Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:52:34 -0400 From: "Mikhail T." <mi+thun@aldan.algebra.com> To: Greg Black <freebsd-nospam@yaxom.com> Cc: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org, Andrew Snow <andrew@modulus.org>, fs@freebsd.org Subject: backup strategy (Re: dump | restore fails) Message-ID: <49CC3162.5090201@aldan.algebra.com> In-Reply-To: <nospam-1238116311.02890@joker.yaxom.com> References: <49C83673.3000604@aldan.algebra.com> <200903251232.11418.doconnor@gsoft.com.au> <49C99204.2050601@aldan.algebra.com> <200903251334.38350.doconnor@gsoft.com.au> <49C99FD2.50609@aldan.algebra.com> <nospam-1237956961.78753@joker.yaxom.com> <49CA5602.9050001@aldan.algebra.com> <nospam-1238116311.02890@joker.yaxom.com>
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Greg Black ΞΑΠΙΣΑΧ(ΜΑ):
> Sorry, this person is *not* making backups in any meaningful fashion.
> Unless you verify regularly (preferably every time you make a backup)
> that you can restore both parts of the backup and the entire thing, you
> are not making backups.
To qualify for your (and your kind's) recognition then, a person needs
to have at least as much extra storage capacity as the largest
filesystem they are backing up. They also need non-trivial scripting
abilities, because the OS doesn't include anything like what you are
describing (and I already do consider scheduling dumps via cron
"trivial", which may be a stretch). Yours may thus be an acceptable
requirement for a multi-computer shop with dedicated system
administration personnel, but for a private home user with only one
computer this simply is not reasonable.
Stating this as a requirement is ridiculous -- unless you are prepared
to say, that such people should not own a computer (with worthy data) at
all. And that's even more ridiculous... Make your pick.
I would agree with you, if the chosen backup method involved some
complex or third-party tools. But if the simple, OS-supplied orthogonal
dump/restore don't work together, then the OS is broken -- plain and
simple, and pointing a finger at the user: "Well, it is all your fault,
because you relied on us providing you with working utilities,
ha-ha-ha!" -- is the lamest excuse imaginable.
-mi
P.S. Some people have actually volunteered to help debug this problem
and I'm working on providing them with data (the troublesome partition
is, sadly, over 170Gb, so it takes a while). Any results/conclusions
will be posted under the original subject.
P.P.S. The data transferred fine using tar, but that is not the point --
the bug (confirmed by at least one more person) -- needs to be fixed
before a higher-profile embarrassment...
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