Scheduling backups of the Virtual I/O Server

You can schedule regular backups of the Virtual I/O Server and user-defined virtual devices to ensure that your backup copy accurately reflects the current configuration.

To ensure that your backup of the Virtual I/O Server accurately reflects your current running Virtual I/O Server, you should back up the Virtual I/O Server each time that its configuration changes. For example:

Changing the Virtual I/O Server, like installing a fix pack.
Adding, deleting, or changing the external device configuration, like changing the SAN configuration.
Adding, deleting, or changing resource allocations and assignments for the Virtual I/O Server, like memory, processors, or virtual and physical devices.
Adding, deleting, or changing user-defined virtual device configurations, like virtual device mappings.

Before you start, ensure that you are logged into the Virtual I/O Server as the prime administrator (padmin).

To back up the Virtual I/O Server and user-defined virtual devices, complete the following tasks:

Create a script for backing up the Virtual I/O Server, and save it in a directory that is accessible to the padmin user ID. For example, create a script called backup and save it in the /home/padmin directory. Ensure that your script includes commands for backing up the Virtual I/O Server and saving information about user-defined virtual devices.
Create a crontab file entry that runs the backup script on a regular interval. For example, to run backup every Saturday at 2:00 a.m., type the following commands:
1. crontab -e
2. 0 2 0 0 6 /home/padmin/backup
When you are finished, remember to save and exit.