View mksysb content & restore individual files

To view information about a mksysb backup file use:

            Display info about VG backup
            |
# lsmksysb -lf P2_1202_TL7.mk 
             |             |
             |             Mksyb file
             Device:(file,tape,cdrom) 
VOLUME GROUP:           rootvg
BACKUP DATE/TIME:       Tue Feb 21 18:08:29 GMT+01:00 2012
UNAME INFO:             AIX power2s 1 6 00C4489D4C00
BACKUP OSLEVEL:         6.1.7.0
MAINTENANCE LEVEL:      6100-07
BACKUP SIZE (MB):       41216
SHRINK SIZE (MB):       8421
VG DATA ONLY:           no

rootvg:
LV NAME             TYPE       LPs     PPs     PVs  LV STATE      MOUNT POINT
hd6                 paging     16      32      2    open/syncd    N/A
hd5                 boot       1       2       2    closed/syncd  N/A
hd8                 jfs2log    1       2       2    open/syncd    N/A
hd3                 jfs2       4       8       2    open/syncd    /tmp
hd1                 jfs2       1       2       2    open/syncd    /home
hd11admin           jfs2       1       2       2    open/syncd    /admin
livedump            jfs2       2       4       2    open/syncd    /var/adm/ras/livedump
fslv00              jfs2       72      144     2    open/syncd    /usr/sys/inst.images
hd4                 jfs2       22      44      2    open/syncd    /
hd2                 jfs2       34      68      2    open/syncd    /usr
hd9var              jfs2       2       4       2    open/syncd    /var
hd10opt             jfs2       5       10      2    open/syncd    /opt

To get the LPP info from the mksysb use:

            Display LPP info
            |
# lsmksysb -Lf P2_1202_TL7.mk
                   |
                   Mksysb file
Fileset                      Level  State  Type  Description (Uninstaller)
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  ICU4C.rte                  6.1.7.0    C     F    International Components for
                                                   Unicode
  Java5.sdk                5.0.0.430    C     F    Java SDK 32-bit
  Java5_64.sdk             5.0.0.430    C     F    Java SDK 64-bit
  Java6.sdk                6.0.0.280    A     F    Java SDK 32-bit
  Tivoli_Management_Agent.client.rte
                             3.7.1.0    C     F    Management Framework Endpoint
                                                   Runtime"
  X11.adt.bitmaps            6.1.0.0    C     F    AIXwindows Application
                                                   Development Toolkit Bitmap
                                                   Files 
  X11.adt.imake              6.1.6.0    C     F    AIXwindows Application
                                                   Development Toolkit imake
.....

For the list of files contained in the mksysb

# lsmksysb -f P2_1202_TL7.mk
      6666 ./bosinst.data
          11 ./tmp/vgdata/rootvg/image.info
       11861 ./image.data
      187869 ./tmp/vgdata/rootvg/backup.data
           0 ./opt
           0 ./opt/IBM
           0 ./opt/IBM/perfpmr
        2249 ./opt/IBM/perfpmr/Install
        2616 ./opt/IBM/perfpmr/PROBLEM.INFO
        9818 ./opt/IBM/perfpmr/README
       26741 ./opt/IBM/perfpmr/config.sh

A specific file from the mksysb backup can be restored using the restorevgfiles command. In the following example the file will be restored to the current directory (/tmp/restore). Using the -d flag a alternative restore location can be specified.

                                 Path to the mksysb image file
                                 |
(/tmp/restore) # restorevgfiles -f /export2/P2_1202_TL7.mk ./root/j1
                                                             |
                                                             The file to be extracted from the mksysb image.
New volume on /export2/P2_1202_TL7.mk:
Cluster size is 51200 bytes (100 blocks).
The volume number is 1.
The backup date is: Tue Feb 21 18:09:12 GMT+01:00 2012
Files are backed up by name.
The user is root.
x            6 ./root/j1
The total size is 6 bytes.
The number of restored files is 1.
==================================================================
(/tmp/restore) # ls -la */*
-rw-r--r--    1 root     system            6 Feb 17 11:16 root/j1