Perform a complete save using the GO SAVE checklist

Perform a complete save using the GO SAVE checklist

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Overview

Use this checklist to perform a complete save.
Use the following checklist for menu options 21, 22, and 23 of the GO SAVE command. When appropriate, select the option that you require.
If you choose to, you can print system information during the procedure. Otherwise,
Printing system information contains detailed instructions on how to print system information if you do not want the Save menu option command to print your system information automatically.
Some of the steps in this checklist may not apply to your system configuration. See Identify optional features that affect your backup for help to determine whether you use optional features in your environment. If you are still unsure how your system is configured, contact your system administrator.
As an alternative to this checklist, use Customizing your GO SAVE backup in the i5/OS^® Information Center to produce a set of instructions that is tailored to your save environment.
If you are using the Hardware Management Console (HMC), back up the HMC in addition to using the GO SAVE: Option 21 to obtain a complete save of your system. See Backing up and restoring the HMC.
Sign on with a user profile that has *SAVSYS and *JOBCTL special authorities, and also has sufficient authority to list different types of system resources. (The QSECOFR user profile contains all of these authorities.) This ensures that you have the authority that you need to place the system in the necessary state and to save everything.
Virtual images can significantly increase the time it takes to complete an Option 21 save operation, even if the image catalog entries do not contain data. If you want to exclude virtual images from a full system save, use one of the following strategies:
Use the Change Attribute (CHGATR) command to mark the image catalog directory as non-saveable. For example:
CHGATR OBJ('/MYINFO') ATR(*ALWSAV) VALUE(*NO) 
Use the Load Image Catalog (LODIMGCLG) command to make the image catalog ready. Image catalogs with a ready status will be omitted from the save.
In an attended save, you can specify to omit the image catalog directories on the Save Object (SAV) command.
If you have independent ASPs, make them available before ending iSeries™ Navigator if you want them to be included in an Option 21 or 23 save.

If your system includes independent ASPs that are geographically mirrored, it is recommended that you eliminate them from this GO SAVE option by making them unavailable. You should save independent ASPs that are geographically mirrored separate from this GO SAVE operation. If the geographically mirrored ASPs remain available during the GO SAVE operation, geographic mirroring is suspended when the system becomes restricted. When you resume mirroring after the save, a complete synchronization is required. Synchronization can be a very lengthy process.
If you are operating in a clustered environment and want to save independent ASPs without causing a failover, or you want to save the cluster environment for a node, end the device cluster resource group and end clustering before you end subsystems.
Use the End Cluster Resource Group ENDCRG command and the End Cluster Node ENDCLUNOD command.
For more information, refer to the online help in the Simple Cluster Management utility or see Clusters.
If you have OptiConnect controllers, vary them off prior to the save operation. You must vary off OptiConnect controllers before ending subsystems and performing a save of the entire system, or before any save that ends the QSOC subsystem. If you do not vary off OptiConnect controllers before ending subsystems, they go into a failed status, the system marks them as damaged, and the system does not save them. For more information, see Networking for logical partitions.
If you have IBM^® WebSphere^® MQ for iSeries, V5.3 (5724-B41), you need to quiesce WebSphere MQ, V5.3 before you save the system. The MQSeries^® for i5/OS Administration, GC33–1356 book has instructions for quiescing WebSphere MQ, V5.3.
If you plan to run the save procedure immediately, make sure that no jobs are running on the system: type WRKACTJOB .
If you plan to schedule the save procedure to run later, send a message to all users informing them when the system will be unavailable.
Type GO SAVE at a command prompt to display the Save menu.
To perform an attended save of your system, go to step 11.
To perform an unattended save operation, continue with the following steps. An unattended save operation prevents your save operation from stopping because of unanswered messages:
Display the reply list sequence numbers to find what numbers are available for use:
WRKRPYLE
If MSGID(CPA3708) is not already in your reply list, add it. For xxxx, substitute an unused sequence number from 1 through 9999:
ADDRPYLE SEQNBR(xxxx) +
         MSGID(CPA3708) +
         RPY('G')
If you are using virtual media for your save media, specify automatic load in the reply list, MSGID(OPT149F), to avoid receiving a message that interrupts the unattended save. If necessary, virtual optical will use the autoload feature to create additional images with the same capacity as the last image you loaded, provided the disk storage is available.
Change your job to use the reply list and to notify you of any break messages that are sent:
CHGJOB INQMSGRPY(*SYSRPYL) BRKMSG(*NOTIFY) 
You can also set up a default so that whenever you select menu options 21, 22, or 23, the system will always use the reply list.
To set up the default, select menu option 20 from the Save menu. Specify Yes on the Use system reply list option.
Select the option (21, 22, or 23) from the Save menu and press the Enter key.
A prompt display describes the function of the menu option that you selected.
After reading the Specify Command Defaults prompt display, press the Enter key to continue.
                           Specify Command Defaults  
Type choices, press Enter.
 
