From owner-freebsd-questions Fri Sep 22 20: 5:58 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from tekrealm.net (40bc21de.dsl.flashcom.net [64.188.33.222]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 85B3F37B423 for ; Fri, 22 Sep 2000 20:05:52 -0700 (PDT) Received: from elite (elite.tekrealm.net [64.188.33.218]) by tekrealm.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id UAA02479; Fri, 22 Sep 2000 20:05:50 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from freebsd@tekrealm.net) Message-ID: <00e701c0250b$2dcfb970$da21bc40@tekrealm.net> From: "Elitetek" To: "Mike Meyer" Cc: References: <14795.54309.457447.943449@guru.mired.org> Subject: Re: a few questions... Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 20:05:50 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > Elitetek writes: > > second, im using a script file to tar selected directories for backup, and > > wanted > > to get some opinions > > for now im just backing up > > /root > > /etc > > /var > > /usr/local > > /sbin > > /usr/home > > /usr/src/sys/i386/conf > > That's not enough stuff to generate a bootable system. No kernel, no > devices, etc. Personally, I wouldn't back up /dev with tar, but I'm > paranoid. It's not at all clear what you're trying to do with the > backup, either. > I am aware of this, if my system dies, i plan on doing a fresh load. It is just as easy to do it from scratch as it is to do it from a backup in my opinion. > > is there anything i should add or remove from that list? > > Depends on the goal. Do you want to be able to recreate the system > from backups, or from the distribution CDROM + backups? If the > former, you need to put everything on the backup - root and all. If > the latter, you don't need /sbin, and most of the stuffin /var, /etc > or /root. > > However, if you did a default install, or otherwise didn't dump > everything on the root file system, it should be relatively small. In > that case, I'd recommend backing up the entire root file system with > dump, then adding the dump file to your tar backup. That will > eliminate /root, /etc, /sbin and possibly /var. > > If nothing goes into /usr/local but packages, you don't need to back > that up if you're going to reinstall from CDROM. You do need to back > up /var (which you're doing) so you have a know what was > installed. Saving a copy of the distfiles (if you build from ports) is > a good idea. If you're installing packages from the CDROM, you've > already got them. Config files on /usr/local you've edited need to be > dealt with. Ideally, you've got a list of what you've changed, how you > changed it, and why, so you don't really need to back them up > > Personally, I store every config file I touch in a source control > system, complete with revision history - and then make sure I back up > the database for it. That includes the things in > /usr/src/sys/i386/conf. > > If you do all the above, keep the root dump and the source control > system database in /usr/home somewhere, all you have to tar up is > /usr/home. You should then be able to recreate your system after a > total failure on a fressh from whats on the tar image. > > > i want to have backups if my system should fail/and or is hacked > > Failures are (usually) easy to detect, and just having your recent tar > image would fix it. Hacking is harder to detect, and you may need to > go back to an older backup - or reinstall from scratch - to fix > that. Proper treatment is a bit complex for an already to-long > message. > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message > I am just trying to make sure i have a copy of all my changes. Most likely, what i would do if i was in need of those backups, is either extract them on my winbloz box, and transfer what is needed, or just take note of all the config changes i made. Also i have a tendacy to like to keep all logs, for review purposes. when i get the system complete (still in devel of alot of stuff) i plan on doing a dump, and putting it on cd or something, and creating a boot disk that will give me enough access so that i can access the cd, and copy stuff back if thats what i decide to do. In the mean time, im just worried about all the changes i have made, and all the extra scripts/cgi/etc that i have made. and this seems to do that, im just currious if there are any other area's that i am missing i have a pretty plain install, other then webservices, which mainly float around apache. This methoed of backup is also going to be implemented on a webserver i am building at work for hosting/email/etc. and i just need enough info like dns so that i dont have to spend the time to recreate it all.. so i can get it up in a timely fashion. EliteTek P.S sorry for such a long msg To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message