Unix Backup & Recovery

Unix Backup & Recovery provides a complete overview of all facets of Unix backup and recovery, and offers practical, affordable backup and recovery solutions for environments of all sizes and budgets. The book begins with detailed explanations of the native backup utilities available to the Unix administrator, and ends with practical advice on choosing a commercial backup utility.

An invaluable book for administrators, Unix Backup & Recovery:

• Describes the features, limitations, and syntax of Unix backup and restore utilities,(including dump, tar, cpio, dd, GNUtar, and GNUcpio) for many popular versions of Unix, including AIX, Compaq True-64 Unix, HP-UX, IRIX, SCO, Solaris, and Linux
• Provides instructions for installing and configuring freely available backup systems such as AMANDA
• Includes ready-to-run shell scripts that automate live backups of Informix, Oracle, and Sybase databases
• Presents step-by-step recovery procedures for Oracle, Informix, and Sybase
• Presents step-by-step "bare-metal" disaster recovery procedures for AIX, Compaq True-64 Unix, HP-UX, IRIX, Solaris, and Linux
• Describes the design of "disaster recovery" and "highly available" systems
• Provides guidance on choosing a commercial backup and recovery system
• Describes the features and limitations of backup hardware

1. Introduction
1. Preparing for the Worst
• My Dad Was Right
• Developing a Disaster Recovery Plan
• Step 1: Define (Un)acceptable Loss
• Step 2: Back Up Everything
• Step 3: Organize Everything
• Step 4: Protect Against Disasters
• Step 5: Document What You Have Done
• Step 6: Test, Test, Test
• Put It All Together
2. Backing It All Up
• Don't Skip This Chapter!
• Why Should You Read This Book?
• How Serious Is Your Company About Backups?
• You Can Find a Balance
• Deciding What to Back Up
• Deciding When to Back Up
• Deciding How to Back Up
• Storing Your Backups
• Testing Your Backups
• Monitoring Your Backups
• Following Proper Development Procedures
• Unrelated Miscellanea
• Good Luck
2. Freely Available Filesystem Backup & Recovery Utilities
3. . Native Backup & Recovery Utilities
• An Overview
• Backing Up with the dump Utility
• Restoring with the restore Utility
• Limitations of dump and restore
• Features to Check For
• Backing Up and Restoring with the cpio Utility
• Backing Up and Restoring with the tar Utility
• Backing Up and Restoring with the dd Utility
• Comparing tar, cpio, and dump
• How Do I Read This Volume?
4. Free Backup Utilities
• The hostdump.sh Utility
• The infback.sh, oraback.sh, and syback.sh Utilities
• A Really Fast tar Utility: star
• Recording Configuration Data: The SysAudit Utility
• Displaying Host Information: The SysInfo Utility
• Performing Remote Detections: The queso Utility
• Mapping Your Network: The nmap Utility
• AMANDA
3. Commercial Filesystem Backup & Recovery Utilities
5. Commercial Backup Utilities
• What to Look For
• Full Support of Your Platforms
• Backup of Raw Partitions
• Backup of Very Large Filesystems and Files
• Simultaneous Backup of Many Clients to One Drive
• Simultaneous Backup of One Client to Many Drives
• Data Requiring Special Treatment
• Storage Management Features
• Reduction in Network Traffic
• Support of a Standard or Custom Backup Format
• Ease of Administration
• Security
• Ease of Recovery
• Protection of the Backup Index
• Robustness
• Automation
• Volume Verification
• Cost
• Vendor
• Conclusions
6. High Availability
• What Is High Availability?
• HA Building Blocks
• Commercial HA Solutions
• The Impact of an HA Solution
4. Bare-Metal Backup & Recovery Methods
7. SunOS/Solaris
• What About Fire?
• Homegrown Bare-Metal Recovery
• Recovering a SunOS/Solaris System
8. Linux
• How It Works
• A Sample Bare-Metal Recovery
9. Compaq True-64 Unix
• Compaq's btcreate Utility
• Homegrown Bare-Metal Recovery
10. HP-UX
• HP's make_recovery Utility
• The copyutil Utility
• Using dump and restore
11. IRIX
• SGI's Backup and Restore Utilities
• System Recovery with Backup Tape
• Homegrown Bare-Metal Recovery
12. AIX
• IBM's mksysb Utility
• IBM's Sysback/6000 Utility
• System Cloning
5. Database Backup & Recovery
13. Backing Up Databases
• Can It Be Done?
• Confusion: The Mysteries of Database Architecture
• The Muck Stops Here: Databases in Plain English
• What's the Big Deal?
• Database Structure
• An Overview of a Page Change
• What Can Happen to an RDBMS?
• Backing Up an RDBMS
• Restoring an RDBMS
• Documentation and Testing
• Unique Database Requirements
14. Informix Backup & Recovery
• Informix Architecture
• Automating Informix Startup: The dbstart.informix.sh Script
• Protect the Physical Log, Logical Log, and sysmaster
• Which Backup Utility Should I Use?
• Physical Backups Without a Storage Manager: ontape
• Physical Backups with a Storage Manager: onbar
• Recovering Informix
• Logical Backups
15. Oracle Backup & Recovery
• Oracle Architecture
• Physical Backups Without a Storage Manager
• Physical Backups with a Storage Manager
• Managing the Archived Redologs
• Recovering Oracle
• Logical Backups
• A Broken Record
16. Sybase Backup & Recovery
• Sybase Architecture
• Physical Backups Without a Storage Manager
• Physical Backups with a Storage Manager
• Recovering Sybase
• Logical Backups
• An Ounce of Prevention…
6. Backup & Recovery Potpourri
17.  ClearCase Backup & Recovery
• ClearCase Architecture
• VOB Backup and Recovery Procedures
• View Backup and Recovery Procedures
• Summary
18. Backup Hardware
• Choosing on a Backup Drive
• Using Backup Hardware
• Tape Drives
• Optical Drives
• Automated Backup Hardware
• Vendors
• Hardware Comparison
19. Miscellanea
• Volatile Filesystems
• Demystifying dump
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Disk Recovery Companies
• Yesterday
• Trust Me About the Backups

A very excellent overview of an often neglected area. Recommended.