[CLUE-Tech] Disaster Recovery (was Linux laptop)

[Jeffery Cann]

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On Monday 25 June 2001 22:58, Brandon N wrote:
>
> For the actual OS stuff I think I have two solutions.  I can save a
> list of the packages installed on the system, 

On slackware, this list of installed packages is in the /var/log/packages 
directory.  Just make a backup of that directory.  Or if you simply want a 
list of the packages installed:

$ cat /var/log/packages > ~/installed-packages.lst

> Disaster recovery is a very complicated issue and I would definatly be
> interested in hearing thoughts about mine or other peoples plans.

I do a single tape, nightly backup.  I am not using any tape software, 
becuase I was too impatient to set it up.  So, I wrote a shell script 
(backup.sh) that uses tar (Tape ARchiver).  This script reads a file called 
'.backup' in the $HOME directory for each user I wish to backup.  The .backup 
file may be different for each user.  It also backs-up /etc/ and /root.  
Finally, the crontab entry below that runs the backup.sh command (for root) 
at 2 am each night.  The output of the backup.sh script - there is a lot, 
since I use the v flag for tar - is sent via mail to root.  This provides a 
log of the job process.

This is not a particularly sophisticated system, but it works for my single 
workstation.  When I need to add more files, I simply add them to the .backup 
file for the particular user.  If I want to backup a new user, I add the user 
to the backup.sh file.

My tape drive is a HP Colorado 2.5 GB Native / 5.0 GB  Compressed.   It has 
worked quite well.  I have had to restore twice (in 2 years) since I started 
doing nightly backups.  

Later
Jeff

- --------------------- backup.sh -----------------
# Load tape module
 echo "Loading tape module..."
cd /lib/modules/2.2.13/block
insmod ide-tape
 
# Archive
echo "Archiving..."
tar cvfP /dev/ht0 /etc /root `cat /home/jccann/.backup` 
`cat /home/cvs/.backup`
 
echo "Validating..."
tar dvf /dev/ht0

# Remove tape module
echo "Removing tape module..."
rmmod ide-tape
- ---------------------- end ------------------


# crontab entry for root
# backup the system at 2 am
00 2 * * * /root/backup.sh
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