Backing up the network server description and virtual disk drives associated with a Linux logical partition

Learn about how to back up the data for a Linux logical partition that uses IBM® i resources.

Backing up the data for a Linux logical partition that uses IBM i resources is different from backing up the data for a Linux logical partition that uses its own resources. When you install the logical partitions with virtual disk, the IBM i logical partition that shares resources creates a network server description and creates disk drives for your Linux logical partition that you need to back up. Some of the disk drives are server-related (the installation and server drives), while others are user-related. Because your Linux logical partition might consider the disk drives to be a unified server, you must save all the disk drives and the network server description so they restore correctly.

With the implementation of a logical partition, you can save and restore virtual disks as IBM i network-server storage space objects. These objects are saved as part of the server when you perform a full server backup. You can also specifically save the network server description and storage spaces that are associated with a logical partition on a server. Daily backup of the server drive is a good practice.