Tar fails on system backup

cilbuper · 08-25-2014, 08:44 PM

OS = CentOS 6.5
I have root access, looged in as root. I've tried this command:
#tar -cvpzf backup.tar.gz --exclude=/backup.tar.gz --exclude=/root/dnd /

It processes the files and then I get this:
.....all previous added files
/bin/dmesg
/bin/unlink
/bin/env
/bin/ls
tar: /: file changed as we read it
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors
[root@ABCDEFG/]#

This is a dedicated web server at an online hosting company. I want to d a full system backup. If I can't do it this way, what are my other options? I know how to do things via SSH and rsync but am not sure it an entire system can be backed up this way or not. at my office I have windows and linux boxes so I can use either.

any suggestions on what the problem is or what I can do?

Also, if i do a download backup, I need to exclude the /root/dnd folder as it is really large. Any idea how?

astrogeek · 08-25-2014, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cilbuper

OS = CentOS 6.5
I have root access, looged in as root. I've tried these two commands:
#tar -cvpzf backup.tar.gz --exclude=/backup.tar.gz --exclude=/root/dnd
#tar -cvpzf system_backup.tar.gz --exclude=system_backup.tar.gz --exclude=/root/dnd
tar: Cowardly refusing to create an empty archive

You told it to create an empty archive... it said no. (You did not specify anything to include)

Beryllos · 08-26-2014, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cilbuper

tar: /: file changed as we read it

It appears that the directory / changed. That is because the tar file was added to it. Perhaps you could avoid that error by the following method, or something like it:

Code:

cd /
tar -cvpzf backup.tar.gz --exclude=/backup.tar.gz --exclude=/root/dnd *

I'm not sure, you may need to change that to relative paths, like so:

Code:

cd /
tar -cvpzf backup.tar.gz --exclude=backup.tar.gz --exclude=root/dnd *