Re: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system
On Tue, 3 Aug 1999, x x wrote: > Hi! Could anyone tell me what's a good hardware/software combination > to use to make frequent FULL backups of a Debian system (operating > system, "applications", and data). I asked recently at a fairly large > Linux group meeting, and everyone seemed suprised by the question and > there were no good answers, which completely floored me... how could > anyone smart enough to use Linux not back up their entire system > RELIGIOUSLY? Well, here are my two cents on this subject. First method of backup: Once a week I backup the system (/, /var, /usr, /etc, etc...) of each of my machines to tape, and then the next night I backup the data of my machines (/home, /web, databases). Every other night I just do an incremental of everything. I have about 4-5 machines I backup regularly, via a network, and NFS mounting the root of each system to the machine with the tape drive, and then backing up from there with afio. I hacked up my own scripts to handle all of it. As for hardware, I use an Exabyte 8700LT external, scsi, 8mm tape drive. It is about 1.5yrs old, and runs great! I can use either 5GB or 7GB tapes (native size), and by spliting the system from the data into seperate backups, that make maximum backup about 14GB, which is pretty large for even medium sized networks. While the drive was a bit expensive (~$600), the media is cheap (~$4 for 5GB, ~$9 for 7GB per tape), and the reliablity is excellent. Though you can now get the equivalent internal drive, an 8505XL, from Ebay for $300 to $400. So, far as I see it, if you are serious/smart enough to use Linux, you will also be serious/smart enough to set aside some money for a good quality backup hardware. After that, software is a matter of choice. Ok, my two cents. Hope they help. | "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." | |--- Philippians 1:21 (KJV)| | Ryan Kirkpatrick | Boulder, Colorado | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | http://www-ugrad.cs.colorado.edu/~rkirkpat/|
Re: Backing up just my personal stuff (was: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system)
* Pann McCuaig <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Here's my take on it: > As root, > dpkg --get-selections > /root/dpkg.selections > cp -a /usr/src/linux/kernel-image*.deb /root/ > Then backup > /root > /boot [...] Thanks for the suggestion, sounds good. Alas, I´m the type who can´t keep his disks clean and has, say, an /opt partition (I admit) and such stuff. An automated way to find out what is user-touched and what not would be nice, I think--the information is all there, after all. This script could then exclude directories like /proc and some of /var automatically. Nice project for a guy who is going to learn a scripting language [*suggest, suggest*]. I always wanted to give Python a try, so I might actually do it, but when :-( Cheers, Colin -- Colin Marquardt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Re: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system
> > There is one MAJOR flaw with tar. If there is an error anywhere in the > > archive, ALL files after the error are lost. Better to use afio instead of > > tar. At most you will loose only the file where the error is. > > Use the option: --ignore-failed-read. This will not work if the tape is created with tar czf /dev/tape, because gunzip will exit when a read error occurs. Is there an easy way to avoid this, besides using taper or another backup program? Wouter...
Re: Backing up just my personal stuff (was: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system)
Here's my take on it: As root, dpkg --get-selections > /root/dpkg.selections cp -a /usr/src/linux/kernel-image*.deb /root/ Then backup /root /boot /etc /var /home /usr/local [/usr/lib/cgi-bin] To restore: install the base system copy dpkg.selections from the backup media to /root/ dpkg --set-selections < /root/dpkg.selections dselect (SKIP the "Select" step) restore what you've backed up dpkg -i /root/kernel_image*.deb lilo reboot and you should be there. FWIW, I've actually done this once under pressure with mostly success. I left out /usr/lib/cgi-bin/ and had to track down a bunch of scripts. YMMV. Cheers, Pann -- What's All the Buzz About Linux?L I N U X .~. The Choice /V\ http://www.ourmanpann.com/linux/ of a GNU /( )\ Generation ^^-^^
Re: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system
virtanen wrote: > > I don't backup system files. I backup kernels, /etc and > > /var/lib/dpkg/status* files. I also collect a list of installed > > debs I can reinstall from CD: > > > > # dpkg --get-selections > /backup/debian.selections > > > > Peter > > I managed to get an iomega zip-drive working with my slink-system. > Is there an easy way (simple commands) available to back up the whole > debian (~500-600MB) on zip disks for backup? As I said above, don't backup binaries you have to CD to save space. Backup the list of packages (dpkg --get-selections) and their configuration (/etc/ and /var/lib/dpkg/status*). Backup user data (e.g. /home), splitting it into about 200MB chucks which will likely compress down to under 100MB (to fit on a Zip). > is it anyhow possible to use a normal tape-recorder (recording walkman) as > a backup tape system? I don't see how.
