System information

Rel. 7.0 and 8.0 Red Book for AIX

Performing System and Data Backups

The system administrator is responsible for making system and data backups. This person is also

responsible for maintaining the tapes and tape drives on which the backups are created.

Backing Up the Operating System

Back up your Operating System (OS) before making any system upgrade.

It is the responsibility of the on-site system administrator to periodically create a backup of the

operating system (OS). In AIX, use the mksysb function to create a backup before making

changes to your system, such as adding or subtracting users or devices, or upgrading the

operating system, UniVerse or any collateral product.

Note: We recommend that you accomplish this task once a month at minimum or

whenever any changes occur in your system that are operating system

related.

Intuit Eclipse Support can provide detailed instructions, or you can schedule assistance with

Systems Support. See Backing Up the Operating System Overview.

Backing Up Eclipse Data

Back up your Eclipse data on a daily basis.

We recommend purchasing one tape for each day of the month and archiving a tape at the end of

each month. These tapes should be rotated and taken out of service after 30 uses per IBM’s

recommendation. Archiving a tape once a month and replacing it with a new one will keep your

tapes as fresh as required.

Your installer helps the on-site system administrator schedule the data backup using the Intuit

Eclipse Phantom screen. It is imperative that you schedule this backup to take place when the

chance of interactive users being on the system is minimal. The Phantom sends a message to the

system administrator when the backup is complete. The system administrator should check this

message daily and report any errors to Intuit Eclipse Support.

See Backing Up the Database Overview.

Cleaning Backup Tape Devices

The on-site system administrator is responsible for cleaning the tape drives. IBM ships a

cleaning cartridge with each drive and recommends that you clean your tape drives on a monthly

basis. Cleaning the tape drive once a week is not too often!