mkszfile Command

AIX Version 4.3 Commands Reference, Volume 3

mkszfile Command

Purpose

Saves the system state for reinstallation on the current system or another system.

Syntax

mkszfile [-X] [-m]

Description

Attention: The mkszfile command overwrites an existing /image.data file with new information.

The mkszfile command saves the system state for reinstallation on the current system or on another system. The information saved includes the following:

System installation information
Logical volume information for the root volume group
File system information.

The saved information allows the bosinstall routine to recreate the logical volume information as it existed before the backup.

The mkszfile command creates the /image.data file. The contents of this file are defined by the system in which the image was created. The user can edit the /image.data file before calling the mksysb command. The mksysb command, in turn, only backs up the file systems specified in the /image.data file, which reflects the requirements of the rootvg file system.

All the saved information is obtained using AIX list commands. The commands are listed in the /image.data file as comments for the user's reference when editing this file.

Files on tape cannot be changed. However, in order to override the data files on the tape, the user can create a diskette with the desired files.

The mkszfile command checks to be sure there is at least 8MB of free space available in the /tmp file system for the boot image.

Note: Before running the mkszfile command, ensure that enough space is available in the /tmp file to store a boot image. This space is needed during both backup and installation. To determine the amount of space needed in the /tmp file, issue the following command:

Flags

-m

Creates map files that specify the mapping of the logical-to-physical partitions for each logical volume in the volume group. This mapping can be used to allocate the same logical-to-physical mapping when the image is restored. The map file locations are stored in the MAPFILE field in the /image.data file for each logical volume. Sufficient space would exist in the /tmp file system for map creation because the installation routines place the maps in the /tmp file system before issuing the mklv command.

For example, for the hd7 logical volume, the location of the map file is /tmp/vgdata/rootvg/hd7.map. The MAPFILE field in the /image.data file for the hd7 logical volume is under the entry MAPFILE=/tmp/vgdta/rootvg/hd7.map.

The map files in the backup image are copied after the /bosinst.data and /image.data files.

-X

Expands /tmp if needed.

Files

/usr/bin/mkszfile

Contains the mkszfile command.

Related Information

The mksysb command.

The /image.data file.