Re: Backing up just my personal stuff (was: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system)
On Thu, Aug 05, 1999 at 02:24:12AM -, Wim Kerkhoff wrote: > > /usr/local is about 760Mb (723Mb of that is a partial mirror > >of Debian) > > I presume you mean that these are potato packages you have downloaded since an > initial install of slink. Actually, I run potato, and keep a partial mirror of main/binary-i386 (by partial, I mean I exclude certain large files that I don't have any use for - I don't have room for the whole thing). I update it nightly using rsync. > > What would the best & easiest way of making such a partial mirror or all > packages in potato that are different from slink? With such a mirror, I could > install what I want using my official slink CD set, then update to my current > state with the partial mirror. This would be really, really handy in case my > system buggers up (or I bugger it up). I'd recommend taking a look at the rsync packages. It's fairly easy to set up, and does everything I need. I like it much better than mirror. > > When apt-get downloads packages, it puts them in /var/archive/apt/cache I wrote a script to move the packages from apt into the correct directories of my mirror. I can send it to you if you want, but I do not guarantee it to work. Mike [Private mail welcome, but no need to CC: me on list replies.] -- Michael Merten ---> E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---> NRA Life Member -- http://www.nra.org ---> Debian GNU/Linux Fan -- http://www.debian.org ---> CenLA-LUG Founder -- http://www.angelfire.com/la2/cenlalug -- Just remember, wherever you go, there you are. -- Buckaroo Bonzai
Re: Backing up just my personal stuff (was: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system)
> /usr/local is about 760Mb (723Mb of that is a partial mirror >of Debian) I presume you mean that these are potato packages you have downloaded since an initial install of slink. What would the best & easiest way of making such a partial mirror or all packages in potato that are different from slink? With such a mirror, I could install what I want using my official slink CD set, then update to my current state with the partial mirror. This would be really, really handy in case my system buggers up (or I bugger it up). When apt-get downloads packages, it puts them in /var/archive/apt/cache --- Wim Kerkhoff [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.canadianhomes.net/wim ICQ: 23284586
Re: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system
On Wed, 4 Aug 1999, Peter S Galbraith wrote: > Gary L. Hennigan wrote: > > > David Wright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > > > The very idea of all one's system software in a set of homogeneous > > > .deb files is probably foreign to most unix administrators. > > > > Only those with "home brew" systems. In institutional settings it's > > also a matter of wasted time. Why fight with a whole installation > > procedure when you can simply do: > > > > restore /dev/tape / > > Sure, but restoring from debs will be pretty easy. > > I don't backup system files. I backup kernels, /etc and > /var/lib/dpkg/status* files. I also collect a list of installed > debs I can reinstall from CD: > > # dpkg --get-selections > /backup/debian.selections > > Peter 1) I managed to get an iomega zip-drive working with my slink-system. Is there an easy way (simple commands) available to back up the whole debian (~500-600MB) on zip disks for backup? Another thing: 2) is it anyhow possible to use a normal tape-recorder (recording walkman) as a backup tape system? -hv
Re: Backing up just my personal stuff (was: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system)
On Wed, Aug 04, 1999 at 09:52:11PM -0700, George Bonser wrote: > On Wed, 4 Aug 1999, Michael Merten wrote: > > > /var is 65Mb > > You will likely want to exclude /var/lock and /var/run and possibly > /var/state > > No need to restore pid and lock files for programs that are no longer > running :) > Yep, although /var/lock and /var/run won't save much in space, /var/state could... one directory in particular (/var/state/apt/lists) could cause an impact. Apt stores all of the *uncompressed* Packages lists for every source you have listed in /etc/apt/sources.list here (it runs about 6M on my system). Since running 'apt-get update' will effective replace them, there's no need to waste space on a backup. Mike (wishing he had money for a decent tape drive) [Private mail welcome, but no need to CC: me on list replies.] -- Michael Merten ---> E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---> NRA Life Member -- http://www.nra.org ---> Debian GNU/Linux Fan -- http://www.debian.org ---> CenLA-LUG Founder -- http://www.angelfire.com/la2/cenlalug -- On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!], "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. -- Charles Babbage
