How to backup VCS Configuration

Published   Read time 4 min(s) 53 sec(s)   (3445 views).  Storage  

The Veritas Cluster Server (VCS) stores it's configuration data and customer agents in a series of locations. As these fules are the backbone of the cluster environment it is very important to backup these fules ensuring that you can perform a cluster recovery in any case of disaster.

VCS utilises the hasnap utility to manage cluster configuration backups and when used with various options a point in time snapshot of the cluster configuration is taken.

Configuration Locations

VCS stores the configuration under

  • /etc
  • /etc/VRTSvcs/conf/config
  • /opt/VRTSvcs/bin

Taking a snapshot

Syntax:

hasnap -backup [-f <filename>] [-n] [-m comment]

Where:

  • Use the -n option to run the command in the non-interactive mode
  • Use the -m to specify a description of the snapshot

For example:

# hasnap -backup -f /backups/sunlab1-20060825.zip -n -m "Backup 25/08/2996"
Starting Configuration Backup for Cluster sunlab1

Dumping the configuration...

Registering snapshot "sunlab1-2006.08.25-1156511358610"

Contacting host labnode1...

Error connecting to the remote host "labnode1"

Starting backup of files on host labnode2
"/etc/VRTSvcs/conf/config/types.cf" ----> 1.0
"/etc/VRTSvcs/conf/config/main.cf" ----> 1.0
"/etc/VRTSvcs/conf/config/vcsApacheTypes.cf" ----> 1.0
"/etc/llthosts" ----> 1.0
"/etc/gabtab" ----> 1.0
"/etc/llttab" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/vcsenv" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/LVMVolumeGroup/monitor" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/LVMVolumeGroup/offline" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/LVMVolumeGroup/online" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/LVMVolumeGroup/clean" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/ScriptAgent" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/LVMVolumeGroup/LVMVolumeGroup.xml" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGSnapshot/fdsched" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGSnapshot/monitor" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGSnapshot/fdsetup.vxg" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGSnapshot/open" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/ScriptAgent" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGSnapshot/RVGSnapshotAgent.pm" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGSnapshot/RVGSnapshot.xml" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGSnapshot/offline" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGSnapshot/online" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGSnapshot/attr_changed" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGSnapshot/clean" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGPrimary/monitor" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGPrimary/open" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGPrimary/RVGPrimary.xml" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGPrimary/offline" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGPrimary/online" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGPrimary/clean" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/ScriptAgent" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGPrimary/actions/fbsync" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/triggers/violation" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/CampusCluster/monitor" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/CampusCluster/close" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/ScriptAgent" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/CampusCluster/open" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/CampusCluster/CampusCluster.xml" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVG/monitor" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVG/info" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/ScriptAgent" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVG/RVG.xml" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVG/offline" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVG/online" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVG/clean" ----> 1.0
"/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/internal_triggers/cpuusage" ----> 1.0
Backup of files on host labnode2 complete

Backup succeeded partially

Viewing snapshot files

Use the hasnap -display command to view details of previously created snapshots.

Syntax:

hasnap -display [-f <filename>] [-list|-s snapid] [-m] [-l] [-t]

Where:

  • -list displays the list of snapshots in the repository
  • -s specifies the snapshot ID
  • -m displays snapshot description
  • -l lists the files in the snapshot
  • -t displays the snapshot timestamp

If no options are specified the commands displays all information about the latest snapshot

Snapshot integrity

To check the contents of the snapshot, use the unzip utility with the -t flag to test compressed archive data:

Syntax:

unzip -t <filename>

For example:

# unzip -t /backups/sunlab1-20060825.zip

Archive:  sunlab1-20060825.zip
Archive:  sunlab1-20060825.zip
    testing: /cat_vcs.zip             OK
    testing: /categorylist.xml.zip    OK
    testing: _repository__data/vcs/sunlab1/labnode2/etc/VRTSvcs/conf/config/types.cf.zip   OK
    testing: _repository__data/vcs/sunlab1/labnode2/etc/VRTSvcs/conf/config/main.cf.zip   OK
    testing: _repository__data/vcs/sunlab1/labnode2/etc/VRTSvcs/conf/config/vcsApacheTypes.cf.zip   OK
    testing: _repository__data/vcs/sunlab1/labnode2/etc/llthosts.zip   OK
    testing: _repository__data/vcs/sunlab1/labnode2/etc/gabtab.zip   OK
    testing: _repository__data/vcs/sunlab1/labnode2/etc/llttab.zip   OK
    testing: _repository__data/vcs/sunlab1/labnode2/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/vcsenv.zip   OK
    testing: _repository__data/vcs/sunlab1/labnode2/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/LVMVolumeGroup/monitor.zip OK
    testing: _repository__data/vcs/sunlab1/labnode2/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/LVMVolumeGroup/offline.zip OK
    testing: _repository__data/vcs/sunlab1/labnode2/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/LVMVolumeGroup/online.zip  OK
    testing: _repository__data/vcs/sunlab1/labnode2/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/LVMVolumeGroup/clean.zip   OK
    testing: _repository__data/vcs/sunlab1/labnode2/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/LVMVolumeGroup/LVMVolumeGroupAgent.zip   OK
    testing: _repository__data/vcs/sunlab1/labnode2/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/LVMVolumeGroup/LVMVolumeGroup.xml.zip   OK
    testing: _repository__data/vcs/sunlab1/labnode2/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGSnapshot/fdsched.zip   OK
    testing: _repository__data/vcs/sunlab1/labnode2/opt/VRTSvcs/bin/RVGSnapshot/monitor.zip   OK
        :
        :

To restore VCS configuration

Use the hasnap -restore command to recovery configuration files from a previously created snapshot

Syntax:

hasnap -restore [-f <filename> [-n] [-s snapid ]

Where:

  • -n runs the command in non-interactive node
  • -s option specifies the ID of the snapshot to be restored. If you do not specify a snapshot ID, the command lists the snapshots that are avialble for restoration.

For example:

  • To restore the snapshot stored in a file: 
    # hasnap -restore -f /backups/sunlab1-20060825.zip
  • To restore a snapshot using snapshot ID, perform 
    # hasnap -restore -n -s vcs-20060825-10668

Additional notes

I should mention that since parts of VCS configuration reside in memory and not always on disk, I recommend that you run haconf -dump -makero prior to running hasnap. This will ensure that the current configuration is being backed up, and will allow hasnap -restore to recover the correct configuration if disaster hits.

References