Should I upgrade RH9 to FC3?

syg00 · 08-06-2005, 09:35 PM

deoren, this has the risk of side-lining this thread, so just a couple of comments;
- I was comparing 2.4(/2.5) to 2.6 when they were (respectively) at peak development - of course 2.4 will be the subject of less advisories these days.
- I don't like your chances of a 2.7 (testing) stream. When I heard Andrew Morton address this issue a couple of months ago he thought it unlikely. Problems of "where (in the code-line) to split", lack of interest from Linus...
Seems 2.7 may be just another kernel release - may not even appear due to confusion; 2.8 might be next.
- staying "stable" for server machines may become more difficult in future for all the reasons you mention.

deoren · 08-08-2005, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ehdwuld
yes it is a desktop
and i would appreciate knowing how to back up my my directories

thank you

One way to backup your home directories is like so:

Code:

cd /home
tar -c ./USER | bzip2 -z --best > /path/to/backup/directory/USER.tar.bz2
md5sum  /path/to/backup/directory/USER.tar.bz2 >  /path/to/backup/directory/USER.tar.bz2.md5

or just

Code:

cd /
tar -c ./home | bzip2 -z --best > /path/to/backup/directory/home.tar.bz2
md5sum  /path/to/backup/directory/home.tar.bz2> /path/to/backup/directory/home.tar.bz2.md5

to backup all home directories.

If you want to back them up to a remote machine there are as many ways to do that as there are to do it locally.

The easiest (my opinion) is to have sshd running on the target machine you want to dump the backup to. Make sure the system has a LOT of free space.

Then do this:

Code:

mount | grep 'on / '

Spaces DO matter. That should tell you what your / parition is. If it says /dev/hda3 for example, you'll use /dev/hda

Now take Knoppix, a Fedora Core 4 cd or whatever makes your day and boot from it. I do not know about Fedora Core 4 but I'm sure it has an option to boot into a "rescue" mode (FC1 has it). Get to a shell and execute the following:

We're going to pretend that /dev/hda is your root device

Code:

cat /dev/hda | ssh yoursystem.example.com "bzip2 -z --best - | cat > yoursystem.example.com.bz2"

That puts the load of compressing the data on the remote system. If the system you're backing up is more powerful than the remote, then use this:

Code:

cat /dev/hda | bzip2 -z --best - | ssh yoursystem.example.com "cat > /backup/directory/yoursystem.example.com.bz2"

To restore it (in case you want to roll back), you can do this:

Code:

ssh yoursystem.example.com "cat  /backup/directory/yoursystem.example.com.bz2 | bzip2 -d" | cat > /dev/hda

Again, if your system that you're backing up is more powerful, use this instead:

Code:

ssh yoursystem.example.com "cat  /backup/directory/yoursystem.example.com.bz2" | bzip2 -d | cat > /dev/hda

There is a faster way to do the above using netcat instead of ssh but I've yet to try it out.

What looks to be a good article on it is available here:
http://www.rajeevnet.com/hacks_hints...s_cloning.html

If you go that route and it works well let us know.

There is also a pretty good app out there you may want to look at: http://www.partimage.org/

deoren · 08-08-2005, 09:22 AM

Quote:

staying "stable" for server machines may become more difficult in future for all the reasons you mention.

Indeed. This puts a heavier workload on vendors to stabalize the kernels they ship. We'll just have to see how it goes.

ehdwuld · 08-09-2005, 12:50 AM

Thanks deoren

now I think it would best to let the thread return to its topic

you've been more than helpful