Multi-VG mksysb Tape

More than one VG can be saved on a mksysb tape, which makes restoring things like your TSM or NIM master servers much easier.   We’ll need to use the rmt tape devices that do not rewind after their operation (rmtX.1).   First, rewind the tape (just to be sure we’re at the beginning) and do the mksysb as normal:

/usr/bin/tctl -f/dev/rmt0 rewind
/usr/bin/mksysb -p -v /dev/rmt0.1

Then just append your VGs on the end of the tape with savevg:

/usr/bin/savevg -p -v -f/dev/rmt0.1 vg1
/usr/bin/savevg -p -v -f/dev/rmt0.1 vg2
/usr/bin/tctl -f/dev/rmt0 rewind

To restore, just do the mksysb restore as normal, then do:

/usr/bin/tctl -f/dev/rmt0.1 rewind
/usr/bin/tctl -f/dev/rmt0.1 fsf 4
/usr/bin/restvg -f/dev/rmt0.1 hdiskX

The “fsf 4” will fast forward the tape to the first saved VG after the mksysb.  To restore the 2nd saved VG, use “fsf 5”.

If you need to restore individual files, you can do it like this:

/usr/bin/tctl -f/dev/rmt0 rewind
restore -x -d -v -s4 -f/dev/rmt0.1 ./[path]/[file]

“-s4” is rootvg, use “-s5” for next VG. The files are restored in your current directory.

Using this you can make a mksysb tape with your OS, your TSM application VGs, and your NIM VGs all on one tape.  And, if you save the VG structure into your rootvg, you can restore your extra filesystems as well.  Then you just have to restore the files from TSM.  I wouldn’t try to backup the TSM log, archivelog, or DB this way, but those can be created with your TSM DB backup.  Just be sure to do a “backup devconfig” and “backup volhist” regularly.