From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([69.77.167.62] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1L1eKZ-0003hS-To for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Sun, 16 Nov 2008 09:54:12 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id C0013E00F5; Sun, 16 Nov 2008 09:54:11 +0000 (UTC) Received: from rn-out-0910.google.com (rn-out-0910.google.com [64.233.170.190]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9FA27E00F5 for ; Sun, 16 Nov 2008 09:54:11 +0000 (UTC) Received: by rn-out-0910.google.com with SMTP id m36so2031493rnd.14 for ; Sun, 16 Nov 2008 01:54:09 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:from:to:subject:date :user-agent:references:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type :content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:message-id; bh=qpsUWMqKl+b2sQs7rSeYS6xZF3UT2Vd9GO5FglPOdkI=; b=AKe9aNxi4OOsSqP8j+PlnTonvTpJ3VjQ7xcPLB9FHaBpeTJZ3CpWoQLvIl+MKb7a4J FTptW5KljFIVHU0N7aCn+MAjvyZNKt87u9vwki7jocky1TKB4No/BS263OtPsbPFo5Ht 4IWhWckAnV51NOgV6aiYMAXEpzxgzZiv5Bfp8= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=from:to:subject:date:user-agent:references:in-reply-to:mime-version :content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition :message-id; b=bFDh1EeKA+5khC6OtUWzxWtpwqcl+LO3WwtjjhDR0/W21t3/2ks7aw8Gtm4rIBZp54 9ff33TIqf1dAoZ7kn91FqtZIUdWQIFGEBBr3+zUYjJ+wndYicztGm797uWuP9keSBwjI pKWYNoqNye4B4X+GIoItRgp9FiMROx2+FiZmg= Received: by 10.64.243.19 with SMTP id q19mr2665135qbh.50.1226829249482; Sun, 16 Nov 2008 01:54:09 -0800 (PST) Received: from ?10.0.0.4? (dsl-243-253-47.telkomadsl.co.za [41.243.253.47]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id k30sm3345768qba.4.2008.11.16.01.54.06 (version=SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5); Sun, 16 Nov 2008 01:54:08 -0800 (PST) From: Alan McKinnon To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Back up a server in real-time Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 11:54:04 +0200 User-Agent: KMail/1.9.10 References: <200811151945.23398.michaelkintzios@gmail.com> <491F332F.7040902@gmail.com> <200811160008.58417.michaelkintzios@gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <200811160008.58417.michaelkintzios@gmail.com> Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-15" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200811161154.04361.alan.mckinnon@gmail.com> X-Archives-Salt: c79f7c17-f539-4132-9dbb-5f99e6557d47 X-Archives-Hash: a891ca8d3a7ed173d6e14aab366c7fb7 On Sunday 16 November 2008 02:08:42 Mick wrote: > On Saturday 15 November 2008, Dale wrote: > > Mick wrote: > > > Without gentoo-wiki my knowledge level is rather poor (just like my > > > memory!) > > > > > > What would you use to back up a running server without taking it off > > > line? > > > > I keep mine simple, cp -auv paths/you/want/to/backup back/up/to It has > > works so far. Thought about doing a cron job but that complicates > > things. :/ > > Thank you all for the suggestions and for the link to the wiki! I've got > some reading to do. ;-) > > Whenever I have used tar to back up a whole OS I used it with a LiveCD. > This was to make sure that files and their metadata were not being changed > while I was tar'ing them. > > Are you saying that I can actually fire up tar/rsync and back up in real > time? Yes. Unix does some RealSmartThings(tm) when using files. The name is just a pointer to the actual file, represented by an inode. Once you have an inode open, it stays open until everything using it closes it. So you can add/delete/copy/move files by name with impunity as you then just move names around. Contrast this with other inferior systems, like say Windows for example, which has a built-in self-destruct button when you try this... > I was gravitating towards using LVM snapshot and then tar'ing that to an > external USB drive. This is the preferred way, as you get a consistent snapshot frozen at a point in time. This deals nicely with inconsistencies caused by files changing while you are backing up other ones. -- alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com