Questions tagged [backup]

Making copies of data so that the copies may be used to restore the original after a data loss event, or for historical retention.

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129 votes
14 answers
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Why is RAID not a backup?

When someone mentions RAID in a conversation about backups, invariably someone declares that "RAID is not a backup." Sure, for striping, that's true. But what's the difference between redundancy and ...
jldugger's user avatar
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121 votes
16 answers
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GIT as a backup tool

On a server, install git cd / git init git add . git commit -a -m "Yes, this is server" Then get /.git/ to point to a network drive (SAN, NFS, Samba whatever) or different disk. Use a cron job every ...
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86 votes
8 answers
23k views

How to backup 20+TB of data?

We have a NAS server at the company I work for that is being used for storing photography sessions. Each session is approximately 100gb. Over the last couple of years this server has accumulated 10+ ...
Jesus Fidalgo's user avatar
85 votes
11 answers
105k views

protocol version mismatch -- is your shell clean?

When following the instructions to do rsync backups given here: http://troy.jdmz.net/rsync/index.html I get the error "protocol version mismatch -- is your shell clean?" I read somewhere ...
rfreytag's user avatar
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80 votes
4 answers
52k views

How to keep the full path with rsync?

When backing up with rsync, How do I keep the full directory structure? For example, the remote server is saturn, and I want to backup saturn's /home/udi/files/pictures to a local directory named ...
Adam Matan's user avatar
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55 votes
4 answers
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Can I make rsync output only the summary?

I use rsync to backup a directory which is very big, containing many sub-directories and files, so I don't want to see the "incremental file list". I just want to know the summary in the end. If I use ...
horsley's user avatar
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51 votes
3 answers
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Rsync to AWS S3 bucket

For a server I am hosting a website on I want to backup the data and settings to an S3 bucket. I found out that you can't directly use rsync to backup to an S3 bucket. Is there another way to achieve ...
Bart Bergmans's user avatar
50 votes
14 answers
61k views

Linux - What directories should I exclude when backing up a server?

I'm backing up a Linux server and storing it on another server. I began with a simple rsync -aPh --del server.example.com:/ /mnt/backup Then someone pointed out that I shouldn't back up /proc, ...
Amandasaurus's user avatar
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50 votes
6 answers
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How to backup GPG?

What are the critical files I need to backup from GPG? I guess my private key would qualify of course, but what else?
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50 votes
6 answers
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How do I back up an AWS S3 Bucket without versioning the source bucket [closed]

Is there any way to recover from accidental deletions of an Amazon S3 Bucket? We've got critical info in our buckets and I need to mitigate the risk of accidental or malicious deletions of the bucket ...
49 votes
2 answers
19k views

Prevent the possiblity of writing data to an unmounted mount point directory [duplicate]

I have an Ubuntu server where I'm automounting an external hard drive each boot. To do this, I've created an empty folder on the root partition, and the drive gets mounted "inside" this folder. ...
LonnieBest's user avatar
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48 votes
5 answers
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Confidential Documentation and the role of the Sysadmin

I've got another interesting one. I'm about to backup and reinstall the HR Administrator's PC. I suspect that the fastest way to do this is to use the Windows 7 Transfer tool, and create a backup ...
Tom O'Connor's user avatar
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45 votes
11 answers
32k views

Does an unplugged hard drive used for data archival deteriorate?

If I were to archive data on a hard drive, unplug it, and set it on a (not dusty, temperature-controlled) shelf somewhere, would that drive deteriorate much? How does the data retention of an ...
Jim Hunziker's user avatar
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43 votes
1 answer
53k views

What exactly will --delete-excluded do for rsync?

I use rsync with great pleasure for backing up my servers, although I do have a question about the --delete-excluded parameter. /usr/bin/rsync -a --delete --numeric-ids --relative --delete-excluded ...
ujjain's user avatar
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41 votes
6 answers
56k views

SQL Server (2005/2008): Does full backup truncate the log in full recovery mode

I've just read through a lot of MSDN documentation and I think I understand the different recovery models and the concept of a backup chain. I still have one question: Does a full database backup ...
Heinzi's user avatar
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40 votes
2 answers
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How can I do a dump of only the table structure in PostgreSQL?

In a similar vein to this question, how would I do a schema-only dump in PostgreSQL?
warren's user avatar
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40 votes
19 answers
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Best practices to keep your computer(s) backed up efficiently?

I'm looking for a cheap and efficient strategy to keep my personal computers and laptops backed up. For example, currently I take a snapshot of my desktop once a week with Ghost and place the image ...
Bryan Denny's user avatar
39 votes
4 answers
82k views

How To Backup "crontab -e" Files?

