The easiest way to make a complete backup of a Virtual I/O server is to use “vios mkviosbk”:

LPAR-Tool
$ vios mkviosbk ms03-vio1 fullbackup
$
HMC-CLI
hscroot@hmc01:~> mkviosbk -t vios -m ms03 -p ms03-vio1 -f fullbackup -a 'nimol_resource=1'
hscroot@hmc01:~>

If the Virtual I/O Server is only connected to one HMC, the backup is saved on this HMC. In dual-HMC configurations, the LPAR tool selects one of the two HMCs (usually the first HMC is selected). However, you can also specify the desired HMC:

• • Prefix the HMC name separated by a colon before the backup name: “hmc02:fullbackup”
  • Using the “-h” option: “-h hmc02”

The backups of a virtual I/O server can be listed with the command “vios lsviosbk”:

LPAR-Tool
$ vios lsviosbk ms03-vio1
NAME              TYPE          SIZE      HMC    LAST_MODIFIED
cfgbackup.tar.gz  viosioconfig  0.006     hmc01  05/20/2024 18:50:40
fullbackup.tar    vios          3561.475  hmc01  05/20/2024 18:47:49
cfgbackup.tar.gz  viosioconfig  0.006     hmc02  05/10/2024 10:07:29
$
HMC-CLI
hscroot@hmc01:~> lsviosbk --filter vios_names=ms03-vio1
name=cfgbackup.tar.gz,type=viosioconfig,sys_name=ms03,mtms=9009-22A*895D9F0,vios_name=ms03-vio1,vios_id=1,vios_uuid=4D87E316-8E74-4A53-915E-28FC43F4B0E2,last_modified=05/20/2024 18:50:40,size=0.006
name=fullbackup.tar,type=vios,sys_name=ms03,mtms=9009-22A*895D9F0,vios_name=ms03-vio1,vios_id=1,vios_uuid=4D87E316-8E74-4A53-915E-28FC43F4B0E2,last_modified=05/20/2024 18:47:49,size=3561.475
hscroot@hmc01:~>
hscroot@hmc02:~> lsviosbk --filter vios_names=ms03-vio1
name=cfgbackup.tar.gz,type=viosioconfig,sys_name=ms03,mtms=9009-22A*895D9F0,vios_name=ms03-vio1,vios_id=1,vios_uuid=4D87E316-8E74-4A53-915E-28FC43F4B0E2,last_modified=05/10/2024 10:07:29,size=0.006
hscroot@hmc02:~>

Note: In dual-HMC configurations, the backups on both HMCs are displayed.

Even if “fullbackup” was specified as the name for the backup, the backup is always saved as a tar file and therefore “fullbackup.tar” is used as the file and backup name. If the extension “.tar” is already specified in the command “vios ​​mkviosbk“, it will of course not be added a second time.

For full backups there are 3 attributes that can be specified optionally:

   nimol_resource -
      0 - do not include NIMOL resources
      1 - include NIMOL resources (default)
   media_repository -
      0 - do not include the contents of the virtual media repository (default)
      1 - include the contents of the virtual media repository
   volume_group_structure
      0 - do not include volume group structures (default)
      1 - include volume group structures for all volume groups

Since a backup can only be used via an HMC to restore a virtual I/O server if the nimol_resource attribute is set, this attribute is automatically set by the LPAR tool (nimol_resource=1), in contrast to the HMC CLI where this must be explicitly specified. If no NIMOL resource is to be created, “nimol_resource=0” must therefore be explicitly specified when using the LPAR tool.

If the virtual I/O server to be backed up has a virtual media repository, this can optionally be backed up. To do this, simply specify the media_repository attribute together with the value 1 as an additional argument:

LPAR-Tool
$ vios mkviosbk ms03-vio1 hmc02:fullbackup_with_rep media_repository=1
$
HMC-CLI
hscroot@hmc02:~> mkviosbk -t vios -m ms03 -p ms03-vio1 -f fullbackup_with_rep -a 'media_repository=1,nimol_resource=1'
hscroot@hmc02:~>

In general, however, this is not recommended, as the backups can become very large. This quickly leads to full file systems on the HMCs and significantly extended restore times!

If there are other user-defined volume groups in addition to the rootvg, the structure of these volume groups can also be backed up. This is done by specifying the attribute volume_group_structure with the value 1 (volume_group_structure=1).

Existing backups are not overwritten by default. If you specify the name of an existing backup when creating a backup, you will receive an error message:

LPAR-Tool
$ vios mkviosbk ms03-vio1 fullbackup
hmc01: mkviosbk -t vios -m ms03 -p ms03-vio1 -f fullbackup -a 'nimol_resource=1'
ERROR: remote HMC command returned an error (1)
StdErr: HSCLC451 The backup file fullbackup already exists for the Virtual I/O Server.
$
HMC-CLI
hscroot@hmc01:~> mkviosbk -t vios -m ms03 -p ms03-vio1 -f fullbackup -a 'nimol_resource=1'
HSCLC451 The backup file fullbackup already exists for the Virtual I/O Server.
hscroot@hmc01:~>

However, by using the “-f“ (force) option, existing backups can be overwritten.