From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Tue Nov 15 05:19:26 2016 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 85E96C3FC68 for ; Tue, 15 Nov 2016 05:19:26 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from vas@mpeks.tomsk.su) Received: from relay2.tomsk.ru (mail.sibptus.tomsk.ru [212.73.124.5]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E683F1AEB for ; Tue, 15 Nov 2016 05:19:24 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from vas@mpeks.tomsk.su) X-Virus-Scanned: by clamd daemon 0.98.5_1 for FreeBSD at relay2.tomsk.ru Received: from [212.73.125.240] (HELO admin.sibptus.transneft.ru) by relay2.tomsk.ru (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 5.1.16) with ESMTPS id 39459556; Tue, 15 Nov 2016 11:15:57 +0600 Received: from admin.sibptus.transneft.ru (sudakov@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by admin.sibptus.transneft.ru (8.14.9/8.14.9) with ESMTP id uAF5JLE8085575; Tue, 15 Nov 2016 12:19:21 +0700 (KRAT) (envelope-from vas@mpeks.tomsk.su) Received: (from sudakov@localhost) by admin.sibptus.transneft.ru (8.14.9/8.14.9/Submit) id uAF5JJXW085572; Tue, 15 Nov 2016 12:19:19 +0700 (KRAT) (envelope-from vas@mpeks.tomsk.su) X-Authentication-Warning: admin.sibptus.transneft.ru: sudakov set sender to vas@mpeks.tomsk.su using -f Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2016 12:19:19 +0700 From: Victor Sudakov To: Chuck Swiger Cc: FreeBSD - Subject: Re: zfs send/receive as dump/restore alternative Message-ID: <20161115051918.GA83804@admin.sibptus.transneft.ru> References: <20161114054657.GA66229@admin.sibptus.transneft.ru> <20161114103657.63c03ab1d039c59db18fad90@sohara.org> <20161115001751.GA83033@admin.sibptus.transneft.ru> <022AE8EF-815D-45D1-AEC8-0165BE7683CD@mac.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <022AE8EF-815D-45D1-AEC8-0165BE7683CD@mac.com> Organization: AO "Svyaztransneft", SibPTUS X-PGP-Key: http://www.dreamwidth.org/pubkey?user=victor_sudakov X-PGP-Fingerprint: 10E3 1171 1273 E007 C2E9 3532 0DA4 F259 9B5E C634 User-Agent: Mutt/1.7.1 (2016-10-04) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2016 05:19:26 -0000 Chuck Swiger wrote: > >>> > >>> I now run a couple of systems fully on zfs, and use e.g. > >>> "zfs send -Rv zroot@2016-10-01 > /mnt1/2016-09-25.zfs" > >>> for a full system backup to a remote file server. > >>> > >>> With restore(8), I could restore any separate filesystem or even a single > >>> file/directory from the dump, even interactively. > >> > >> As others have indicated the zfs stream is not designed as an > >> archive format but rather for efficient filesystem replication. > > > > BTW if anyone has experience with enterprise backup software for ZFS > > (e.g. for Solaris), how does it handle the task of restoring > > individual files? > > > > Oracle says "consider an enterprise backup solution... if you need > > per-file restoration": > > https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E18752_01/html/819-5461/gbchx.html > > The Sun E450 and E4500s I used to deal with had Legato NetWorker as their > "enterprise backup solution", which I think is now owned by EMC / Dell. > > It was somewhat smarter than doing a Unix filesystem level dump/restore. > In particular, it understood a bunch of common filetypes and implemented > delta archiving for mbox files and the like rather than having to re-archive > entire copies of changed files. > So it probably worked on the file level like tar/cpio or Apple's Time Machine. It's good for restoring user files, but what would Legato do to restore a system from scratch in the event of a crash? I would never risk using tar or any other file level archiver to restore/clone a complete FreeBSD system for fear of omitting some filesystem features (hardlinks, EAs etc). Would you? PS I remember our Windows admins working with Symantec Backup. For a system recovery after a catastropic crash, it required a Windows bootable installation CD with the exact version of Windows being restored. -- Victor Sudakov, VAS4-RIPE, VAS47-RIPN sip:sudakov@sibptus.tomsk.ru