Re: Backing up just my personal stuff (was: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system)
On Thu, Aug 05, 1999 at 12:08:21AM +0200, Colin Marquardt wrote: > Hi, > > "All them backup mails, they make my head swim." (almost cited from > the Gnus manual) > > * Peter S Galbraith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > [...] > > I don't backup system files. I backup kernels, /etc and > > /var/lib/dpkg/status* files. I also collect a list of installed > > debs I can reinstall from CD: > > > # dpkg --get-selections > /backup/debian.selections > > That sounds good. But I wantmore :-): How could I get a list of things > (i.e., directories/files) that are: > > a) *not* managed by the package system or are changed since install >time > > and/or > > b) managed by the package system, but not on my CDs (e.g. stuff that >I updated from the net) > > I have used the apt-cdrom install method, so I have the appropriate > lines for the CDs in my /etc/apt/sources.list. > > If I just had one (or, better, both) of these lists, I could then > backup just my personal stuff. A ZIP drive could then be enough. > I think what you'd most need to keep backups for would be found in: /etc < Most, if not all of your configuration files /home < or wherever your user home directories reside /usr/local< where you should be keeping your custom stuff There are probably some files in /var that would be handy on a backup, dealing with the current state of your system. On my system: /etc is a little over 3Mb /home is a bit over 118Mb (geez, didn't know I had that much junk there :/) /usr/local is about 760Mb (723Mb of that is a partial mirror of Debian) /var is 65Mb To back them up (excluding my mirror) would take less than 250Mb. Mike [Private mail welcome, but no need to CC: me on list replies.] -- Michael Merten ---> E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---> NRA Life Member -- http://www.nra.org ---> Debian GNU/Linux Fan -- http://www.debian.org ---> CenLA-LUG Founder -- http://www.angelfire.com/la2/cenlalug -- It is illegal to say "Oh, Boy" in Jonesboro, Georgia.
Backing up just my personal stuff (was: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system)
Hi, "All them backup mails, they make my head swim." (almost cited from the Gnus manual) * Peter S Galbraith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: [...] > I don't backup system files. I backup kernels, /etc and > /var/lib/dpkg/status* files. I also collect a list of installed > debs I can reinstall from CD: > # dpkg --get-selections > /backup/debian.selections That sounds good. But I wantmore :-): How could I get a list of things (i.e., directories/files) that are: a) *not* managed by the package system or are changed since install time and/or b) managed by the package system, but not on my CDs (e.g. stuff that I updated from the net) I have used the apt-cdrom install method, so I have the appropriate lines for the CDs in my /etc/apt/sources.list. If I just had one (or, better, both) of these lists, I could then backup just my personal stuff. A ZIP drive could then be enough. TIA, Co"dpkg-newbie"lin -- Colin Marquardt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Re: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system
On Tue, Aug 03, 1999 at 06:25:28PM -0500, x x wrote:
> Hi! Could anyone tell me what's a good hardware/software combination to
> use to make frequent FULL backups of a Debian system (operating system,
> "applications", and data).
[...]
> I have thought about trying to use a CD-RW device, such as the HP 8100i or
> 8200i, but HP's web site seems to hint that you can't back up to multiple
> CDs in sequence, so that limits a backup to > 650 Mb.
[...]
We use a CDRW here at home to back up 4 systems on a network with tob
(backup script for afio) as packaged for Debian. Our backup requirements are
modest and fairly infrequent so the CDRW solution works fairly well (and
_lots_ better and cheaper than the Travan tapes we used to use). I've never
had to make backups larger than a CD (I seem to get about a 1Gb on a cd with
the compression) but multi-CD volumes should work. It would be a minor pain
to have to mount/unmount the CDs as afio worked through them on a restore
though.
The idea of using CDRW's to backup Debian systems seems to come up on a
regular basis so I'll take the liberty of posting a condensed version of the
method we use for all to tear apart.
We have a machine called krosno that doesn't get out much. In particular it
never has to do anything intensive enough to hurt a CDRW write session. It
used to be a 486/66 (worked OK with hdparm optimization). It's now a 75MHz
586 type (works OK). It exports a directory called /var/local/cdimage
read/write via NFS (Could be a security problem if bad people lurk on your
network. Would SSH's scp work?). The directory /var/local/cdimage/iso also
exists on krosno and must have at least 650 Mb free.