I want to do a complete server backup. I already have my backup script copying all of the html/php files for the web app, and the mysql databases, placing them into a .tar.gz file. How can I add the ...
darkAsPitch's user avatar
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37 votes
7 answers
73k views

How can I speed up a MySQL restore from a dump file?

I am restoring a 30GB database from a mysqldump file to an empty database on a new server. When running the SQL from the dump file, the restore starts very quickly and then starts to get slower and ...
Dave Forgac's user avatar
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36 votes
6 answers
121k views

compressing dd backup on the fly

Maybe this will sound like dumb question but the way i'm trying to do it doesn't work. I'm on livecd, drive is unmounted, etc. When i do backup this way sudo dd if=/dev/sda2 of=/media/disk/sda2-...
Phil's user avatar
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35 votes
3 answers
45k views

How to perform incremental / continuous backups of zfs pool?

How can zfs pools be continuously/incrementally backed up offsite? I recognise the send/receive over ssh is one method however that involves having to manage snapshots manually. There are some tools ...
Greg's user avatar
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34 votes
7 answers
32k views

How can I use rsync with a FAT file system?

I would like to write a simple backup script that saves some data to a FAT drive. Should I reformat the drive and use a better file system or is it possible to use rsync with FAT? If so, what problems ...
Kim's user avatar
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33 votes
14 answers
17k views

Is it safe to store data on a hard drive for a long time?

Is it safe to backup data to a hard drive and then leave it for a number of years? Assuming the file system format can still be read, is this a safe thing to do. Or is it better to continually ...
Nick R's user avatar
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33 votes
3 answers
24k views

How does dropbox version/upload large files? [closed]

I have a free dropbox account (2GB), and I was wondering how the versioning of large files works. I have a full backup of all my webfiles that sites @ just over 1GB. After the initial upload of 1GB, ...
barfoon's user avatar
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32 votes
5 answers
2k views

Do I still need a backup if I have a redudant storage system with rollback capabilities?

My organization recently bought a storage system. It has 1.5Petabyte, with RAID6, and there is an online synced mirror in a physical different location. The system allows rollback / file recovery, by ...
nsn's user avatar
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30 votes
5 answers
26k views

Do you need -e ssh for rsync?

I always used to use the following command when copying from a server: rsync --progress -avze ssh user@host:/path/to/files ./here However, a friend of mine showed me that I can simply do: rsync --...
mmirzadeh's user avatar
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28 votes
7 answers
1k views

Cliffhanger: The backups are right... here... right?

At my work, backups have a surprisingly low priority. The backup strategy was implemented a while ago, and since then it's just assumed the backups are fine. If you ask the sysadmins, they'll say ...
Andomar's user avatar
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28 votes
7 answers
10k views

Backing up a 22 GB MySQL database daily

Right now I am able to do the backup using mysqldump. But I have to take down the web server AND it takes around 5 minutes to do the backup. If I don't take down the web server, it takes forever and ...
28 votes
3 answers
26k views

Does Rsync Allow Files To Be Synced Both Ways?

I have backed up a linux web server using rsync with cygwin. I now have a perfect copy of the server on my windows laptop. If i delete or modify a file on my laptop and run rsync again with cygwin ...
Dan Hastings's user avatar
28 votes
1 answer
63k views

pg_dump backup compression

When executing a pg_dump which should I use and why? pg_dump -U <user> <database> | gzip -c > backup.gz or pg_dump -F c -f backup.tar.gz -U <user> <database>
d4v3y0rk's user avatar
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27 votes
5 answers
37k views

What's the best way to automate backing-up of PostgreSQL databases?

I find it tedious to have to backup databases every week. And I also think weekly backups should be turned into daily backups. If I had to do that, I don't want to do it manually. What's the best way ...
Randell's user avatar
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25 votes
7 answers
4k views

Secure offsite backup, even in the case of hacker root access

I'm looking for a way to implement a more secure way of doing an offsite backup that will also protect my data against the situation where a malicious hacker has gained root access to my server. Even ...
aardbol's user avatar
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25 votes
3 answers
55k views

How can I back up a table structure but NOT its data in MySQL

I am using MySQL Administrator for making my database backup. I can perfectly back up the whole database with all its tables. There are some tables whose size is very big so I wonder if I could only ...
user avatar
25 votes
5 answers
112k views

How to backup a full Centos Server?

