Advice on backups

Paul Schmehl pschmehl_lists at tx.rr.com
Thu Dec 6 18:28:44 UTC 2018


--On December 6, 2018 at 2:56:02 AM +0100 Polytropon <freebsd at edvax.de> 
wrote:

> On Wed, 05 Dec 2018 16:29:28 -0600, Paul Schmehl wrote:
>> So, I setup some scripts to create gzipped tarballs and transfer those
>> to  my Dropbox account. (I have plenty of space there.) I run the
>> scripts  daily, and the files are named with the date of the backup
>> (e.g.  120518.websites.tgz)
>> [...]
>> I've also created a backup directory in my home directory where I put
>> copies of all the scripts I run, plus a text file of crontab and a few
>> other things. I then zipped that and copied it to Dropbox as well. I
>> don't  have a script for it, because those things don't change that
>> often.
>
> A little suggestion that originates from ye olden times
> when CVS was common:
>
> Create a repository for your configuration files, use
> directory structures and "common" for the individual
> hosts. Keep track of changes you might appy. Make
> backups of the CVS directory tree, typically as a
> (compressed) tarball. With this method, you can
> quickly access any host's configuration from any
> (revision) date you need, and CVS commit messages
> might help you find what you need, e. g., the reason
> why you changed something. And if you deleted your
> working copy accidentally, it's no problem to check
> out a new instance from the CVS repository.
>
> Today, people of course use Subversion or probably
> Git, on GitHub... ;-)
>
>
>
>> Am I missing anything important? I tested untarring one of the tarballs
>> into my home directory, and if I understand it correctly, I would need
>> to  untar these in / if I ever need to restore anything.
>
> Make sure tar archives restore _all_ file and directory
> properties as they are present in the source. The advantage
> of a tar archive is that you can also obtain _selected_
> parts from the archive, if you don't need the whole one.
>
> For an exact 1:1 copy of filesystem content, I still
> suggest using dump + restore. Those can also be used
> comfortably via SSH. It is neccessary to pay attention
> to dumping from live filesystems, i. e, those which are
> in a r/w state (and not r/o or unmounted). See "man dump"
> and "man restore" for details. :-)

Thanks for your suggestions. I use CVS on all conf files, so those are 
captured in the tarballs since they reside under the conf directories.

I'll take a look at dump and restore. One concern I have is that I'm 
creating the backups on the system, so use of space during the process is a 
consideration.

Paul Schmehl, Retired
As if it wasn't already obvious, my opinions
are my own and not those of my employer.
*******************************************
"It is as useless to argue with those who have
renounced the use of reason as to administer
medication to the dead." Thomas Jefferson
"There are some ideas so wrong that only a very
intelligent person could believe in them." George Orwell



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