HP OpenView System Administration Handbook [Electronic resources] : Network Node Manager, Customer Views, Service Information Portal, HP OpenView Operations نسخه متنی

17. 4 OVO SERVER BACKUP

Backup is a task that you will perform frequently. Restore should be a task you perform less frequently. The backup recommendations here and those from other environments might look similar. In the event of a disaster, the OVO server recovery includes the following three areas for full operations:

1. The operating system and user environment.

2. The application programs.

3. The network configuration.

The recovery concept seems very straightforward at first, look closer at what could be involved. If there is a file system failure, are you prepared for the time it will take to restore the system? Depending on the type of backup that you have performed, it could take you days or hours to recover. Operating system or application failures are often resolved with a patch fix. If the application fails after an upgrade, you could also make the decision to return to a prior release of the program until you work out the bugs in the test environment. What test environment? What does a test environment have to do with a backup? We will talk more about this in the next section of this chapter. The time to recovery also depends on the type of backup strategy you have adopted.

17.4.1 Develop a Backup Procedure

The procedure for backup and recovery should include a regular full-system backup. A full-system backup usually transfers the data to an offline storage media such as tape, CD or removable disk for off site storage. An outline of a backup procedure might include

• In /etc/motd (the message of the day file), display the times the system will be down for maintenance, including scheduled backup times.

• A few minutes before bringing the system down or starting the online backup, broadcast a message to all users that the system will be coming down for maintenance in a few minutes. Use the

  /etc/wall command or the

  opcwall command and give users time to finish what they are doing before they are logged off during system or process shutdown.

• Offline "cold" backups should always be done in single-user mode to prevent users from accessing and using system files during the backup procedure. When bringing the system down, use the

  shutdown command with a grace period option.

• After the system is in single-user mode, execute a

  sync command and check the files' system integrity with the

  fsck command. Take corrective actions for any file system errors.

• Before starting the backup, mount the specified file systems.

• During the backup procedure, log the fsck activity, disk usage data, and commands executed during the backup to a log file and maintain a hardcopy.

• A tape scan file from the tape utility can be generated in /tmp and printed for audit purposes.

• An adequate supply of tapes to a tape pool should be made. Rotate the tapes on a regular basis and do not use tapes beyond their normal life and wear expectancy.

• After the backup is complete, return the system to multi-user mode.

• Consider storing the tapes at an offsite location, a precaution that protects backup in case of catastrophic events like fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods.

• Test the recovery procedure to ensure that the tapes will restore the system information.

Tools from multiple vendors support these backup methods. After you backup the OpenView data using the tools discussed in the next sections, it is still necessary to perform a standard backup of the operating system environment. The backup information provided in this section consists of general guidelines and is not OV-specific. It is recommended to check commercial off-the-shelf backup solutions, such as HP's DataProtector.

Many system administrators use cron or some other type of program to schedule regular system backups. The OpenView schedule template shown in Figure 17-1 is another method for executing a program on a regular schedule (except offline backups). The interface for the template is located within the Message Source Templates Window (

WindowMessage Source TemplatesAdd Schedule ).

17.4.2 OVO Tools to Perform the Backup

Let us look at some of the tools to perform an OpenView backup.

17.4.2.1 Offline Backup

The backup tools opc_backup and opc_restore can be executed from the command line. opc_backup can also be scheduled as part of the routine tasks for daily maintenance. The command line options are for a full backup of the configuration data stored on disk and runtime data stored in the Oracle database. Because some of the data is memory resident during operations, opc_backup requires the shutdown of both the server (including OVO, Oracle and NNM) and GUI processes. If the required downtime is not feasible within your OV operation, consider using the online backup method described in the next section of this chapter.

17.4.2.2 opc_backup Documentation

A brief summary of the

opc_backup and

opc_recover commands is provided here for reference purposes. Refer to the on line manual page (man opc_backup) for further details.

SYNOPSIS
opc_backup [-c][-d <dir>...][-h][-n][-v][<backup device>]
opc_recover
DESCRIPTION: The command opc_backup saves the HP OpenView Operations
 (OVO) environment. By

 default, opc_backup is used interactively but it can also be used 
non-interactively. The

 user can choose between two backup methods:
1. A full OVO backup. This saves the OVO and OpenView Installation,
 consisting of the

 whole OpenView directory tree and all data contained in the Oracle 
database openview. Note

 that parts which are not located in the /opt/OV or /var/opt/OV or /
etc/opt/OV sub trees

 are not backed up. This means that the Oracle binaries are
 not backed up.
2. An OVO configuration backup only. This saves the entire ITO
 configuration, consisting
 
of various ITO and OpenView configuration directories and all the
 data contained in the
 
