Re: Debian OS Backup

[Chris Lale <chrislale@untrammelled.co.uk>]

Jacob Ramirez wrote:
> We are running linux with Debian OS.  I am new to using linux and
> debian.  Can I use an external hard drive to backup the operating system
> and files on our linux servers?  If so, how do I create a full backup of
> the system for disaster recovery?  Is it easy to restore if there is a
> need?
> Is there documentation somewhere that I can read that explains how to do
> this?  Thanks for your help in advance.

I like rdiff-backup[1]. From the man page:

       rdiff-backup is a script, written in python(1) that backs up one direc‐
       tory  to  another.  The target directory ends up a copy (mirror) of the
       source directory, but extra reverse diffs are stored in a special  sub‐
       directory of that target directory, so you can still recover files lost
       some time ago.  The idea is to combine the best features  of  a  mirror
       and  an incremental backup.  rdiff-backup also preserves symlinks, spe‐
       cial files, hardlinks, permissions, uid/gid ownership, and modification
       times.

If you want an image of a complete partition, try partimage[2].

Disaster restore using a live CD to run rdiff-backup, partimage, etc. There are
many around (eg Knoppix), or make your own using Debian Live[3]. Alternatively,
keep a second, small bootable system on your HDD.

[1] http://rdiff-backup.nongnu.org/
[2] http://www.partimage.org/Main_Page
[3] http://wiki.debian.org/DebianLive/


-- 
Chris.