[Lvlug] Debian Backups

[jab at fast.net]

Darryl Gibson <n2diy at losch.net> wrote:
> Chris wrote:
> > Read up on crontab. It will allow you to run automatic backups. 
> > Depending on how you want to back just change the "command options etc" 
> > to suit your needs. If you have a server somewhere you could schedule it 
> > to tar & upload your /home directory every night/week/month. Once you 
> > decide what you backing up to somebody can give you advice on how to do 
> > the actual backup.
> 
> Don't you back up more than your then /home? What I looking to do is 
> backup everything I will loose since my initial install.
> 
> My restore plan is to restore the system with the Ubuntu disk, and then 
> restore my programs and files. So I've been backing up /home, /etc, /usr 
> and /var.
> 
> > 
> > Crontab tutorial: http://www.adminschoice.com/docs/crontab.htm
> > 
> > Basically you edit /etc/crontab and add a line that looks like this:
> > 
> > 30 0  1   1,6,12   *    command options etc
> > 
> > Below is an example, and how to interpret the numbers::
> > 
> > min > hour > day/month > day/week
> > 30     0     1     1,6,12     *     -- 00:30 Hrs  on 1st of Jan, June & 
> > Dec.
> 
> At the moment, I'm not concerned with automating the backups, but 
> eventually I will want to.
> 
> What I am currently doings is backing up through the Nautilus file 
> manager. With a couple of mouse clicks I can archive a directory, and 
> drop it onto a USB disk. So manual backups are fairly painless. I'm just 
> not sure if I have all the bases covered?
> 
> -- 
> Darryl Gibson N2DIY
> RLU X 182668/379552
 

I started reading this thread yesterday morning and was going to
reply, but it seems my motherboard started going south ... lockups
followed, ultimately, by no video.

Looks like I'll be testing my restoral scheme ... but, for now:

  1) I'm using Knoppix on a 400MHz Celeron and it could use a bit of
     memory. Anyone know where some PC133 ram can be obtained? PC
     Warehouse (or whatever it is) over on MacArthur?

My "theoretical" recovery plan relies on regular rsynch's of /home
to /home2 (with an occasional manual tar to another machine). I find
myself wondering (like Darryl) how many of my bases I have covered. (Or,
perhaps thought of another way, what /etc type files will I encounter if
a new m/b is needed). I presume all the "precious stuff" is safe in one
or more of the three places /home, /home2 and/or tar files.

Drive config:  (I'm assuming for now they're all ok)

  hda: 20G or 30G WD w/Slack 10.[01]
  hdb: /home
  hdc: /home2

A cron regularly does an rsynch from /home to /home2.

In theory:

  1) The same motherboard could be thrown in and all would be good,
     yes? (ie: if there are configurables in /etc, etc ...)

  2) A different motherboard though, would require reinstalling the OS
     on hda to get appropriate /etc type configurables.

But in both cases, /home and /home2 will mount up just fine with the
same OS ver (no lib conflicts, no problems ...)?

Presuming a different motherboard and, hey, might as well update
the OS, /home and /home2 will mount up, but some apps may have
version problems.

This should be fairly easy, yes? (the nagging notion, what bases don't
I have covered?).

Am I missing anything obvious of a major nature?

TIA,
Jim

ps: This discussion pretty much parallels Darryl's "easy user restore".
    I'll still have to "restore" some stuff a typical user probably
    wouldn't have (ie: Apache, some Perl modules, etc).

pss: Before the apparent complete death of the motherboard, I noticed
     the "chipset" fan was apparently dying (spinning, then it would
     slow down some, then spin up). Didn't notice any temp anomalies in
     the krellm window. Could a bad fan result in crash, crash, eventually
     no video even?