From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Art Wildman Subject: Re: tar vs dump Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2006 18:07:03 -0400 Message-ID: <44E63A07.1010006@noaa.gov> References: <3a1eedb70608151905v30b9b12bqe6e0dfc9f3541fc7@mail.gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Return-path: In-reply-to: <3a1eedb70608151905v30b9b12bqe6e0dfc9f3541fc7@mail.gmail.com> Sender: linux-admin-owner@vger.kernel.org List-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format="flowed" To: jassduec@gmail.com Cc: linux-admin@vger.kernel.org, linux-config@vger.kernel.org jassduec@gmail.com wrote: > Hi All, > > Which is more reliable and better for taking full and incremental > backups tar or dump. I like dump more but came across some articles on > the redhat website with references to emails from Linus which state > that dump should not be used for backup on a linux system. > > Are there some free backup tools on linux which can take fast and > reliable full and incremental backups? I have been doing backup on > Solaris for years now and never had any issue with ufsdump, ufsrestore > and snapshots. Is it possible to get similar reliability on linux. > Tar vs Dump invites a debate (flame war) thread, which has been overdone & well documented in a variety of mail-lists, forums, howtos & books. If you are using exotic file-systems or partition managers... Reiser, XFS... LVM you should research alternatives to dump (xfsdump) relative to your file system. If you like dump & understand how to use it on "unmounted and read-only filesystems", there is little reason not to use it for simple backups. Many examples of dump/restore schemes & scripts exist for linux, and many admins are quite comfortable with it. Is dump deprecated? http://dump.sourceforge.net/isdumpdeprecated.html SAmag - Managing Multi-File System Backup Using dump/restore http://www.samag.com/documents/s=1185/sam9811b/9811b.htm There are many backup schemes and tools, it really depends on the application and environment. Backing up live systems, open files and data bases can be complex & there are more than a few pitfalls which many commercial apps try to resolve. In the end, you must do your own homework & pick your poison. A good collection of Linux Backup resources... http://www.linux-backup.net/ http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/backup.htm Some Backup Docs http://www.backupcentral.com/thebook.html http://tldp.org/LDP/sag/html/sag.html#BACKUPS-INTRO http://www.seifried.org/security/index.php/Linux_Backup_Guide http://tldp.org/LDP/solrhe/Securing-Optimizing-Linux-RH-Edition-v1.3/backup-rest.html http://tldp.org/LDP/solrhe/Securing-Optimizing-Linux-The-Ultimate-Solution-v2.0.pdf #pg787 http://www.linuxhomenetworking.com/wiki/index.php/Quick_HOWTO_:_Ch34_:_Basic_MySQL_Configuration#MySQL_Database_Backup I have used find + cpio for years, very flexible (scriptable + excludes) & can span partitions gets paths right. # EXCLUDE='^./lost\+found$|\.rpm$' # find /home -xdev -depth -print | egrep -v ${EXCLUDE} | cpio -dumpav /mnt/backup http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=jaxlug-list&m=111177853101808&w=2 http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/cpiocommand.htm Cloning: dd, Images and MondoRescue can be useful... Wonders of 'dd' and 'netcat': Cloning OS harddrives http://www.rajeevnet.com/hacks_hints/os_clone/os_cloning.html http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/saw27/notes/backup-hard-disk-partitions.html Mondo Rescue http://www.mondorescue.org/about.shtml http://www.systemimager.org/ http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page Ghost for Linux + NTFS Disk Image Cloning - supports network imaging http://directory.fsf.org/g4l.html g4u - Harddisk Image Cloning for PCs - BSD based http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/ Snapshots are another popular solution... Create Incremental Snapshot-style Backups With rSync And SSH - HowtoForge http://www.howtoforge.com/rsync_incremental_snapshot_backups Easy Automated Snapshot-Style Backups with Rsync http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsync_snapshots/ rsnapshot HOWTO http://www.rsnapshot.org/howto/1.2/rsnapshot-HOWTO.en.html Dirvish - fast, disk based, rotating network backup system http://www.dirvish.org Configuring and Using Dirvish for Snapshot Backups http://edseek.com/~jasonb/articles/dirvish_backup/ Bacula - the Network Backup Tool for Linux, Unix, and Windows http://www.bacula.org/ http://www.amanda.org/ -HTH Art@JAX -- Art Wildman - http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jax "Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome." --Samuel Johnson