Product data

Chapter 3. Standalone SCSI rootvg to virtual SCSI 75
NIM also allows you to perform functions such as:
򐂰 Installation of system patch bundles
򐂰 Installation of user-defined software packages
򐂰 Upgrades of the operating system on the fly
While you generally must install NIM on a separate server or logical partition
(and it could reside on the Tivoli® Storage Manager Server if required), the
benefits of NIM outweigh the expense:
򐂰 Multiple restorations can be performed simultaneously in a NIM environment.
򐂰 Provisioning of on demand resources or major projects is simplified through
the ability to easily manage the required bundles of chosen operating system
level, patches, and additional software during a deployment.
3.4.2 Backup and restore
IBM markets the Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) software, which allows backups
of the AIX file systems, including both the root and data volume groups. In
addition, there are various additions to TSM that allow databases and data from
a wide variety of third-party vendors to be backed up and more importantly
restored.
When it comes to the root volume group of AIX, extra care is needed. Simply
backing up the volume group and restoring it once a fresh install of AIX has been
performed can be problematic. The Tivoli Storage Manager for System Backup
and Recovery (SYSBACK) or Cristie Bare Metal packages resolve the issues
and provide a full bare metal recovery of the AIX root volume group. Once either
of these packages has been used to recover the bootable section of AIX, data in
other volume groups can be restored using either TSM file-based or agent-based
recovery of databases.
3.4.3 SAS-attached tape devices
If you have a Power System server with a SAS tape drive attached to your Virtual
I/O Server you can use the tape device to back up from one client logical
partition, then re-map or present the new disk storage and restore using the tape
drive. The tape is also transportable to another system with an SAS-connected
tape drive. The Virtual I/O Server command mkvdev is used to map a tape drive to
a virtual host adapter.