Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 08:21:16 -0700 (PDT) From: Philip Hallstrom <freebsd@philip.pjkh.com> To: steve <steve@digitalbluesky.net> Cc: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Advice on backup scheme for FreeBSD 5.3 box Message-ID: <20050420081531.B52271@wolf.pjkh.com> In-Reply-To: <20050420145325.65576.qmail@harmony.digitalbluesky.net> References: <20050420145325.65576.qmail@harmony.digitalbluesky.net>
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This message is in MIME format. The first part should be readable text, while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools. --0-1182661659-1114010476=:52271 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE > I have been using FreeBSD 5.3 now for a couple months on a P4 box at home= and=20 > I have been backing up the box nightly by doing a simple .tgz of the /etc= ,=20 > /usr/home and /var directories to a FreeBSD backup server at home (the ba= ckup=20 > server is a PI box).=20 > I=92m at the point now, because I=92m using that FreeBSD box to host emai= l for=20 > myself and some production/development web pages, in case the box fails I= =20 > want to be able to quickly either rebuild the contents of that box=92s ha= rd=20 > drive or move the backup server over to replace it. It took a few weeks = to=20 > get the P4 box configured the way I want, so I don=92t think it=92s just = a simple=20 > matter of popping in the 5.3 install disk and re-installing.=20 > So I=92m trying to figure out a scheme to avoid more than a couple hours = of=20 > downtime.=20 > I should note that in a few weeks I=92ll be replacing the current PI back= up=20 > server with a PIII box.=20 > My home network consists of a linksys router with a couple workstations= =20 > attached and the above mentioned web and backup servers. The web and bac= kup=20 > servers do not have cd burners, however I could transfer files to one of = the=20 > workstations to burn backup disks.=20 > I would like to know in general some approaches I could take to create ei= ther=20 > some redundancy in my network at home with the two FreeBSD servers I have= =20 > (each has different hardware specs) or more effectively back up the FreeB= SD=20 > box doing the email/web hosting for myself. I would consider myself a=20 > moderately competent amateur system admin. I don=92t work in the IT indu= stry=20 > and I have zero knowledge of things like mirroring boxes or using=20 > applications like rsync so I=92m looking for a guidance on a =93simple=94= solution.=20 > Thank you much in advance. I'm not sure this would work for you, but it works for me for our dev=20 servers at work where we need to get a standard box to a specific state=20 fairly often. Install two drives in the server. Drive A is your primary every day=20 drive. Drive B is big enough to hold both a minimal FreeBSD installation= =20 *and* the entire contents of Drive A. Configure the server to allow you to selectively boot either drive, but=20 default it to Drive A. Then, whenever you want to make a backup, boot into Drive B and dump the=20 entire contents of Drive A to disk. Something like: dump 0af drivea.dump /dev/ad0s1a For our dev servers we only have one partition, but you'd want to make=20 sure you grabbed each partition separately. Then if you ever want to restore you can boot into Drive B,=20 disklabel,newfs Drive A, and use restore to put everything back just the=20 way it was. Probably worth saving a copy of Drive A's disklabel while your doing=20 things as well. --0-1182661659-1114010476=:52271--
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