The configuration of all components within Oracle Virtual Compute Appliance X3-2 is automatically backed up and stored on the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance 7320 as a set of archives. Backups are named with a time stamp for when the backup is run.

During initialization, a crontab entry is created on each management node to perform a global backup twice in every 24 hours. The first backup runs at 09h00 and the second at 21h00. Only the active management node actually runs the backup process when it is triggered.

Backups are stored on the MGMT_ROOT file system on the Sun ZFS Storage Appliance 7320 and are accessible on each management node at /nfs/shared_storage/backups. When the backup process is triggered, it creates a directory named with the time stamp for the current backup process. Within this directory several subdirectories are also created:

The backup process collects data for each component in the appliance and ensures that it is stored in a way that makes it easy to restore that component to operation in the case of failure ^[2] .

Taking regular backups is standard operating procedure for any production system. The internal backup mechanism cannot protect against full system failure, site outage or disaster. Therefore, you should consider implementing a backup strategy to copy key system data to external storage. This requires a machine with connections to the internal appliance networks as well as the external (public) data center network.

For a detailed description of the backup contents, and for guidelines to export internal backups outside the appliance, refer to the Oracle technical white paper entitled Oracle Virtual Compute Appliance Backup and Recovery Guide.