Even though every virtual I/O server usually has a mirrored rootvg and should therefore survive the failure of a physical volume, there can still be situations in which the rootvg fails completely, e.g.:

• • internal disk controller defective
  • rootvg was not mirrored and the physical volume with the rootvg is defective
  • Software error (e.g. after update or upgrade) that leads to a non-bootable rootvg
  • other errors

In such a situation, a virtual I/O server may need to be reinstalled. To ensure that it has the correct (original) configuration immediately after installation, a complete backup can be used. You can quickly check whether such a backup is available using “vios ​​lsviosbk“:

LPAR-Tool
$ vios lsviosbk ms03-vio1 vios
NAME              TYPE  SIZE      HMC    LAST_MODIFIED
fullbackup.tar    vios  3561.475  hmc01  05/20/2024 18:47:49
$
HMC-CLI
hscroot@hmc01:~> lsviosbk --filter vios_names=ms03-vio1,types=vios
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:~>

The output shows that there is a full backup on the HMC hmc01 with the name fullbackup.tar for the virtual I/O server ms03-vio1.

The Virtual I/O Server can then be installed via the HMC using this backup and will then immediately have the configuration from the time of the backup. See Non-interactive installation and Interactive installation for a description of installing a Virtual I/O Server using an HMC.