One additional aspect which should be taken into account:
upgrade_export is more flexible in respect of the operating system and CP version to be used in the future: You could use the output file of upgrade_export and do an upgrade_import to a totally different operating system or CP version (as far as you do an upgrade and not a downgrade!). This is something missing in the backup utility.
The command upgrade_export is only applicable to systems on which you have installed a SmartCenter server (i. e.: a standalone installation (FW + SmartCenter on one box) or distributed with SmartCenter only). Should you have a Firewall-only box, this command cannot be used!
You should tar the $FWDIR and $CPShared directory. And not to forget the user database (/etc/passwd) and static routes, and eventually other configuration files for TCP/IP settings (DNS, NTP, ...).
Kind regards,
Yasushi
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