Each machine that needs to be backed up has tob installed on it with the
following lines in /etc/tob/tob.rc .
---
BACKUPDEV="/var/local/cdimage/iso/`hostname`_${VOLUMENAME}_${TYPE}.afio"
PRECMD='echo "mounting remote";mount -t nfs -o rsize=8192,wsize=8192
krosno:/var/local/cdimage /var/local/cdimage'
POSTCMD='echo "unmounting remote";umount /var/local/cdimage'
VOLMAX='650m'
BACKUPCMD='afio -o -s $VOLMAX -ZG9 -b10k $BACKUPDEV < $FILELIST'
BACKUPCMDTOSTDOUT='afio -o -ZG9 -b10k - < $FILELIST'
LISTCMD='afio -tv -s 0 -ZG9 -b10k /cdrom/*.afio'
RESTORECMD='afio -vin -s 0 -ZG9 -b10k -y"$FILESPEC" $BACKUPDEV'
---
After setting up the tob volumes as per normal, running tob produces a file
of the form /var/local/cdimage/iso/krosno_all_full.afio on krosno. You can
then run a script that invokes mkisofs and cdrecord on krosno to erase the
CDRW, write the contents of /var/local/cdimage/iso as a iso image to the
CDRW and erase the *.afio file. Repeat until the volume is entirely written.
The rescue disk only really needs afio and the ability to mount either an
normal iso cd image or nfs if the broken machine can't read a CDRW.
>
> Other considerations: ATX main system board, AMD k6-2 processor, WD 8.4Gb
> hard drive, and my need to have things work right - first time, every
> time, without exception.
[...]
Well 8.4 Gb is something like 8 CDRW's (compression depending). The
afio/compress/nfs/cdwrite cycle can take hours. Skipping the nfs writing
part and doing less intense compression would speed things up a lot but I
suspect that my CDRW solution is not for you if you want to back up the
entire 8.4 Gb every day. You'd have to settle for partial or less frequent
backups I think.
Bruce
Re: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system
Gary L. Hennigan wrote: > David Wright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > The very idea of all one's system software in a set of homogeneous > > .deb files is probably foreign to most unix administrators. > > Only those with "home brew" systems. In institutional settings it's > also a matter of wasted time. Why fight with a whole installation > procedure when you can simply do: > > restore /dev/tape / Sure, but restoring from debs will be pretty easy. I don't backup system files. I backup kernels, /etc and /var/lib/dpkg/status* files. I also collect a list of installed debs I can reinstall from CD: # dpkg --get-selections > /backup/debian.selections Peter
Re: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system
On Tue, 3 Aug 1999, George Bonser wrote: > There is one MAJOR flaw with tar. If there is an error anywhere in the > archive, ALL files after the error are lost. Better to use afio instead of > tar. At most you will loose only the file where the error is. Use the option: --ignore-failed-read. (this is a GNU-tar option, but this is Linux after all)
Re: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system
David Wright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Quoting Gary L. Hennigan ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): > > I guess I don't see the logic here. If one of the binaries on your > > backup has a Trojan that, presumably, means that before you did the > > backup you were running a system that had a Trojan. I would assume at > > that point the damage has already been done. > > Logically, that doesn't follow. The trojan may not yet have been > run. You're going in circles here with maybe's and what ifs. I still believe that the chances are so minimal of any Unix system getting a Trojan that if you have the backup media it's easier to just restore from a backup than to reinstall from scratch. > > Besides, assuming someone > > slipped a Trojan onto your system in the first place, restoring all > > your config files as they existed prior to the backup would allow them > > to just log in and introduce it again. > > Again, logically, that doesn't follow. The trojan may have been installed > before the config files were altered. For example, one might have decided > to tighten up security in the wake of a break-in (detected or undetected) > or simply changed the passwords. Or perhaps one decided to loosen security and it slipped in afterward? It's just not worth the hassle. I've done several restores from full backups and I've done reinstalls on a working system. Unless you're running a "high risk" system, which I'd classify as a loosely adminstered system sitting on the open network, it's MUCH more work to reinstall than it is to just restore from a full backup. > > The only chance I see of defeating a Trojan is detecting it and > > defeating the method used to introduce it in the first place. Also, > > the fact that such Trojans are so rare on Unix and Unix-like systems > > would make it a minor concern for me. > > > > Anyway, it's standard practice in large installations to back up > > practically everything for a level 0 backup, excluding things like > > /tmp, /dev (sometimes) and /proc. > > There may be a historical reason for this. A large unix installation > is likely to have gathered its software from all sorts of sources > on all sorts of disparate media, and have put a lot of administrative > sweat into compiling and installing it all. So it makes sense to > backup the *result* of all that work. You're talking to just about the definition of "historical". I've been doing system admin for about 10 years now and I ALWAYS knew exactly what was on the systems I administered (at least on the non-user partitions). Oh, I couldn't say down to the file what was there, but I could, without