Hopefully there are some other people on the list with AIX 5 experience,
mine stops at AIX 4.

Yes, backup is the AIX name for dump, it is a block level backup
utility rather than file level.  One of its features is the
ability to backup by file name or by i-node, but most other versions
of dump can do the same.

No, it is not compatible with other versions of dump (dump usually is OS
specific, though I think Linux and Solaris dump formats can sometimes
work with each other).  You will need to use the restore program on
AIX to read the archive.  I can send you the backup/restore
AIX man pages via e-mail, no point in cluttering the list with
them.


Also Sprach Jon LaBadie:

> Kevin Alford started a thread about losing his amanda server
> crashing, needing to rebuild it, not having indexes and
> needing to do a restore.  The system details pre-crash were
> Amanda 2.4.2p2 on AIX 5.1 ML6
> 
> I see the "dump" program is IBM ?proprietary? program called 'backup' !!
> Is that program dump compatible?  From my long ago AIX experience I
> recall that 'restore' is the appropriate recovery program for 'backup'.
> But what arguments should be used, i.e. what might be needed for "..."?
> 
> 
> I just love AIX!  Kevin extracted the dump file, minus the amanda header.
> He then tried to use gzip -dc on it to create an uncompressed copy.
> The copy was 3.5x larger, so obviously it had been gzip'ped.
> 
> However, when Kevin ran the "file" command on both the original and
> on the uncompressed files, AIX's file command reported both as being:
> 
>       data or International text
> 
> Nothing about either being a gzip or a backup file.
> 
> Kevin sent me the leading part of the gunzipped file and on my Solaris
> system, the file command reports it is a "ufsdump archive".
> 
> Does AIX even have the ability to work with UFS type file systems?
> If so, are ufsdump/ufsrestore part of an add-on package?  Kevin
> reports his rebuilt system has neither program.  May not matter.
> Based on the amanda header, I suspect that backup/restore are the
> appropriate pair of programs, not ufsdump/ufsrestore.
> 
> Do other AIX amanda installations use backup/restore?
> 
> If so, what are appropriate options for a restore from an backup
> format file already on disk.  Maybe both for TOC and for extraction.
> We can worry about from tape later.
> 
> 

-- 
C. Chan <c-chan at uchicago.edu >
GPG Public Key registered at pgp.mit.edu