Fuel OS CD's

[David]

Just got a Fuel off fleabay but it did not come with the OS CD's. That
seems to be the norm now <sigh>.

Where can I get the necessary cd's in case this disk dies? Or does Irix
support a bit for bit image backup (something easier than dd, I hope?)

Thanks

[corn]

% Or does Irix support a bit for bit image backup (something easier than dd, I hope?)

There's a little bit of set-up to make a bootable backup disk. Below is my old set of
instructions on how to do this.

Modified from the SGI archives: Creating a New System Disk by Cloning

0. Short form for people who know what they're doing. Assumes the blank
disk you want to clone your system disk to is on SCSI controller 0, drive
2 (dks0d2), and the blank disk will become a boot disk, and there is only
one XFS partition on the disk:

# fx -x
(enter ctrl# and drive# of _blank_ disk, 0 for lun#)
fx> l/c/a
fx> r
fx> ro
fx> ../.. (another .. or two may be necessary)
fx> quit
prompt# mkdir /stand (may already exist, that's ok)
prompt# dvhtool -v get sash /stand/sash /dev/rvh
prompt# dvhtool -v get ide /stand/ide /dev/rvh
prompt# dvhtool -v creat /stand/sash sash /dev/rdsk/dks0d2vh
prompt# dvhtool -v creat /stand/ide ide /dev/rdsk/dks0d2vh
# mkdir /clone
# mkfs_xfs /dev/rdsk/dks0d2s0
# mount /dev/dsk/dks0d2s0 /clone
# cd /clone
# xfsdump -l 0 - / | xfsrestore - /clone
# cd /
# umount /clone

You are done. Evil note: If you want to copy data from an older system to a
newer, different type of system, you can clone your old disk this way, put the
clone in the newer system, stop the boot, go into the PROM mode, and install
the latest release of IRIX from there. This will overwrite the old IRIX for
the other machine, but leave the rest of your data intact. At least, I'm
pretty sure it will.

Long form for people who don't know what they're doing:
1. List the disk partitioning of the system disk (SCSI controller 0,
device 1 in this case) with the prtvtoc command:

prompt# prtvtoc /dev/rdsk/dks0d1vh
* /dev/rdsk/dks0d1vh (bootfile "/unix")
* 512 bytes/sector
Partition Type Fs Start: sec Size: sec Mount Directory
0 xfs yes 528384 35172876 /
1 raw 4096 524288
8 volhdr 0 4096
10 volume 0 35701260

2. Repartition the clone disk to be the same as the system disk by using
the fx command, enter the SCSI controller # and disk # of the disk
being used as the clone below:

prompt# fx -x
fx> version 6.5, Jul 5, 2001
fx: "device-name" = (dksc) dksc [always dksc]
fx: ctlr# = (0) 0 [SCSI controller #, use "hinv" command]
fx: drive# = (1) 2 [disk #, use "hinv" command to find out]
fx: lun# = (0) 0 [always 0, it's not RAID]
fx> l/c/a
fx> r

The r command will put you into the repartition menu, if you haven't changed
the partitioning on your disk since you received it from SGI, chances are the
"ro" option will set up the clone disk with the same partitions as the system
disk assuming they are the same size. If the clone disk is bigger, then your
only worry will be whether or not to up the size of the raw partition. The
raw partition is your swap space, you can change that just as long as the size
of the XFS partition on the clone disk stays larger than the amount of disk
space you've used on your system disk. Whenever you choose an option at this
menu, fx will print out the partitioning scheme, compare it to the listing you
made in part 1 above. Don't worry about the volume and volhdr partitions.
When you're done, exit out of fx to get back to a UNIX prompt.