any hesitation, tell you which partitions held only system files and which held files installed locally from a non-System vendor. And generally, for at least the last 5 years or so, every major Unix version has come with a package management system of some sort. Even so, I always did full system backups, including all the binaries that were probably on installation media somewhere. I've been lucky enough to be at organizations that didn't skimp on the backup media so it was never an issue, and we ALWAYS backed up everything. Doing restores of full backups doesn't involve checking lists to see what needs to be reinstalled, worrying about a configuration file that've changed, patches to the OS that have come along, etc. Believe me, in general, it's easier to do a restore. By the way, in all those 10 years I've seen exactly ONE system intrusion. And it was under the circumstances I described above, a loosely adminstered system sitting on the open network. > OTOH every file on this system I'm typing on is sitting on one jaz > drive. The binaries and kernel-images are all in their .deb files; > the rescue/drivers disks are as disk images together with base*.tgz; > then there are all the configured /etc and /var files in zipfiles > for possible restoration, and copies of /etc and /var plus a non-root > recursive snapshot of /proc/[a-z]* for perusal. /home is split by > user as there are so few. I'm not saying it's a requirement to back up you're entire system. I'm happy that you have a scheme that you're comfortable with. I AM saying that backing up an entire system is far from a worthless pursuit. If you have the money for the backup device/media it's a time saver. > The very idea of all one's system software in a set of homogeneous > .deb files is probably foreign to most unix administrators. Only those with "home brew" systems. In institutional settings it's also a matter of wasted time. Why fight with a whole installation procedure when you can simply do: restore /dev/tape / Certainly Debian, and most modern Unix systems, would be easier to install from scratch, but not as easy as a one line command to restore from a backup. Gary
Re: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system
Quoting Gary L. Hennigan ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): > George Bonser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > On Tue, 3 Aug 1999, x x wrote: > > > > > Hi! > > > Could anyone tell me what's a good hardware/software > > > combination to use to make frequent FULL backups > > > of a Debian system > > > (operating system, "applications", and data). > > > I asked recently at a fairly large Linux group meeting, > > > and everyone seemed suprised by the question and there > > > were no good answers, which completely floored me... > > > how could anyone smart enough to use Linux not back > > > up their entire system RELIGIOUSLY? > > > > You do not backup the application binaries because you already have a > > backup ... either the CDROM you installed from OR the debian archive. I > > would never trust a backup of my binaries ... what if one of them has been > > replaced with a trojaned version? > > I guess I don't see the logic here. If one of the binaries on your > backup has a Trojan that, presumably, means that before you did the > backup you were running a system that had a Trojan. I would assume at > that point the damage has already been done. Logically, that doesn't follow. The trojan may not yet have been run. > Besides, assuming someone > slipped a Trojan onto your system in the first place, restoring all > your config files as they existed prior to the backup would allow them > to just log in and introduce it again. Again, logically, that doesn't follow. The trojan may have been installed before the config files were altered. For example, one might have decided to tighten up security in the wake of a break-in (detected or undetected) or simply changed the passwords. > The only chance I see of defeating a Trojan is detecting it and > defeating the method used to introduce it in the first place. Also, > the fact that such Trojans are so rare on Unix and Unix-like systems > would make it a minor concern for me. > > Anyway, it's standard practice in large installations to back up > practically everything for a level 0 backup, excluding things like > /tmp, /dev (sometimes) and /proc. There may be a historical reason for this. A large unix installation is likely to have gathered its software from all sorts of sources on all sorts of disparate media, and have put a lot of administrative sweat into compiling and installing it all. So it makes sense to backup the *result* of all that work. OTOH every file on this system I'm typing on is sitting on one jaz drive. The binaries and kernel-images are all in their .deb files; the rescue/drivers disks are as disk images together with base*.tgz; then there are all the configured /etc and /var files in zipfiles for possible restoration, and copies of /etc and /var plus a non-root recursive snapshot of /proc/[a-z]* for perusal. /home is split by user as there are so few. The very idea of all one's system software in a set of homogeneous .deb files is probably foreign to most unix administrators. Cheers, -- Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: +44 1908 653 739 Fax: +44 1908 655 151 Snail: David Wright, Earth Science Dept., Milton Keynes, England, MK7 6AA Disclaimer: These addresses are only for reaching me, and do not signify official stationery. Views expressed here are either my own or plagiarised.
