Operating System Software Owner manual

13 Using Tape for Initial Synchronization and Backup
For the first data synchronization between systems, it can be faster to back up the primary volume
group(s) to tape and then copy data from the tape to the secondary volume group(s).
CAUTION: To use the tape backup method for the initial synchronization of your Remote Copy
data, you must use block-based backup software.
File-system-based backup software does not correctly back up Remote Copy data.
1. Set up your Remote Copy configuration and create the volume groups.
2. To use tape for the initial data replication, activate Remote Copy, using -nosync, for the
volume group you created on the primary system. On the primary system (for example,
System1), enter either:
# startrcopygroup -nosync <group_name>
• -nosync - Sets the group’s virtual volumes to a synchronized state and prevents Remote
Copy from performing an initial synchronization of the specified group
• <group_name> - Name of the volume group to start (for example, Group1)
or:
# startrcopygroup -nosync -pat <pattern>
• <pattern> - Pattern of volume group names to start (for example, Group*)
The stoprcopygroup command creates a snapshot for volume groups that are set up
in synchronous mode.
3. Stop Remote Copy for the same volume group.
NOTE: When you stop a Remote Copy volume group, it does not prevent a host from
accessing the volumes in that group.
On the primary system (System1), enter either:
# startrcopygroup <group_name>
• <group_name> - Name of the volume group to stop (for example, Group1)
or:
# startrcopygroup -pat <pattern>
• <pattern> - Pattern of volume group names to stop (for example, Group*)
The stoprcopygroup command creates a snapshot for volume groups that are set up in
synchronous mode.
The snapshot used for initial synchronization is named rcpy.<GID>.<VID>.<TID>.<x>
• <GID> - Internally assigned group ID
• <VID> - Volume ID
82 Using Tape for Initial Synchronization and Backup