Linux Backup Administration

[Pedro Fernandes Macedo]

Kenneth Porter wrote:

> --On Friday, July 01, 2005 8:26 PM -0300 Pedro Fernandes Macedo <> wrote:
>
>> I'd avoid to use dump/restore.. Use tar + gzip or tar + bz2. You'll get
>> good compression rates and all permissions will be kept.
>> If you use dump , you're copying *everything* from the disk, including
>> the data structures used to store the data and permissions on disk, 
>> which
>> is a waste of space.
>
>
> Oh? Dump records the files contiguously, so there's no need for any 
> structures beyond the metadata in the inode (those same pesky things 
> that tar saves). dump also handles sparse files (the gigantic ones 
> that have no actual space allocated) correctly. (It may be that tar 
> does that as well. I haven't checked recently.) dump accesses the raw 
> disk, so it can back up files hidden by mount points. (OTOH, restore 
> reads through the filesystem, so it can't verify files hidden by mount 
> points.) The latest dump backs up extended attributes. Does tar do 
> that? dump is capable of compression.

Probably I made a wrong assumption then. But I still preffer to use tar 
for backups for its portability.. Try to restore a filesystem from a 
dump backup when you dont have a machine with the same OS anymore.. (or 
with an OS that has the same tools)...  Not very fun... (I've had to 
restore a dump from a solaris machine and no linux machine worked for 
that)...

--
Pedro Macedo