Re: SAVSYS to IMGCLG then to DVD on PC -- MIDRANGE-L

I realize this thread is almost a month old, but just wanted to add my 5 cents worth (we eliminated pennies in Canada).

This is what I set up for one of my customers who does not have and High Availability software, and has limited disk arms:
- Primary system: 1 ASP, 8 disk arms, one parity set
- Backup system: 2 ASPS, each with 4 disks in a parity set on a separate controller. Image catalog is in ASP 2, everything else in ASP 1.

- Nightly backup goes directly to LTO-5 for speed
- As the backup starts it submits a batch job to unmount image catalog on backup system and delete previous backup
  quote rcmd LODIMGCLG IMGCLG(VIRTUALTAP) OPTION(*UNLOAD) DEV(TAPVRT01)
  quote rcmd rmvlnk '/asp02/virtualtape/VOL001'
(NOTE: this will take a fair amount of time, long enough for the FTP command connection to timeout and disconnect because it doesn't send periodic status update messages like a PUT command does to keep it alive, so don't have any more FTP batch commands after the rmvlnk)

- End of backup restarts QINTER to allow users back on system, end of backup submits job to run DUPTAP from LTO-5 to Virtual Tape
- Backup program submits another batch job to run DSPTAP report from virtual tape as it only takes a few seconds
- Backup program submits another batch job to FTP virtual tape from IFS to backup system (IFS in ASP 2), and kick off restore program
  quote rcmd LODIMGCLGE VIRTUALTAP *VOL *UNLOAD VOL(NITEV1) DEV(TAPVRT01)
  quote rcmd LODIMGCLG IMGCLG(VIRTUALTAP) OPTION(*UNLOAD) DEV(TAPVRT01)
  put /virtualtape/VOL001 /asp02/virtualtape/VOL001 <<< PUT sends status update msgs which keeps FTP command connection alive >>>
  quote rcmd LODIMGCLGE VIRTUALTAP *VOL *LOAD VOL(NITEV1) DEV(TAPVRT01)
  quote rcmd LODIMGCLG IMGCLG(VIRTUALTAP) OPTION(*LOAD) DEV(TAPVRT01)
  quote rcmd SBMJOB CMD(RST720NTSV TAPVRT01 *YES) JOB(RST720NTSV) JOBQ(QCTL)

The restore job on backup system runs from QCTL and takes system down to batch restricted state, does RSTUSRPRF *ALL as first restore step, RSTAUT *ALL as last step before restarting the controlling subsystem..

Neil Palmer, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

(This account not monitored for personal mail,
remove the last two letters before @ for that)

________________________________
From: DrFranken <midrange@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, August 8, 2013 11:44:02 AM
Subject: Re: SAVSYS to IMGCLG then to DVD on PC

OK Stepping back.

An Image catalog is really two pieces.

    1) An object in QUSRSYS that is mostly just the 'directory' of what's
in the DVD and in what directory in the IFS are the images themselves
stored. This is also the object that connects the optical drive to the
virtual disks. This information is duplicated in the QIMGCLG file that
is stored in the IFS for easy transport.

    2) One or more disk images stored in the IFS. These contain the actual
data. Each DVD disk is one single large object in the IFS. They can be
write protected or writeable. If you intend to 'burn' them to physical
plastic disks you need to keep them to sizes that fit there (i.e. 4.7G)
If you won't, then make them as large as you want. The documentation
says something like 16G limit but I've gone way over 100GB with no
issues on i 6.1 and 7.1.

These disk images are what you care about if you want to make media from
them. Each image can be burned with DUPOPT if you have a DVD-RAM optical
drive on your Power System. Extremely low CPU usage, extremely long
clock time usage. :-) Alternatively you can copy these to your PC as I
mentioned when this thread first began. I don't care how but FTP is my
usual choice. The image then is burned to media there.

DO NOT burn this thing to the disk AS A FILE. We have all done this (nod
your head!) and when we were done we did DIR on our freshly burned disk
and saw: "disk1.iso" as the only file in the directory. Nice coffee
coaster you got there! This does not work.

You must treat this file as a DVD Image and burn it sector wise to the
plastic disk. THis is where IMGBURN (or your favorite) comes in. It has
the understanding of the internal layout of this file and how to write
it to disk so that when you do DIR you see this:

03/16/2013 04:35 AM <DIR> QLANGID
03/16/2013 04:35 AM 6,197,248 QFILESCR
03/16/2013 04:35 AM 4,096 QIAM400
03/16/2013 04:35 AM 524,288 QFILELDS
03/16/2013 04:35 AM 1,453,273,088 QFILEMCD
03/16/2013 04:37 AM 4,096 QFILEBT
03/16/2013 04:37 AM 831,488 QFILEIPL
03/16/2013 04:37 AM 1,863,680 QFILEIN
03/16/2013 04:37 AM <DIR> Q5770SS1
7 File(s) 1,462,697,984 bytes

Hope that helps a bit....

- Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

www.frankeni.com
www.iDevCloud.com
www.iInTheCloud.com

On 8/8/2013 11:11 AM, fbocch2595@xxxxxxx wrote:

So, the IMGCLG can be burned to DVD...and in that format it's bootable?

I thought that I'm suppossed to burn just the the image file that's in the directory that I ran the savsys to...after I renamed it to be a .ISO.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Oberholtzer <midrangel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thu, Aug 8, 2013 10:35 am
Subject: Re: SAVSYS to IMGCLG then to DVD on PC

Yes, you will get a fully bootable instance of LIC, followed by IBM i on
he DVD. The reason IBM does not support SAVSYS to a DVD is it is just
oo slow (always will be) and there are multiple ways to mess it up
aking it unreliable for folks that do not test properly.
Keep in mind Larry and I are mostly using option 40 from the LICPGM menu
o create our distributions which we tend to use for upgrades etc. You
an take an Image Catalog that has been setup for DVD sizes and burn
hose as well.
Jim Oberholtzer
hief Technical Architect
gile Technology Architects
On 8/8/13 8:14 AM, fbocch2595@xxxxxxx wrote:
Well folks, my feet are riddled with holes so I'm gonna take your advice and
se the IMGBURN and then try to find a machine to test on. The reason I posted
ith you folks is that IBM says that SAVSYS to DVD is not documented or
upported but I told them it should be. They then told me that they recommend
aving to tape...and said that in order for the system to be restored using a
AVSYS, the file "QFILEIML" file must be found on the D-manual IPL. I'm not
ure I'll see that when I create the DVD and put it in the drive...do you folks
ee QFILEIML on your DVD's?
Thank, Frank
.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Oberholtzer<midrangel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion<midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Mon, Aug 5, 2013 10:32 am
Subject: Re: SAVSYS to IMGCLG then to DVD on PC

I've never used the CenterField Product but because of the company and
t's reputation I would guess it can handle everything needed.
Doing a save to any optical media (DVD or RDX) is very doable, but leave
ourself plenty of time, it's sssslllllooooowwwwww. (slow).
Personally I use my IBM i instance on Power Systems, I do have an
Series in the data center but it's rarely turned on anymore. ( sorry
ould not resist )
Jim Oberholtzer
hief Technical Architect
gile Technology Architects

n 8/5/2013 8:36 AM, Jack Kingsley wrote:
Couple of things on this.

What about this product:

http://www.centerfieldtechnology.com/CDROM-Studio/

What about doing your saves to a dvd drive on the ISERIES.

On Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 9:28 AM, Jim Oberholtzer<midrangel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

wrote:
One additional point for those of us that create our own distribution
media ( Which by the way saves many hours at upgrade time since you
don't have to apply PTFs after the upgrade ). If you need to use

ption

5, then "Work with licensed programs for target release" from the

ICPGM

menu, the presence of the QIAM400 file will stop that option from
working, with a message that says something like, IBM did not create
this install media, you can't use it. I get by that by putting the

ost

recent LIC spin in the image catalog along with the custom DVD images.
Then you can build the installation script. ( remove it before you do
the actual upgrade or you loose the value of the newly created
distribution media ).

Jim Oberholtzer
Chief Technical Architect
Agile Technology Architects

On 8/5/2013 8:07 AM, DrFranken wrote:

> HA! Yeah I thought that at some point myself, special hidden files

r

> some bootloader magic in a particular track in sector 0.
>
> The secret seems to be this block of files:
>
> QFILEBT
> QFILELDS
> QFILEMCD
> QFILESCR
> QIAMXXX
>
> Where QIAMXXX is QIAM400 if you create the disk with LICPGM option

0
r

> look at old version of the O/S.
>
> Clearly if you use a standard burner or Jim's or My favorite

rogram

> those files will all be on the disk, that's not the issue. I

elieve
he

> issue is that at the time the disk is written certain parts of the
> directory or other important things are not always done in a way

hat

> the Power System firmware recognizes that there is anything at all

n

> the disk.
>
> What I can tell you is that when it's going to fail, it's going to

ail

> FAST. You get like one blink on the DVD drive and done. It's as if

he

> disk is seen as completely empty or perhaps just blank. When it's

oing

> to work you see multiple blinking fits and after 30 or so seconds

t

> goes on steady as these files are loaded to memory.
>
> Popping the disk into a machine that is up and running and you CAN

ee

> the files. I suspect there is less 'intelligence' in the firmware

o
t

> spends less time interrogating the disk. With the O/S up and

unning
t

> either works harder or has code that recognizes a disk that's not
> 'perfectly' burned.
>
> - Larry "DrFranken" Bolhuis

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