Backing up the Virtual I/O Server to a remote file system by creating a nim_resources.tar file

You can back up the Virtual I/O Server base code, applied fix packs, custom device drivers to support disk subsystems, and some user-defined metadata to a remote file system by creating a nim_resources.tar file.

Backing up the Virtual I/O Server to a remote file system will create the nim_resources.tar image in the directory you specify. The nim_resources.tar file contains all the necessary resources to restore the Virtual I/O Server, including the mksysb image, the bosinst.data file, the network boot image, and Shared Product Object Tree (SPOT) resource.

The backupios command empties the target_disks_stanza section of bosinst.data and sets RECOVER_DEVICES=Default. This allows the mksysb file generated by the command to be cloned to another logical partition. If you plan to use the nim_resources.tar image to install to a specific disk, then you need to repopulate the target_disk_stanza section of bosinst.data and replace this file in the nim_resources.tar image. All other parts of the nim_resources.tar image must remain unchanged.

Before you start, complete the following tasks:

  1. If the system is managed by the Integrated Virtualization Manager, then you need to back up your partition profile data for the management partition and its clients before you back up the Virtual I/O Server. For instructions, see Backing up and restoring partition data. (Alternatively, you can use the bkprofdata command.)
  2. Ensure that the remote file system is available and mounted.
  3. Ensure that the Virtual I/O Server has root write access to the server on which the backup will be created.

To back up the Virtual I/O Server to a remote file system, follow these steps:

  1. Create a mount directory where the backup image, nim_resources.tar, will be written. For example, to create the directory /home/backup, type: 
    mkdir /home/backup
  2. Mount an exported directory on the mount directory. For example: 
    mount server1:/export/ios_backup /home/backup
  3. Run the backupios command with the -file option. Specify the path to the mounted directory. For example: 
    backupios -file /home/backup
    This command creates a nim_resources.tar file that you can use to restore the Virtual I/O Server from the HMC.
  4. If you plan to restore the Virtual I/O Server to a different system from which it was backed up, then you need to back up the user-defined virtual devices. For instructions, see Backing up user-defined virtual devices.