AIX using a mksysb utility to backup the OS (rootvg). This is typically very reliable and on occassion you may come across a bad mksysb image. It comes in handy to test the validity of a mksysb image. Below I list two commands for looking at an image and also what to expect if the mksysb image is corrupt.
The first tool we’ll use is lsmksysb. Here is an example of checking a mksysb image’s validity:
Good mksysb image
lsmksysb -lf testlpar_mksysb
VOLUME GROUP: rootvg
BACKUP DATE/TIME: Sat Jan 28 02:01:26 AST 2017
UNAME INFO: AIX testlpar 1 7 01F2A2CAAC00
BACKUP OSLEVEL: 7.1.2.0
MAINTENANCE LEVEL: 7100-02
BACKUP SIZE (MB): 37312
SHRINK SIZE (MB): 23873
VG DATA ONLY: no
rootvg:
LV NAME TYPE LPs PPs PVs LV STATE MOUNT POINT
hd5 boot 1 1 1 closed/syncd N/A
hd6 paging 512 512 1 open/syncd N/A
hd8 jfs2log 1 1 1 open/syncd N/A
hd4 jfs2 64 64 1 open/syncd /
hd2 jfs2 128 128 1 open/syncd /usr
hd9var jfs2 64 64 1 open/syncd /var
hd3 jfs2 256 256 1 open/syncd /tmp
hd1 jfs2 32 32 1 open/syncd /home
hd10opt jfs2 64 64 1 open/syncd /opt
hd11admin jfs2 4 4 1 open/syncd /admin
lg_dumplv sysdump 32 32 1 open/syncd N/A
livedump jfs2 8 8 1 open/syncd /var/adm/ras/livedump
Second Tool:
restore
The restore utility (with -T flag) will view the contents of the mksysb on the screen. W/O extracting the files. If all goes well, at the end it will display the total size of bytes and the number of archived files.
If the mksysb image is BAD/Corrupt. It will present a dialog wanting you to insert Volume 2.
restore -Tqvf testlpar_mksysb
Historically the only “true” test is to actually perform a mksysb restore. Usually only takes a couple of minutes.