Managing Systems and Workgroups: A Guide for HP-UX System Administrators

Administering a System: Managing Disks and Files
Backing Up Data
Chapter 6686
General Procedure for Using the fbackup Command
To use the fbackup (1M) command:
1. Ensure that you have superuser capabilities.
2. Ensure that files you want to back up are not being accessed. The
fbackup command will not back up files that are active (opened) or
locked.
3. Verify that the backup device is properly connected.
4. Verify that the backup device is turned on.
5. Load the backup device with write-enabled media. If the backup
requires additional media, fbackup will prompt you when to load or
change media.
6. If possible, change to a single-user state. Then mount any directories
you want to back up.
7. Create the backup using fbackup. For example, the command
fbackup -f /dev/rmt/0m -i /home
can be used to back up the entire contents of /home to the device file
/dev/rmt/0m. For more information on fbackup, see fbackup (1M).
For more information on the /dev file formats, see the Configuring
HP-UX for Peripherals manual and see mt (7).
Creating the Index File on the Local Device
If you use the fbackup command, an index is written at the beginning of
each tape listing all files in the graph file being backed up. However,
since this index is written before the files are actually backed up, if a file
is removed after the index is written but before the file is backed up to
tape (or something else happens that prevents the file from being backed
up), the index will not be completely accurate.
If you tell fbackup to make an online index file (using the -I option), it
will create the file after the backup is complete. Therefore, the only index
that will be accurate is the online index, which is produced after the last
volume has been written (the index created using the fbackup -I
option).