On 4/28/20 3:15 PM, Default User wrote:
On 2020-04-28 [TU] at 14:18 EDT, Bob Weber <bobrwe...@gmail.com> said:
According to the manual the -x option is:
-x, --one-file-system don't cross filesystem boundaries
Question:
When you use rsync, do you ever do it on a live, mounted filesystem
from within said machine/filesystem (that is, using the same machine)?
Or do you do it on a "dormant" unmounted filesystem, either from
another machine or from a "live [usb or .iso] utility distribution or
boot disk from which you have booted the same machine?
Most references to rsync I have seen just seem to accept as a given,
that you are doing it remotely, from across a LAN (or across the
world).
And don't seem to address whether the machine/filesystem they are
rsyncing to/from is "live" (mounted), or can/should be unmounted (like
it would be when imaging a disk with dd or Clonezilla, for example.
Yes that is the way I use rsnapshot (which uses rsync) ... on a live system. I
do this before an upgrade. rsnapshot copies the files to a directory under
/home. I have a very big /home filesystem. The files I am interested in are
under /usr /etc and the various bin opt and lib directories. These files will
just be open for reading but not for writing. There are log files and mail
files under /var that may be copied in an open for write state but I can loose
those files if necessary. Also, files under /tmp and /run may be lost but those
directories are usually cleared on reboot. I do run PostgreSQL but the data
files are under /home (mounted from another partition) ... these are the kind
of files that should be backed up on a "dormant" filesystem or after PostgreSQL
is shut down. I also run several virtual machines but their files are also
under /home.
To restore the rsnapshot backup if I need to I run sysrescuecd. I mount the
filesystems on /root/src and /root/dst and use rsync with the correct options
including --delete to get rid of any extra files that were just upgraded. I
usually use -aHXA --one-file-system --progress for rsync backup options. That
way I can be sure the file attributes will be preserved.
A note about borgbackup. I used it a few years ago but I found that ALL
attributes were not backed up. Maybe I didn't use the correct options. The
many options can be confusing. The backup medium should be a journaling
filesystem according to the docs. rsnapshot just duplicates the file structure
of the source so you can just get one file back if you want rather than having
to use borg to get the backed up file.
--
*...Bob*
