From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Apr 18 15:13:56 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E955B1065674 for ; Sun, 18 Apr 2010 15:13:56 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jd_bronson@sbcglobal.net) Received: from cheyenne.sixcompanies.com (cheyenne.sixcompanies.com [75.56.235.65]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BEBF88FC1F for ; Sun, 18 Apr 2010 15:13:56 +0000 (UTC) Received: from macbook.sixcompanies.com (macbook.sixcompanies.com [10.56.235.6]) by cheyenne.sixcompanies.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C5AD47EE07; Sun, 18 Apr 2010 09:56:49 -0500 (CDT) Message-ID: <4BCB1DB1.2030802@sbcglobal.net> Date: Sun, 18 Apr 2010 09:56:49 -0500 From: "J.D. Bronson" MIME-Version: 1.0 To: utisoft@gmail.com References: <4BCB07C0.8010305@sbcglobal.net> <20100418161015.f20206f0.freebsd@edvax.de> <1271601423.1287.15.camel@localhost> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions , Chris Rees Subject: Re: Backing up freebsd to 1 file? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 18 Apr 2010 15:13:57 -0000 be created by the time your system boots on. > > Nice answer by Sergio, but I personally would use the j option with tar > to compress to bzip2; > > 3) tar --one-file-system -cvjf /mnt/backup.tbz ./ var usr home > > Though I prefer personally to use dump/restore because: > > - If you're on UFS, you don't have to single-user the system, just use > the L option (live filesystem) > - Restore has an awesome 'interactive' mode > - See Zwicky [1] > > I'll send you my dump scripts if you're interested. It's dead easy to use! > > Chris > > [1] http://www.coredumps.de/doc/dump/zwicky/testdump.doc.html > > . > I think Sergio has a nice script. I had been doing something similar but I know I recall when untarring (restoring if you will) it was complaining about not being able to do things. It was not sockets and similar stuff that gets rebuilt on reboot. I do not have failures handy to post (yet). Truth be told? - I am running FreeBSD hosts within ESXi. I can backup the hosts within ESXi but need to take the host offline and its a cumbersome ordeal. If I had RAID on ESXi, I wouldn't be so worried per se but this is not an option. ESXi is very fussy about what is supported and I dont have the $ for SCSI and SCSI Raid. Basically what I need to do is create a fully restorable backup for 2 reasons: 1. Easy to create another host on ESXi. I can setup/flavor my fbsd install and then once thats done, setup another host. 2. Obvious backup reasons. ...right now, if the SATA drive fails that is hosting the fbsd install I am dead in the water. I have 5 hosts on this machine spread across 4 SATA drives but nothing is mirrored or RAIDed in anyway. I am at the mercy of these drives w/o any backup- -- J.D. Bronson