I am OpenVMS newbie, currently i have a dec3000-300x running on OpenVMS 7.1 OS in my department. I want to do system backup for that server. My idea is to backup the whole system to tape and restore the system from tape to other hard disks (dka200, dka300). In case of the current hard disks fail i can quickly replace those fail ones by good ones. Is my idea workable?
Your idea is workable, but there are easier solutions.
If you do have a spare disk that you want to be a complete copy of the original, you could simply do a BACKUP straight to it:
[code:1:07cb55aed3]$ MOUNT/FOREIGN DKA200:
$ BACKUP DKA0:/IMAGE/IGNORE=INTERLOCK DKA200:/INITIALIZE[/code:1:07cb55aed3]
This will make a complete backup of DKA0: onto DKA200:. This copy is then usable in its place if needed (although you'd want to change its SCSI ID to be the same as the disk its replacing since it's likely that the system startup scripts would expect that).
If you are licensed for volume shadowing, then you could simply set it up so that VMS maintains a mirrored disk set. You would have to update the startup scripts to reflect a new boot device name (DSA0, but then VMS would automatically maintain both drives giving you not only a real-time backup, but also fault tolerance.
malmberg August 04 2022 No more VAX hobbyist licenses.
Community licenses for Alpha/IA64/X86_64 VMS Software Inc.
Commercial VMS software licenses for VAX available from HPE.
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I had a hobbyist account here but can longer access the site.
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, but then VMS would automatically maintain both drives giving you not only a real-time backup, but also fault tolerance.