Oracle database openview. Note that a backup of the OpenView
 database includes both the

 currently active and the history messages. If you do not want to back
 up these messages to

 save space, acknowledge the active messages and download the
 history messages using the

 appropriate ITO administrator GUI functionality or the opchistdwn (1M) 
command before

 starting the backup.
Before running opc_backup, make sure that no ITO user interface or any
 other ITO processes

 are accessing the database.
The backup is written with the fbackup (1M) command. Symbolic links are
 NOT resolved, but

 saved as symbolic links.
The command opc_backup performs the following steps:
* If called in interactive mode, the user is asked for the backup
 method (full backup or

 configuration backup).
* Checks for running ITO GUI processes.
* If a full backup is applied and the management server acts as a
 managed node, the ITO
 
agent processes are stopped. If the management server is in a
 clustered environment, you

 must make sure that no ITO agent process is running on any cluster
 client.
* Stops the OpenView platform services, the ITO server processes and
 any other OpenView

 integrated products, by using the ovstop (1m) command.
 Make sure that no processes access

 the database either directly or over SQL*Net or Net8, from any
 other system.
* Starts the SQL*Net or Net8 listener and the Oracle database, if they
 are not running.
* Extracts all Oracle files needed for a complete backup of the database.
 This includes
 the data files, redo log files and con
trol files.
* Performs a shutdown of the Oracle instance.
* If called in interactive mode, the user is asked for
 additional directories, which

 should also be backed up. The user can also choose to back up
 other directories in

 addition to the ITO configuration and database directories 
(for example, the directory

 with the downloaded history messages). Note that symbolic links
 are not resolved, but are

 saved as symbolic links.
* Calculates and prints the approximate amount of free space needed 
for the backup on the

 backup device.
* If called in interactive mode, the user is asked for the destination to
 which the backup

 will be written. You can specify the device file of a
 tape drive or a file on disk. A

 device file is assumed, if the backup destination starts with /dev/.
* Writes the backup to the given destination, 
using the fbackup (1M) command.
* Restarts the Oracle instance.
* Restarts the OpenView platform services, the ITO 
server processes and any integrated

 products, by using ovstart (1m).
* If a full backup is applied and the management server
 system is a managed node, the ITO

 agent processes are restarted.
With opc_recover, you can restore any ITO configuration,
 which has been previously backed

 up using opc_backup. The recovery restores the saved ITO and
 OpenView directories and the

 openview database.
The opc_recover script performs the following steps:
* Asks the user whether the backup was applied with
 the full backup method or with the

 configuration backup method of opc_backup. 
(If a full backup was applied, the agent

 processes must be stopped and various directories must be cleared.)
* If a full backup is applied and the management
 server acts as a managed node, all ITO

 agent processes are stopped.
If the management server is in a clustered environment,
 you must make sure that no agent

 process is running on any cluster client.
* Stops the OpenView platform services, the ITO server
 processes and any other OpenView

 integrated products, by using the ovstop (1m) command.
Make sure that no processes access the database either
 directly or over SQL*Net or Net8,

 from any other system.
* Shuts down the Oracle instance and stops the SQL*Net or Net8 listener.
* Asks the user for the source from which the backup must be restored.
 It is possible to

 restore a backup from a tape or from a disk file.
If the backup is restored from tape, the user is asked for the
 device file of the tape drive.
If the backup is restored from disk, the user is asked for the path 
name of the file from

 which the backup must be restored.
* Asks the user if the backup should be run in verbose mode.
 If verbose mode is specified,

 the restore command, fbackup (1M), is called with the 
verbose option and displays all

 restored files.
* Clears the saved OpenView and ITO directories.
 This is to prevent inconsistencies

 between the information in the database and the
 information in the OpenView directories.
If you restore from a full ITO backup,
 the whole /opt/OV, /var/opt/OV and /etc/opt/OV

 directory trees are cleared.
If you restore from an ITO configuration backup,
 the following directories are cleared:
-  /var/opt/OV/share/databases
-  /etc/opt/OV/share/registration
-  /etc/opt/OV/share/conf
-  /var/opt/OV/share/tmp/OpC/mgmt_sv
-  /var/opt/OV/share/tmp/OpC/distrib
* Restores the backed up directories:
* Restarts the Oracle database processes and
 the SQL*Net or Net8 listener.
* Restarts the OpenView platform services, the ITO
 server processes and any integrated

 products, by using ovstart (1m).
* If a full backup is applied and the management server
 acts as a managed node, the ITO

 agent processes are restarted.
files
/var/opt/OV/log/OpC/opcbkup.log
The transcript of the opc_backup script will also be
written to this logfile. Each time opc_backup is
called, it will be overwritten.
/tmp/opcrec.log
The transcript of the opc_recover script will also be
written to this logfile. Each time opc_recover is
called, it will be overwritten.
SEE ALSO
ORACLE Server - ADMINISTRATION, HP OpenView IT/Operations:
 Administrator's Reference,

 fbackup (1M), frecover (1M),
opc_backup (5), opcdbreorg (1m), ovstart (1m), ovstop (1m), opc (5)

17.4.2.3 Online Backup with ovbackup.ovpl

The ovbackup.ovpl and ovrestore.ovpl programs make it possible to perform a backup while the OVO GUI and server processes are running. This method is sometimes called the "Hot Backup." This is accomplished by placing the OV processes in a temporarily (only takes a few seconds) paused state and copying the (memory resident, operational and analytical) data to disk. The backup includes the databases of both NNM and OVO configuration data, but not the OV software. Internally, the OVO backup scripts are called by the ovbackup.ovpl program. The OV backup scripts take advantage of Oracle online backup techniques (described in more detail in Chapter 18, "Oracle for OpenView").