Re: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system
> "x" == x x <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: x> [1 ] Hi! Could x> anyone tell me what's a good hardware/software combination to x> use to make frequent FULL backups of a Debian system x> (operating system, "applications", and data). I asked x> recently at a fairly large Linux group meeting, and everyone x> seemed suprised by the question and there were no good x> answers, which completely floored me... how could anyone x> smart enough to use Linux not back up their entire system x> RELIGIOUSLY? See http://visar.csustan.edu/bazaar/bazaar_dateoffers.html and look for offer 990307A. I invite you to increase my offer if you are interested. -- Laurent Martelli [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system
George Bonser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > On Tue, 3 Aug 1999, x x wrote: > > > Hi! > > Could anyone tell me what's a good hardware/software > > combination to use to make frequent FULL backups > > of a Debian system > > (operating system, "applications", and data). > > I asked recently at a fairly large Linux group meeting, > > and everyone seemed suprised by the question and there > > were no good answers, which completely floored me... > > how could anyone smart enough to use Linux not back > > up their entire system RELIGIOUSLY? > > You do not backup the application binaries because you already have a > backup ... either the CDROM you installed from OR the debian archive. I > would never trust a backup of my binaries ... what if one of them has been > replaced with a trojaned version? I guess I don't see the logic here. If one of the binaries on your backup has a Trojan that, presumably, means that before you did the backup you were running a system that had a Trojan. I would assume at that point the damage has already been done. Besides, assuming someone slipped a Trojan onto your system in the first place, restoring all your config files as they existed prior to the backup would allow them to just log in and introduce it again. The only chance I see of defeating a Trojan is detecting it and defeating the method used to introduce it in the first place. Also, the fact that such Trojans are so rare on Unix and Unix-like systems would make it a minor concern for me. Anyway, it's standard practice in large installations to back up practically everything for a level 0 backup, excluding things like /tmp, /dev (sometimes) and /proc. The only reason I wouldn't back up binaries was if I had a limited medium, in terms of space or time, for the backups. > If things are so bad that you must > completely restore, you are probably better off reinstalling. I suppose this might be true in some cases. I'd certainly prefer restoring a backup to a complete reinstall. > There are several good backup methods ... taper, amanda, etc. and several > commercial backup utils for Lnux too. Anyone else tried afbackup? I think it's great. Just about everything I've ever looked for in a backup utility. It's a bit of a steep learning curve but once you have it configured and running it requires minimal hand holding. Just slap the incremental command in a cron entry and you're off. > As for backup devices, if you are talking about more than a few gig, best > to go to DLT tape. A CDROM only holds a bit more than half a gig. You are > going to spend all night swapping CDROMs. Has the price equalized on DLT drives and tapes? The old wisdom said that it's better to get a DAT or 8mm drive if you were going to need a relatively large set of tapes because the DLT tapes were (are?) so expensive. Anyway, it's easy to figure out just: Tape Drive price + Number of tapes * Price of single tape = total and see which total comes out lower. I don't think you'd be sorry choosing either DLT or DAT/8mm, barring price concerns, assuming you already have SCSI. Anyway, my trusty 4 year old, refurbished, 4mm DAT drive has been going strong for a long time and it's served me perfectly as a backup device. Of course being that old it's slow as dirt, but I'm usually not in a rush for backups. Gary
Re: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system
