OpenVMS. If you use EFI remember to set VMS_FLAGS
to E,0 before booting, and to reset VMS_FLAGS to 0,0 (or as
required by your system).
BOOT -FLAGS E,O device-name
(Some configurations may require a boot option to boot.)
|CAUTION: If your system is a cluster member, HP recommends
that you shut down the entire OpenVMS Cluster system before you
back up your system disk. This will prevent you from creating a
partitioned cluster and from jeopardizing the integrity of your data
in any other way.|
Using the Alternate
Use the alternate system disk (on which you installed the
operating system with no options) to perform backup and restore
operations as follows:
Shut down your system.
Boot the alternate system disk from the SYSE root.
For example, from an OpenVMS Alpha system, enter the following command:
>>> BOOT -FLAGS E,0 DKA 200
For OpenVMS I64 systems, you can add the alternate system
disk as a boot option in the EFI Boot Manager menu by using the
OpenVMS I64 Boot Manager utility (SYS$MANAGER:BOOT_OPTIONS.COM), as
described in “Setting
Boot Options for Your System Disk”.
When prompted, set the flags as e,0. Alternatively, boot the alternate
system disk manually by entering the following command at the EFI
Shell prompt, where fsn: (such as fs1:) is the device associated with the
Shell>fsn:\efi\vms\vms_loader.efi -flags e,0
The system automatically logs you in to the SYSTEM account
and then displays a triple dollar sign prompt ($$$).
|NOTE: During the boot and login operations on this minimum
version of the operating system, you can ignore license messages
that are similar to the following:|
%LICENSE-I-NOLICENSE, no license is active for this software product
If your system disk is shadowed, install and load a
Volume Shadowing for OpenVMS license on this data disk. Then you
can back up the shadowed system disk from this data disk without
disabling the shadow set.
|NOTE: HP recommends that you do not install
any other licenses, including OpenVMS licenses, on this alternate
system. You can use the system only from the console. |
Mount the system disk and any output devices you plan
to use during the backup or restore operations. See “Mounting Devices” for more information.
Perform the necessary backup or restore operations by
entering the appropriate BACKUP commands. For examples of using
the BACKUP command to back up the system disk, see “Performing the System
Disk Backup”; for examples of
using the BACKUP command to restore the system disk, see “Performing the System
Shut down the system.
Boot from your original system disk.