I switched a few weeks ago from a dedicated server to a VPS. Now that everything is working well on the VPS I would like to shutdown the dedicated server and close my account with the hosting company. ...
benjisail's user avatar
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25 votes
2 answers
8k views

ZFS Data Loss Scenarios

I'm looking toward building a largish ZFS Pool (150TB+), and I'd like to hear people experiences about data loss scenarios due to failed hardware, in particular, distinguishing between instances where ...
Cyclone's user avatar
  • 557
25 votes
10 answers
50k views

Can I rsync to multiple destinations using same filelist?

I'm wondering if it's possible for rsync to copy one directory to multiple remote destinations all in one go, or even in parallel. (not necessary, but would be useful.) Normally, something like the ...
Jessie's user avatar
  • 353
24 votes
8 answers
2k views

How do I protect business critical data against fire?

We have 72 hard drives that contain our webcast inventory. The number is increasing. We're located in a frame building and we are afraid of not only fire, but catastrophic fire. I've priced fireproof ...
Bill Knowles's user avatar
24 votes
12 answers
84k views

Using Rsync to backup to an external drive

I'm buying an external hard drive to back up the computers in my house (finally!!). I'm hoping to use rsync. I've seen an example that does (or seems to do) exactly what I want. Something like this:...
stalepretzel's user avatar
24 votes
11 answers
40k views

Sync LVM snapshots to backup server

I have a number of Xen virtual machines running on a number of Linux servers. These VMs store their disk images in Linux LVM volumes with device names along the lines of /dev/xenVG/SERVER001OS and so ...
David Hicks's user avatar
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24 votes
6 answers
49k views

What happens during a live SQL Server backup?

Some of my coworkers were surprised when I told them that I can back up an SQL Server database while it's still running and wondered how that's possible. I know that SQL Server is capable of backing ...
Shane's user avatar
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24 votes
2 answers
18k views

Docker volume backup and restore

I'm using Docker to deploy some services on a CentOS 6.4 server, and I'm trying to figure out how to properly backup data they generate. For example, one of the services is a web application where ...
fcoelho's user avatar
  • 343
23 votes
5 answers
41k views

How to keep: daily backups for a week, weekly for a month, monthly for a year, and yearly after that

I need to backup data and config files on this server, daily. I need to keep: daily backups for a week weekly backups for a month monthly backups for a year yearly backups after that All of this ...
Florin Andrei's user avatar
23 votes
8 answers
177k views

How to backup virtual machines on a standalone ESXi host?

Standalone ESXi (4.1) host without any vCenter Server. How to backup virtual machines as quickly and storage-friendly as possible? I know I can access the ESXi console and use the standard Unix cp ...
Massimo's user avatar
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23 votes
4 answers
2k views

Are encrypted backups a good idea?

I'm in charge of a small set of laptops and wanted to get some sort of automated remote (over WAN) backups going; the backups would be going to a RAID drive. Because we don't really have a secure ...
encryptbackup's user avatar
23 votes
7 answers
3k views

Backup strategy for developer-focused Apple environments?

It's interesting to see the technological split between structured corporate environments and more developer-driven/startup environments. Some of the Microsoft technologies I take for granted (VSS, ...
ewwhite's user avatar
  • 197k
22 votes
4 answers
12k views

What is Time Machine doing?

Sometimes OS X tells me that it's "Preparing backup..." for an enormous amount of time. The time it takes seems to have no correlation to the amount of data to be backed up. Same for the "Finishing ...
Stephen Darlington's user avatar
22 votes
1 answer
19k views

Gitlab backup file location (Omnibus installation)

I have installed Gitlab using omnibus installation package. I took a backup using below command sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:backup:create Backup was successfully created. But I am not sure where to ...
shashwat's user avatar
  • 333
22 votes
3 answers
15k views

Are RDX removable disks a good replacement for LTO tape?

Over a period of three weeks, I experienced six complete failures of LTO-1 and LTO-2 tape drives at client sites. Some had failed mechanisms. Others lost the ability to write reliably. These were HP ...
ewwhite's user avatar
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21 votes
8 answers
5k views

Do snapshots + RAID count as a good on-site backup solution?

The two main reasons I can think of for taking backups seems to be taken care of when I use both snapshots and RAID together with btrfs. (By RAID here, I mean RAID1 or 10) Accidental deletion of data:...
小太郎's user avatar
  • 347
21 votes
9 answers
3k views

Best practices for backup checking?

It is a common situation, when administrator makes system for automatic backuping and forgets it. Only after a system fails administrator notices, that backup system has broken before or backups are ...
Kazimieras Aliulis's user avatar

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