  Devices . . . . . . . . . . .    TAP01          Names                                    __________
                                   __________
                                   __________
 
 
Prompt for commands  . . . . .   Y           Y=Yes, N=No  
Check for active file . . . . .  Y           Y=Yes, N=No 
Message queue delivery . . . .   *BREAK      *BREAK, *NOTIFY  
Start time . . . . . . . . . .   *CURRENT    *CURENT, time 
Vary off network servers . . . . *ALL        *NONE, *ALL 
Unmount file systems . . . . . . Y           Y=Yes, N=No 
                           Specify Command Defaults 
Type choice, press Enter.

Print system information . . . . N           Y=Yes, N=No 
Use system reply list  . . . . . N           Y=Yes, N=No 
Spooled file data  . . . . . . . *NONE       *NONE, *ALL
Type your choices for the Devices prompt.
You can specify as many as four tape media device names. If you specify more than one device, the system automatically switches to the next tape device when the current tape is full. You may select only one DVD-RAM optical media device.
The first device for options 21 and 22 should be your alternate IPL device. If you are creating media to install on another system, the device must be compatible with the alternate IPL device for that system. This ensures that the system can read the SAVSYS media if you need to restore your Licensed Internal Code and the operating system.
Type your choice for the Prompt for commands prompt. Specify N (No) if you want to run an unattended save. Specify Y (Yes) if you want to change the defaults on the SAVxxx commands.

If Y is specified to change the LABEL parameter for save commands, Y must be specified if you use this media to restore the system.
Type your choice for the Check for active files prompt.
Specify Y (Yes) if you want the system to warn you if active files exist on the save media. The warning you receive gives the following choices:

Cancel the save operation.
Insert new media and try the command again.
Initialize the current media and try the command again.

If you use DVD-RAM optical media for your save, the system sends inquiry messages to the QSYSOPR message queue when it encounters identical active files. The system sends the inquiry message for each identical active file that it finds. See Optical media or Storage Solutions. Specify N (No) if you want the system to write over any active files on the save media without warning you.
Type your choice for the Message queue delivery prompt.
Specify *NOTIFY if you want to do an unattended save. This prevents communications messages from stopping the save operation. If you specify *NOTIFY, severity 99 messages that are not associated with the save operation are sent to the QSYSOPR message queue without interrupting the save process. For example, messages that request a new volume be loaded interrupt the save operation because they are associated with the job. You cannot continue until you reply to these messages.
Specify *BREAK if you want to be interrupted for severity 99 messages that require a reply.
Type your choice for the Start time prompt. You may schedule the start of the save operation up to 24 hours later. For example, assume that the current time is 4:30 p.m. on Friday. If you specify 2:30 for the start time, the save operation begins at 2:30 a.m. on Saturday.

