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Re: tar vs dpkg --get-selections for backup scheme



Benedict Verheyen wrote:
Hi,

my server setup is nearing completion and of course i want to save my
hard work in case something goes wrong. Since i have problems in the
past with various backup programs like mondo to name one, i want to keep
it simple this time so a moronic me can understand whats happening :)

1) Method 1.
Tar /etc, /root, /home, /boot, /var, /usr, ... and write it to cd's.
Not sure how you can fit several tar to one cd but maybe one can use
mkisofs to do this?

To restore, you would have to boot with a rescue cd like Knoppix,
partition the hd and restore the tars or install a base system and then
restore the tars.

I can see a problem with the restore from the cd's when a tar file, for
instance var.tar.gz, spans more than 1 cd. I had some problems restoring
my system once like that and i ended up with copying the different tars
from the cd that made up the 1 big tar, joined them and then untarred
them. Or isn't that a problem and is there another way to do that?

2) Method 2.
First save the system status with dpkg --get-selections. Next backup
/etc, /root, /home, /boot, /usr.

I think you only need /etc for the system and then any user data (probably in /home), if you have custom kernel you need that as well (kernel + kernel config so that you can rebuild that). Then you can reinstall the system from scratch, install all the packages that were installed before, restore /etc (or most of /etc) and you're up and running...

	erik



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