> jthomp1515@yahoo.com wrote:
> > michael.shulman wrote:
> > > Is it possible to write a mksysb image that I've saved to an nfs share
> > > to a bootable tape from the machine with the NFS share?
> > > Basically I'm looking to have a disaster preparedness strategy, so in
> > > the event of a system crash, I could write the weekly mksysb from the
> > > NFS share to tape and recover the OS from that.
> >
> > 1. I have done it.
> > 2. It's way more complicated than it's worth
> > 3. It's not supported by IBM.
> > 4. Check out NIM --it's in all AIX installs, it's easy to set up and
> > it's supported. You can boot off the network and restore any mksysb
> > you can save to the NIM server.
> >
> > Also - do you really need a BOOTABLE tape? You could always boot off
> > CD's then install from the mksysb backup copied onto a tape... Half
> > the time AIX has a bug in it requiring you to do this anyway although I
> > think it's cleared up this year. ( It'll be back...)

Hello Michael,

You already have weekly mksysb images in a safe place. If the machines
you want to recover have a CD or DVD drive, the following would strike
me as the easiest to do:

In case you need to recover a machine create an iso-Image with mkcd or
mkdvd _from_ the mksysb image (try smit mkcd - it will ask you for the
mksysb right away). Burn it onto (possibly several) CDs (a regular PC
will handle this if your server has no optical writer) and boot your
recovering server from it - it will restore your rootvg just like the
tape did.

The nim setup, as the foreposter wrote, provides more features and
allows faster recovery/installation. But if disaster recovery is your
only demand then it might be overpowerd, much more so since a (bare
metal) recovery should be least frequently needed and I guess in that
case a procedure you have full insight and control is more important
than speed.

Regards
Joachim