The system uses the Delay Job (DLYJOB) command to schedule the save operation. Your workstation will be unavailable from the time you request the menu option until the save operation completes.
Make sure that your workstation is in a secure location. Your workstation remains signed on, waiting for the job to start. If the system request function is used to cancel the job, your workstation displays the Save menu. The workstation remains signed on with your user profile and your authority.
Make sure that the value for the QINACTITV system value is *NONE. If the value for QINACTITV is other than *NONE, the workstation will vary off in the amount of time specified. If you changed the value to *NONE, write the old value down.
If you specify a delayed start and want your save operation to run unattended, be sure you have done the following:

Set up the system reply list.
Specified *NONE on QINACTITV system value.
Specified *NOTIFY on message queue delivery.
Specify *NOTIFY for any break messages.
Responded N to the Prompt for commands prompt.
Responded N to Check for active files.

Type your choice for the Vary off network servers prompt.
If you use iSeries Integration for Windows^® Server, you may vary off the network server descriptions before beginning the save procedure.
The Information Center provides additional information about the effects of varying off the network servers. Select one of the following options to specify which network servers should be varied off before the save operation is performed:

*NONE

Does not vary off network servers. The save operation will take longer since the network server data will be saved in a format that allows restoration of individual objects.

*ALL

Varies off all network servers. The save operation will take less time but the network server data will not be saved in a format that allows restoration of individual objects. You will only be able to restore all of the data from the network servers.

Type your choice for the Unmount file system prompt. If you use user-defined file systems (UDFSs), you should unmount the UDFSs before beginning the save procedure. Specify Y (Yes) if you want to allow all dynamically mounted file systems to be unmounted. This allows you to save UDFSs and their associated objects. IBM recommends that you unmount your UDFSs for recovery purposes. For more information on UDFSs, refer to OS/400^® Network File System Support, SC41-5714-03.

After the save operation completes, the system will not attempt to remount the file systems.
Specify N (No) if you do not want all dynamically mounted file systems to be unmounted. If you specify N, and you have mounted UDFSs, you will receive a CPFA09E message for each mounted UDFS. The objects in the mounted UDFS will be saved as if they belong to the mounted over file system.
Type your choice for the Print system information prompt.
Specify Y (Yes) if you want to print the system information.
The system information may be useful for disaster recovery. Printing system information explains how to print your system information manually without using the automatic GO SAVE command menu option function.
Type your choice for the Use system reply list prompt.
Specify Y (Yes) if you want to use the system reply list when the system sends an inquiry message.
Type your choice for the Spooled file data prompt.
Specify *NONE if you do not want to save spooled files or *ALL to save spooled files.

Saving spooled files may require more save media and will take additional time.
Press the Enter key. If you chose a later start time, your display shows message CPI3716. The message tells when the save operation was requested and when it will start. You cannot use the display until the save operation completes. The input-inhibited indicator should appear. You have completed the steps for setting up the save operation.
If you did not choose a later start time, continue with step 23. If the value for QSYSOPR message queue delivery is *BREAK with a severity level of 60 or lower, respond to the ENDSBS messages. This is true even if you plan to run an unattended save operation specifying a start time of *CURRENT.
If you responded Y to the system prompt, Prompt for commands, the End Subsystem display appears. Type any changes and press the Enter key. While the system is ending subsystems, you see the following messages. You must respond to them if the QSYSOPR message queue is set to *BREAK with a severity level of 60 or lower. Each message appears at least twice. Press the Enter key to respond to each message.

