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how_to_clone_tru64_and_digital_unix [2018/12/11 16:05] sgriggshow_to_clone_tru64_and_digital_unix [2019/06/25 06:35] – [It Hangs During Boot] sgriggs
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   - Do not try to eliminate the /usr file system for UFS __and__ AdvFS. Startup scripts in **/sbin/init.d** will force you to have it and freak out (stopping the boot process) if you don't. Don't try to consolidate those unless you plan on manually editing every single startup script and fixing them, which isn't worth it.    - Do not try to eliminate the /usr file system for UFS __and__ AdvFS. Startup scripts in **/sbin/init.d** will force you to have it and freak out (stopping the boot process) if you don't. Don't try to consolidate those unless you plan on manually editing every single startup script and fixing them, which isn't worth it. 
   - You might have read about **sysman** clone features. Forget that. That tool is garbage and will cause you much more pain than it saves you. Plan on doing it manually yourself or have an expert do it for you using this process.    - You might have read about **sysman** clone features. Forget that. That tool is garbage and will cause you much more pain than it saves you. Plan on doing it manually yourself or have an expert do it for you using this process. 
-  - Do not plan on using the **dd** method unless you have completely identical disks. That has several major drawbacks otherwise. The worst include performance problems (due to bad geometry alignment on the disklabel) and loss of space if the target disk is larger (or loss of __data__ if the target disk is smaller). +  - Do not plan on using the **dd** method unless you have completely identical disks. That has several major drawbacks otherwise. The worst include performance problems (due to bad geometry alignment on the disklabel) and loss of space if the target disk is larger (or loss of __data__ if the target disk is smaller). However, just to say we shared the actual command if you cloned an identical dsk1 onto a dsk2 in tru64 5.x it'd be this command: **dd if=/dev/disk/dsk1c of=/dev/disk/dsk2c bs=1024k**
  
 ==== Take Inventory ==== ==== Take Inventory ====
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 Another file you //might// have to alter is your **/etc/sysconfigtab**. This isn't always needed. I believe it's a difference between Tru64 and Digital Unix. There are some versions of startup scripts which will refer to the file again, for a swap device. It would be present in the section called **vm:**. If you see a swap device listed in that section, alter it to point to the new disk or remove it.  Another file you //might// have to alter is your **/etc/sysconfigtab**. This isn't always needed. I believe it's a difference between Tru64 and Digital Unix. There are some versions of startup scripts which will refer to the file again, for a swap device. It would be present in the section called **vm:**. If you see a swap device listed in that section, alter it to point to the new disk or remove it. 
 +
 +
 +=== Final Steps ===
 +
 +Insure that you have completed these steps.
 +
 +  - Install the boot loader using disk label
 +  - Edit the disklabel on your target disk
 +  - Re-create UFS or AdvFS file systems
 +  - Copy files over from the original
 +  - Fix the **/etc/rc.config**, **/etc/sysconfigtab**, and of course, the **/etc/fstab**
 +
 +You should have done all these steps before you attempt the new disk. 
 +
 +==== Final Boot ====
 +
 +Now the system is ready to reboot. You probably want to understand a bit of interaction with what we call the SRM console. The main thing you want to do is to check the values of the following.
 +
 +  - **show dev** This will show you all the devices (NICs, HBAs, and of course disks). You need to know which disk is your target versus destination disk. The device list should have clues like the manufacturer name and the device model.
 +  - The **boot** command takes the disk name as an argument. For example: "boot dka0" or "boot dqa0" would boot each of those disks respectively. Also, if you'd like to try single user mode you'll want to use the "-fl s" argument to boot into single user mode (if you do then remember to use **bcheckrc** command to make single user mode usable). 
 +  - The **show** command is the compliment of the **set** command. These allow you to view and alter the names of SRM variables which alter boot and system behavior.
 +  - Understand the variables that matter most like **BOOTDEF_DEV** which points to the default boot device on the system. Another you might want to understand is **AUTO_ACTION** which governs if the system will automatically try to boot up the system or halts at the SRM chevron prompt. The action names are **boot** or **halt**. 
 +
 +So, what do you normally need to do? Try to boot the clone but don't yet change the default boot device until you are ready to completely switch over to the clone.  
 +
 +==== Troubleshooting  ====
 +
 +Cloning was something that DEC intended folks to use **sysman** for. Unfortunately, their process is too inflexible for most use. So, this more manual method is needed. It is, unfortunately a fault prone process. Here are some of the normal issues.
 +
 +===== The Drive will not Boot =====
 +
 +If you issue the **boot** command from the SRM console but you never see the kernel line saying "UNIX Boot" then you probably had an issue with the boot sector. Do the following. 
 +
 +  - Re-mount the target disk and make double sure that you have the kernel on the root file system. These would be in the form of two files named **vmunix** and **genvmunix**. Without a kernel, you can't boot the system. They should be there as a result of your file copy effort.
 +  - Unfortunately, the most likely cause is that you didn't do the disklabel steps in the proper order. Zero the disklabel with the **-z** and start over. Do it in the proper order and you'll have better luck. 
 +
 +===== It Hangs During Boot =====
 +
 +Depends on why and where it hangs. The most common issues are these. 
 +
 +  - You forgot to edit out some kind of reference to the swap device. Check the post-copy steps again. One of the startup scripts probably tried to activate swap on a device that won't. Remember that you can use single user mode to fix these issues without doing a full re-install. References to swap could be in in the __/etc/fstab__ (usually on 4.x or older systems) and could also be inside of your __/etc/sysconfigtab__ which is usually the case on 5.x systems.
 +  - You are using UFS and you forgot to fix the reference to the **/etc/fstab** for one of the file systems. You might also have to edit any reference for swap, especially on Digital Unix 4.x. Also pay attention for any other filesystems that might have changed or gone away. 
 +  - Make sure your copy method preserved all the permissions, especially on **/sbin** and the scripts in **/sbin/init.d** which are critical. Those scripts should be executable and owned by the __root__ or __bin__ users. 
 +  - Do NOT try to eliminate one of the default AdvFS file domains (one for root and another for /usr). As mentioned earlier, the startup scripts reference both **root_domain** and **usr_domain** and if you change their names or eliminate one of them the startup scripts will fail. 
 +  - Make sure your SRM variables for __boot_file__ and or __boot_flags__ may be incorrect and have old VMS data in there or some other garbage. Your boot file should be your kernel, which is usually __/vmunix__ or __/genvmunix__. Your boot flags should be **A** or **S** but not a number, if it's a number it came from VMS and it's wrong. People who re-use VMS systems for Tru64 will run into these problems often.  
 +
 +===== It Boots but It's Horked Up =====
 +
 +  - Double check your swap is pointing to the right place and working (swapon -s)
 +  - Make sure your filesystems are not showing up with weird or generic names. Double check your source and destination device and make sure that your old device name isn't still leftover in a config file somewhere. Most commonly it's the **/etc/fstab** or bad disk-symlinks in **/etc/fdmns**.
 +  - Make sure if you use a new system type that any kernel tuning you do makes sense. Ie.. if you take parameters from a system that has 4GB of RAM and try to use them on a big GS1280 with 64GB of RAM then you are almost certainly going to have some bad tuning in there. Double check your __sysctl__ settings with **sysctl -a**. 
 +
 +If you have problems beyond the ones documented, then consider contacting PARSEC for some consulting work to help you!
 +
 +
  
  
how_to_clone_tru64_and_digital_unix.txt · Last modified: 2023/09/08 23:04 by sgriggs

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