From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jan 27 17:37:43 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 39ACA16A41B for ; Sun, 27 Jan 2008 17:37:43 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from a.j.werven@student.utwente.nl) Received: from filter1-tmobile.zx.nl (filter1-tmobile.zx.nl [194.187.76.138]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EE7B513C458 for ; Sun, 27 Jan 2008 17:37:42 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from a.j.werven@student.utwente.nl) Received: from localhost (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by filter1-tmobile.zx.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP id AA5FED4151; Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:37:41 +0100 (CET) X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at zx.nl Received: from filter1-tmobile.zx.nl ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (filter1.zx.nl [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10127) with ESMTP id qyPQJg1jqMyc; Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:37:29 +0100 (CET) Received: from [127.0.0.1] (unknown [91.141.234.233]) by filter1-tmobile.zx.nl (Postfix) with ESMTP; Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:37:29 +0100 (CET) Message-ID: <479CC15E.4060701@student.utwente.nl> Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 17:37:34 +0000 From: "Alphons \"Fonz\" van Werven" User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.9 (Windows/20071031) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: "Ivan \"Rambius\" Ivanov" References: <89ce7f740801270759l780e08aaw16710154bf1debe6@mail.gmail.com> <20080127172851.G3181@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl> <479CB34A.1060709@otenet.gr> <20080127115808.74051c27.wmoran@potentialtech.com> <89ce7f740801270905j15b85e8cm9b81cc31493c091@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <89ce7f740801270905j15b85e8cm9b81cc31493c091@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: How to backup the users X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 17:37:43 -0000 Ivan "Rambius" Ivanov wrote: > I was only unsure how to proceed with the users backup. If users are the only thing you wish to back up: /home /etc/group /etc/master.passwd You can backup system files (/etc, /usr/local/etc, /var) if you want but that's another topic. Some hints: 1. Check if there are users who have their home-dir outside /home... 2. Check /tmp to see if users have files there (they shouldn't count on those being preserved, that's not what /tmp is for, but you might want to offer a little bit of extra service by doing this anyway) 3. There might be slight differences between the current /etc/group and /etc/master.passwd and the ones on the new system. So, instead of blindly copying the old ones onto the new system, I suggest you add the relevant entries in the old files to the new files by hand (or script). 4. If you copy the encrypted passwords, then users don't need to set a new password after you've reinstalled the system. 5. Keep track of UIDs/GIDs: you might need to do some chowning to give everybody their files back if their (numerical) UIDs/GIDs have changed. 6. If you don't need to repartition your disks, it might be an option to just leave /home alone during the reinstall (set the newfs flag to N). That leaves /home untouched and you can just mount it afterwards. Hth, Alphons -- VISTA - Viruses Intruders Spyware Trojans Adware