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OS backup to a tape drive

Hello,

I am trying to take an OS backup of my server (SLES11) but it is giving some errors.

This is the command I executed

tar -czf /dev/st0 /var /lib /lib64 /bin /sbin /home /opt /proc /sys /etc

and it is giving following error

Code:

tar: /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket: socket ignored

tar: /var/run/nscd/socket: socket ignored

tar: /var/run/multipathd.sock: socket ignored

tar: /var/run/cups/cups.sock: socket ignored

tar: /var/run/audispd_events: socket ignored

tar: /var/run/rpcbind.sock: socket ignored

tar: /var/run/acpid.socket: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/public/showq: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/public/flush: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/public/cleanup: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/relay: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/scache: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/cyrus: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/procmail: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/trace: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/lmtp: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/defer: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/local: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/retry: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/uucp: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/bounce: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/error: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/smtp: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/proxymap: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/verify: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/proxywrite: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/maildrop: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/ifmail: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/rewrite: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/discard: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/bsmtp: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/virtual: socket ignored

tar: /var/spool/postfix/private/anvil: socket ignored

tar: /var/tmp/.oracle/s#8277.2: socket ignored

tar: /var/tmp/.oracle/s#16648.1: socket ignored

tar: /var/tmp/.oracle/sCBP.WORLD: socket ignored

tar: /var/tmp/.oracle/sCBP: socket ignored

tar: /var/tmp/.oracle/s#16648.2: socket ignored

tar: /var/tmp/.oracle/s#11302.1: socket ignored

tar: /var/tmp/.oracle/s#11302.2: socket ignored

tar: /var/tmp/.oracle/s#8063.1: socket ignored

tar: /var/tmp/.oracle/s#13798.1: socket ignored

tar: /var/tmp/.oracle/s#8277.1: socket ignored

and then stucked/halted for hours after following line

tar: Removing leading `/' from hard link targets

Please advice me on this.
Thanks in advance.

ccilleperuma.

The error messages that you receive is because sockets are not real files, but connection between two programs. For postfix it seems to be OK to backup while live.

The oracle think looks more serious, what is that, a database? You might run into trouble when you need to restore that ever.

For both processes I recommend to stop them first before backing up, then restart them. For postfix you might leave it like that, or skip the /var/spool/directories directories. For oracle it is better to stop it to prevent that you have an inconsistent database when restoring.

jlinkels

just test one by one

tar -czf /dev/st0 /var

Would also suggest that you add v in your options, that way you'll see every file as it's being processed, this will give you a warm fuzzy feeling that things are still working.

As per the my knowledge, /var contains changing files when running the OS.
So can I avoid the /var when I take an OS backup? I really dont need any application specific files to be backed up.

Thanks,

ccilleperuma.

In principle that assumption is correct. But if I can avoid it, I would not skip the var directory. The OS must be able to reconstruct the /var, but it doesn't mention the amount of effort needed.

Just skip /var/tmp and /var/spool/postfix and that problem is solved.

However, Oracle might not be happy at all when backing up and restoring at database(?) which is in unknown state, so again, it is better to stop that Oracle process during backup, or make a database dump before backing up. Making a dump is MySQL or Postgresql speak, I don't know what your Oracle thingy is or supports.

jlinkels