CPF0994 ENDSBS SBS(*ALL) command being processed
CPF0968 System ended to restricted condition

If you responded N to the Prompt for commands prompt, skip to step 25.
When the system is ready to perform each major step in the save operation, you are shown the prompt display for that step. The time between prompt displays may be quite long.
For option 21 (Entire system) these prompt displays appear:
ENDSBS SBS(*ALL) OPTION(*IMMED)
SAVSYS 
SAVLIB LIB(*NONSYS) ACCPTH(*YES) 
SAVDLO DLO(*ALL) FLR(*ANY)
SAV DEV('/QSYS.LIB/media-device-name.DEVD') +
    OBJ(('/*') ('/QSYS.LIB' *OMIT) +
        ('/QDLS' *OMIT)) +
    UPDHST(*YES) 
STRSBS SBSD(controlling-subsystem)
For option 22 (System data only) these prompt displays appear:
ENDSBS SBS(*ALL) OPTION(*IMMED)
SAVSYS 
SAVLIB LIB(*IBM) ACCPTH(*YES) 
SAV DEV('/QSYS.LIB/media-device-name.DEVD') +
    OBJ(('/QIBM/ProdData') +
        ('/QOpenSys/QIBM/ProdData')) +
    UPDHST(*YES) 
STRSBS SBSD(controlling-subsystem)
For option 23 (All user data) these prompt displays appear:
ENDSBS SBS(*ALL) OPTION(*IMMED)
SAVSECDTA 
SAVCFG SAVLIB LIB(*ALLUSR) ACCPTH(*YES) 
SAVDLO DLO(*ALL) FLR(*ANY)
SAV DEV('/QSYS.LIB/media-device-name.DEVD') +
     OBJ(('/*') ('/QSYS.LIB' *OMIT) +
         ('/QDLS' *OMIT) +
         ('/QIBM/ProdData' *OMIT) +
         ('/QOpenSys/QIBM/ProdData' *OMIT)) +
     UPDHST(*YES)  
STRSBS SBSD(controlling-subsystem)
Type your changes at each prompt display and press the Enter key.
When the system sends a message that asks you to load the next volume, load the next media and respond to the message. For example, if the message is the following, load the next volume and then enter R to retry (C cancels the operation):
Device was not ready or next volume was not loaded (C R)
If a media error occurs

If an unrecoverable media error occurs during the SAVLIB procedure, see Recovering from a media error during a SAVLIB operation in the i5/OS Information Center. You can find this subject under the Backing up your system topic in the Information Center.
You should mount all other user-defined file systems at this point if you unmounted them for the save operations.
Change the QINACTITV system value back to its original value. You wrote this value down in step 17 c.
When the save operation completes, print the job log. It contains information about the save operation. Use it to verify that the operation saved all objects. Type one of the following:
DSPJOBLOG * *PRINT
Or
SIGNOFF *LIST
You have completed the save operation. Make sure that you mark all of your media and store it in a safe, accessible place.
If you ended clustering before running the save operation, restart clustering on the save node from a node where clustering is already active.
For more information, refer to the online help in the Simple Cluster Management utility or see Clusters in the i5/OS Information Center.
Now restart the device cluster resource group to enable resiliency.
When your independent disk pool was saved, the Qdefault.UDFS was unmounted, if you chose to unmount file systems. In order to use the independent disk pool again, remount Qdefault.UDFS. Do this step for each independent disk pool that you saved.
TYPE(*UDFS) MOUNT MFS('/dev/iasp_name/Qdefault.UDFS') MTOVRDIR('/iasp-name')
Customizing your GO SAVE backup instructions

Identifying optional features that affect your backup
Do you use user-defined file systems on this system? A user-defined file system (UDFS) is a file system that a user creates and manages. To determine if you have any UDFS on your system, use one of the following methods.
Printing system information
Printing the system information provides valuable information about your system that will be useful during a system recovery. It is especially useful if you cannot use your SAVSYS media to recover and must use your distribution media.

Parent topic:
GO SAVE command menu options
Related concepts
Saving logical partitions and system applications
Related tasks
GO SAVE: Option 21 (saving the entire system) GO SAVE: Option 22 (saving system data) GO SAVE: Option 23 (saving user data) Saving independent ASPs Printing system information
Related reference
Saving data for integrated Windows or Linux servers
Related information
Backing up critical HMC data Storage Solutions Making a disk pool available Linux in a guest partition