Performing Mounted Filesystem Backups Using the ufsdump Command

The following procedure describes how to increase the performance of the ufsdump command when you use it to backup a mounted filesystem located on a RAID-1 volume.

How to Perform a Backup of a Mounted Filesystem Located on a RAID-1 Volume

You can use the ufsdump command to backup the files of a mounted filesystem residing on a RAID-1 volume. Set the read policy on the volume to "first" when the backup utility is ufsdump. This improves the rate at which the backup is performed.

1. Become superuser.
2. Run the metastat command to make sure the mirror is in the “Okay” state.

   # metastat d40
   d40: Mirror
       Submirror 0: d41
         State: Okay
       Submirror 1: d42
         State: Okay
       Pass: 1
       Read option: roundrobin (default)
       Write option: parallel (default)
       Size: 20484288 blocks (9.8 GB)

   A mirror that is in the “Maintenance” state should be repaired first.

3. Set the read policy on the mirror to “first.”

   # metaparam -r first d40
   # metastat d40
   d40: Mirror
       Submirror 0: d41
         State: Okay
       Submirror 1: d42
         State: Okay
       Pass: 1
       Read option: first
       Write option: parallel (default)
       Size: 20484288 blocks (9.8 GB)

4. Perform a backup the filesystem.

   # ufsdump 0f /dev/backup /opt/test

5. After the ufsdump command is done, set the read policy on the mirror to “roundrobin.”

   # metaparam -r roundrobin d40
   # metastat d40
   d40: Mirror
       Submirror 0: d41
         State: Okay
       Submirror 1: d42
         State: Okay
       Pass: 1
       Read option: roundrobin
       Write option: parallel (default)
       Size: 20484288 blocks (9.8 GB)