On Tue, Aug 03, 1999 at 06:25:28PM -0500, x x wrote: > Hi! > Could anyone tell me what's a good hardware/software combination to use to > make frequent FULL backups of a Debian system (operating system, > "applications", and data). I asked recently at a fairly large Linux group > meeting, and everyone seemed suprised by the question and there were no good > answers, which completely floored me... how could anyone smart enough to use > Linux not back up their entire system RELIGIOUSLY? > > I have thought about trying to use a CD-RW device, such as the HP 8100i or > 8200i, but HP's web site seems to hint that you can't back up to multiple CDs > in sequence, so that limits a backup to > 650 Mb. I've also considered using > an internal Jaz drive (expensive, especially the cartridges!), an internal > Zip drive (110 or 250Mb - anybody use those with Linux?), or even an internal > QIC tape drive. Would that work? How? Using TAR or CPIO? And does Debian > really not recognize parallel port backup devices? Bummer... that's really > limiting. Especially if you've been using a parallel port tape backup unit > since DOS 3.2! > > Other considerations: ATX main system board, AMD k6-2 processor, WD 8.4Gb > hard drive, and my need to have things work right - first time, every time, > without exception. PS, I want to avoid using a proprietary Linux > distribution (ie, Caldera), just to get some stripped down commercial backup > application. > > Thanks for the help! > [EMAIL PROTECTED] The only backup media I've used with UNIX/Linux, and LIKED, was a 4mm DAT drive. Very nice, but expensive. The last drive I priced was in the $600 range, but that's been a while (surely they've come down since then?) As far as the backup sofware goes, I can't help you there... I always used cpio ;/ Mike [Private mail welcome, but no need to CC: me on list replies.] -- Michael Merten ---> E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---> NRA Life Member -- http://www.nra.org ---> Debian GNU/Linux Fan -- http://www.debian.org ---> CenLA-LUG Founder -- http://www.angelfire.com/la2/cenlalug -- To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. -- Thomas Edison
Re: backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system
On Tue, 3 Aug 1999, x x wrote: > Could anyone tell me what's a good hardware/software combination to > use to make frequent FULL backups of a Debian system (operating > system, "applications", and data). I asked recently at a fairly large Over the long haul a tape drive is probably the cheapest. Yeah, you don't get the other cool benefits, like making your own audio CDs, but the tapes are cheaper than the CD-Rs and you can reuse them. And if somebody sneezes in the next room, it doesn't ruin your entire backup. As for software, I would just as soon use tar. You can use it to easily back up any and all files. If you only want to make a full backup, you don't really need anything else. > Linux group meeting, and everyone seemed suprised by the question and > there were no good answers, which completely floored me... how could > anyone smart enough to use Linux not back up their entire system > RELIGIOUSLY? Maybe because it's so easy to reproduce the data if something blows up? Not a lot of people really have anything irreplaceable on their Linux system. > Would that work? How? Using TAR or CPIO? And does Debian really not > recognize parallel port backup devices? Bummer... that's really > limiting. Especially if you've been using a parallel port tape backup > unit since DOS 3.2! Parallel port devices are... difficult with Linux. Some will work and some won't.
backing up a complete Debian GNU/Linux system
Hi! Could anyone tell me what's a good hardware/software combination to use to make frequent FULL backups of a Debian system (operating system, "applications", and data). I asked recently at a fairly large Linux group meeting, and everyone seemed suprised by the question and there were no good answers, which completely floored me... how could anyone smart enough to use Linux not back up their entire system RELIGIOUSLY? I have thought about trying to use a CD-RW device, such as the HP 8100i or 8200i, but HP's web site seems to hint that you can't back up to multiple CDs in sequence, so that limits a backup to > 650 Mb. I've also considered using an internal Jaz drive (expensive, especially the cartridges!), an internal Zip drive (110 or 250Mb - anybody use those with Linux?), or even an internal QIC tape drive. Would that work? How? Using TAR or CPIO? And does Debian really not recognize parallel port backup devices? Bummer... that's really limiting. Especially if you've been using a parallel port tape backup unit since DOS 3.2! Other considerations: ATX main system board, AMD k6-2 processor, WD 8.4Gb hard drive, and my need to have things work right - first time, every time, without exception. PS, I want to avoid using a proprietary Linux distribution (ie, Caldera), just to get some stripped down commercial backup application. Thanks for the help! [EMAIL PROTECTED]
