We run IBM's Tivoli backup software on a 2.4 kernel version of SUSE. The box we run it on includes a nice DVD RW + burner. IBM can not write to it, so we write to an extra hard drive in the system. This clearly is not real backup, so rather than buying a tape drive we would like to use the DVD. BTW, our backups are automatically broken up into 4GB files so the size issue with DVD goes away.

Is there a script or program that we could load on Linux that would help automate the DVD backup. Our staff is weak on Linux commands, etc. We need something that can backup the backups... like a file copy? thanks.

Hi.

I do a similar thing at my work place once a week. There are probably better ways to do it but this has never failed me once, and I have resorted to these backup's before.

This is my script if you want it... Above each line after the # I have put what each command does so you know.

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# create a tar file of everything in my /data folder. The `date ` that is in there puts the date in the name of the file so you can keep track. You can delete these if you want.
tar -cf /backup/backup-`date +%F`.tar /data

# Create an iso of the .tar file you created before.
mkisofs -J -D -R -x /backup/lost+found -o /backup/backup.iso /backup/backup-`date +%F`.tar

# Burn the image and automatically eject it after completed.
dvdrecord dev=ATAPI:0,0,0 -data -dao -pad -eject /backup/backup.iso

# Delete the iso file that you created.
rm -rf /backup/*.iso

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There probably are better ways to do this but it does work for me no probs.

Good luck
Craig

You might also want to investigate DAR . It can be configured to make full/incremental backups, write to hard disk/cd/dvd, compresses files individually so that they can be restored individually, etc.
If you decide to give it a try, PM me. I've edited my copy of the DAR tutorial to include my findings when using it. I'd be glad to send you a copy.

PS. you can also set it up to run whenever you choose as a cron job (good for nightly incremental or weekly full backups).

Hi everyone, i installed dar and kdar on my SLE 9.2 and i was looking for a script for burning files generated by dar to dvd-rws.

Can i use the mkisofs and dvdrecord scripts with dvd-rw ?