Debian OS Backup

> Is there documentation somewhere that I can read that explains how to do
> this? Thanks for your help in advance.
Hi,
u can see: rsync or do:

apt-cache search backup

Pol

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Jacob Ramirez wrote:
> We are running linux with Debian OS. I am new to using linux and
> debian. Can I use an external hard drive to backup the operating system
> and files on our linux servers? If so, how do I create a full backup of
> the system for disaster recovery? Is it easy to restore if there is a need?
>
> Is there documentation somewhere that I can read that explains how to do
> this? Thanks for your help in advance.
>

ondo and mondo-doc packages can do the job for you. Other options are
dar, bacula, dirvish, afbackup, etc.
PS: sorry, sent to OP earlier!

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On Fri, Jun 08, 2007 at 09:54:25AM -0500, Jacob Ramirez wrote:
> We are running linux with Debian OS. I am new to using linux and
> debian. Can I use an external hard drive to backup the operating system
> and files on our linux servers? If so, how do I create a full backup of
> the system for disaster recovery? Is it easy to restore if there is a
> need?
> Is there documentation somewhere that I can read that explains how to do
> this? Thanks for your help in advance.

There are many ways to do backups. Here's how I do it.

1. look at what I need to restore from scratch: netinst media for
the current OS (Etch) for the current archetecture (i386 and
amd64).

2. To what data do I need instant access even in the event of
catastrophy? Put it in plain text in a directory of the backup
media (CD, disk, USB stick, whatever).

3. To what data do I need access in order to install successfully?
For me its things like /etc/network/interfaces, ppp configs and
chatscripts (dial-up internet), /etc/hosts, /etc/inittab. Put
this in plain text in a directory on the backup media.

4. .tgz tarball of /etc

5. Partition info: output of /sbin/fdisk -lu and /sbin/sfdisk -d
for each drive. Also output of

du -c -si --max-depth=1 /*
df --si

Save as plain text on the backup media.

6. Both a list of manually installed packages and all installed
packages. Output of:
dpkg --get-selections
aptitude search `~i!~M'

7. /boot/grub/menu.lst

8. Copy my own list of hardware, instalation logs (what I did to
get something working).

9. tarball that includes:
/etc/, /usr/local/, /root/, /var/local/, /home/
but excudes:
/var/local/bacup/

All this gets saved to /var/local/backup/$HOSTNAME and then gets saved
to various media (mostly CD and USB stick). You could also use a
removable hard drive. You want a filesystem that can be read by most
computers/os, which means vfat.

I don't backup the whole system since everything that I don't backup
belongs to dpkg. If you want to have a backup of all the debs, I'd
suggest that you create an apt-proxy repository on your removeable
drive.

Good luck.

Doug.

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Jacob Ramirez wrote:
> We are running linux with Debian OS. I am new to using linux and
> debian. Can I use an external hard drive to backup the operating system
> and files on our linux servers? If so, how do I create a full backup of
> the system for disaster recovery? Is it easy to restore if there is a
> need?
> Is there documentation somewhere that I can read that explains how to do
> this? Thanks for your help in advance.

I like rdiff-backup[1]. From the man page:

rdiff-backup is a script, written in python(1) that backs up one direc‐
tory to another. The target directory ends up a copy (mirror) of the
source directory, but extra reverse diffs are stored in a special sub‐
directory of that target directory, so you can still recover files lost
some time ago. The idea is to combine the best features of a mirror
and an incremental backup. rdiff-backup also preserves symlinks, spe‐
cial files, hardlinks, permissions, uid/gid ownership, and modification
times.

If you want an image of a complete partition, try partimage[2].

Disaster restore using a live CD to run rdiff-backup, partimage, etc. There are
many around (eg Knoppix), or make your own using Debian Live[3]. Alternatively,
keep a second, small bootable system on your HDD.

[1] http://rdiff-backup.nongnu.org/
[2] http://www.partimage.org/Main_Page
[3] http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLive/

--
Chris.

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Jacob Ramirez wrote:
> We are running linux with Debian OS. I am new to using linux and
> debian. Can I use an external hard drive to backup the operating system
> and files on our linux servers? If so, how do I create a full backup of
> the system for disaster recovery? Is it easy to restore if there is a
> need?

Note that the use of external drives like USB for "disaster recovery"
is not a very good idea. You need to store your backups remote from the
computer being backed up, and you need at least three backups used in
rotation. So, using a USB drive is expensive and subject to losing
data during transport.

> Is there documentation somewhere that I can read that explains how to do
> this? Thanks for your help in advance.

I don't know of any.

Mike
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Jacob Ramirez wrote in Article <000001c7a9dc$e840d250$8800a8c0@jramirez>
posted to gmane.linux.debian.user:

> We are running linux with Debian OS. I am new to using linux and
> debian. Can I use an external hard drive to backup the operating system
> and files on our linux servers?

Of course.

> If so, how do I create a full backup of the system for disaster recovery?

Depends on the method. Faubackup is capable of restoring a system from an
installed base system and your backup.

> Is it easy to restore if there is a need?

With faubackup, it's just a matter of copying the files from the backup back
into the proper locations in the tree.

> Is there documentation somewhere that I can read that explains how to do
> this? Thanks for your help in advance.

Which package?

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Paul Johnson
Email and IM (XMPP & Google Talk):

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