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Chapter 2 Backup and Restore of System Disk
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This chapter explains the procedures to backup/restore the disk (hereafter called, the system disk) containing
the Solaris OS software.
2.1 Types of Backup Procedures
Backup of the system disk requires that the disk and slices to be backed up not be in use. The system disk
contains file systems (such as the root (/) file system) that cannot be unmounted. In backing up the system
disk, special procedures are required.
The following are some of the typical ways to back up the Solaris OS disk.
Understanding them will help you choose the appropriate method to back up your system disk properly.
For more detailed information about the procedure mentioned in a., see each subsection from "2.2 Backup
and Restore of File System Unit."
For more detailed information about the procedure mentioned in d., see each subsection from "2.3 Backup
a.
To back up a file system unit, use the ufsdump(1M) command after booting in single-user mode.
If you are restoring, use the ufsrestore(1M) command after booting from the Solaris OS CD/DVD to
restore the file system unit.
-
The file system that will be backed up is only the ufs file system.
-
Disk partition information such as the size of each file system will not be backed up. You must
record this information separately.
-
The ufsdump(1M) command backs up a file system divided into file units so it is possible to
restore to a disk having a different file system size. If only a limited amount of space has been
used in the file system, this may back up into a space smaller than the size of the file system.
When backing up using the ufsdump(1M) command, it is possible to only restore selected files.
b.
To back up a file system unit, use the ufsdump(1M) command after booting from the Solaris OS
CD/DVD.
If you are restoring, use the ufsrestore(1M) command after booting from the Solaris OS CD/DVD to
restore the file system unit.
-
The file system that will be backed up is only the ufs file system.
-
Disk partition information such as the size of each file system will not be backed up. Therefore,
you must record this information separately.
-
The ufsdump(1M) command backs up the file system divided into file units, so it is possible to
restore to a disk having a different file system size. If only a limited amount of space has been
used in the file system, this may back up into a space smaller than the size of the file system.
When backing up using the ufsdump(1M) command, it is possible to only restore selected files.
c.
To back up a slice unit, use the dd(1M) command after booting from the Solaris OS CD/DVD.