3. With dvhtool check the contents of the volume header of the clone disk
and add programs, if necessary, by copying them from the system disk (sash,
ide, etc., but _not_ sgilabel):

prompt# dvhtool -v list /dev/rvh
Current contents:
File name Length Block #
sgilabel 512 2
ide 316416 574
sash 316416 1192

/dev/rvh is the volume header of your boot disk, and in this case I have two
files in the header I need to copy: ide and sash. To copy them over, first
we have to grab them from the volume header of the boot disk, then put them in
the volume header of the clone disk, which in this example is SCSI controller
0, device 2:
prompt# mkdir /stand (may already exist, that's ok)
prompt# dvhtool -v get sash /stand/sash /dev/rvh
prompt# dvhtool -v get ide /stand/ide /dev/rvh
prompt# dvhtool -v creat /stand/sash sash /dev/rdsk/dks0d2vh
prompt# dvhtool -v creat /stand/ide ide /dev/rdsk/dks0d2vh

This also puts a backup of sash and ide in the /stand directory of the boot disk.
IDE are diagnostics, and sash is Stand Alone SHell, a small shell useful to boot
from in case /unix is corrupted.

4. Make a new filesystem on the root partition of the clone disk. For
example, to make an XFS filesystem with a 4 KB block size and a 1000
block internal log (the default values), on a disk on SCSI controller 0
device number 2, partition 0, type in this command:

# mkfs_xfs -b size=4k -l internal,size=1000b /dev/rdsk/dks0d2s0

5. If there is a separate /usr partition, make a new filesystem on the /usr
partition of the clone disk. If the partition is 6 the command would be:

# mkfs_xfs -b size=4k -l internal,size=1000b /dev/rdsk/dks0d2s6

Repeat as necessary for other partitions.

6. Create a temporary mount point for the clone disk filesystems, for
example:

# mkdir /clone

7. Mount the root filesystem of the clone disk and change directories
to the mount point, for example:

# mount /dev/dsk/dks0d2s0 /clone
# cd /clone

8. Use xfsdump to copy the root filesystem on the system disk to the root
filesystem of the clone disk:

# xfsdump -l 0 - / | xfsrestore - /clone

9. If the disks do not have a usr partition, skip to step 12.

10. In preparation for copying the /usr filesystem, mount the /usr
filesystem instead of the root filesystem:

# cd ..
# umount /clone
# mount /dev/dsk/dks0d2s6 /clone
# cd /clone

11. Use xfsdump to copy the /usr filesystem on the system disk to the /usr
filesystem of the clone disk:

# xfsdump -l 0 - /usr | xfsrestore - .

Repeat steps 10 and 11 as necessary for other partitions.

12. Unmount the filesystem mounted at the temporary mount point and
remove the mount point, for example:

# cd ..
# umount /clone

The clone disk is now an exact copy of the system disk. It can be moved to a
system with the same hardware configuration.

13. If you want to use the clone disk as a backup for your system disk, all
you have to do to copy over the changed data is, manually,

# mount /dev/dsk/dks0d2s0 /clone
# cd /clone
# xfsdump -l 0 - / | xfsrestore - /clone
Repeat steps 10 and 11 as necessary for other partitions.

12. Unmount the filesystem mounted at the temporary mount point and
remove the mount point, for example:

# cd ..
# umount /clone

The clone disk is now an exact copy of the system disk. It can be moved to a
system with the same hardware configuration.

13. If you want to use the clone disk as a backup for your system disk, all
you have to do to copy over the changed data is, manually,

# mount /dev/dsk/dks0d2s0 /clone
# cd /clone
# xfsdump -l 0 - / | xfsrestore - /clone

or via a cron job:

# vi /etc/backing

and type in the 3 lines from the manual method above, save then file, then

# chown root.sys /etc/backing
# chmod u=rwx /etc/backing
# vi /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root

and add, as the last line,

x x x x x /etc/backing

where you replace the xs with the minute, hour, day of the month, month, and/or
day of the week you want the backup to take place. See "man cron" and "man
crontab" for more information.

--
A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human
history with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila.
-- Mitch Ratliffe, Technology Review, April 1992

[David]

Wow! Thanks very much for that very detailed help, corn. I'm making a
printout of this AND saving it into an email folder.

David