Backing up and restoring the system configuration

You can back up and restore the configuration data for the system after preliminary tasks are completed.

Configuration data for the system provides information about your system and the objects that are defined in it. The backup and restore functions of the svcconfig command can back up and restore only your configuration data for the system. You must regularly back up your application data by using the appropriate backup methods.

You can maintain your configuration data for the system by completing the following tasks:
  • Backing up the configuration data
  • Restoring the configuration data
  • Deleting unwanted backup configuration data files

Before you back up your configuration data, the following prerequisites must be met:

Note:
  • The default object names for controllers, I/O groups, and managed disks (MDisks) do not restore correctly if the ID of the object is different from what is recorded in the current configuration data file.
  • All other objects with default names are renamed during the restore process. The new names appear in the format name_r where name is the name of the object in your system.
  • Connections to iSCSI MDisks for migration purposes are not restored.

Before you restore your configuration data, the following prerequisites must be met:

  • The Security Administrator role is associated with your user name and password.
  • You have a copy of your backup configuration files on a server that is accessible to the system.
  • You have a backup copy of your application data that is ready to load on your system after the restore configuration operation is complete.
  • You know the current license settings for your system.
  • You did not remove any hardware since the last backup of your configuration.
  • No zoning changes were made on the Fibre Channel fabric that would prevent communication between the system and any storage controllers that are present in the configuration.
  • For configurations with more than one I/O group, if a new system is created on which the configuration data is to be restored, the I/O groups for the other control enclosures must be added.
  • If the system uses USB flash drives to store encryption keys, run the recovery from any node in the system that has a USB flash drive inserted which contains the encryption key.
  • If the system uses USB flash drives to store encryption keys, run the recovery on a node that is attached to the key server. The keys are fetched remotely from the key server.
  • If the system uses both USB and key server encryption, providing either a USB flash drive or a connection to the key server (only one is needed, but both will work also) will unlock the system.
Use the following steps to determine how to achieve an ideal T4 recovery:
  • Open the appropriate svc.config.backup.xml (or svc.config.cron.xml) file with a suitable text editor or browser and navigate to the node section of the file.
  • For each node entry, make a note of the value of the following properties: IO_group_id, canister_id, enclosure_serial_number .
  • Use the CLI sainfo lsservicenodes command and the data to determine which node canisters previously belonged in each I/O group.
Restoring the system configuration must be performed by one of the nodes previously in I/O group zero. For example, property name="IO_group_id" value="0" . The remaining enclosures must be added, as required, in the appropriate order based on the previous IO_group_id of its node canisters.
Note: It is not currently possible to determine which canister within the identified enclosure was previously used for cluster creation. Typically the restoration might be performed by canister 1.

The system analyzes the backup configuration data file and the system to verify that the required disk controller system nodes are available.

Before you begin, hardware recovery must be complete. The following hardware must be operational: hosts, system enclosures, internal flash drives, and expansion enclosures (if applicable), the Ethernet network, the SAN fabric, and any external storage systems (if applicable).