[NBLUG/talk] talk idea (backing up your system)

Troy Arnold troy at zenux.net
Wed Feb 15 12:24:37 PST 2006


On Wed, Feb 15, 2006 at 07:15:31AM -0800, Dave Sisley wrote:
> I've been watching this thread, and I think it's a great idea for a 
> talk.  I'd suggest that the talk include a little specific information 
> about *what* should be backed up.  I know that everybody's needs are 
> different, but maybe some guidelines about why some directories ought to 
> be backed up and others can be safely ignored.

One of the reasons I stick to Debian is because of the strictness of its
policy on where packages are allowed to install stuff.  Stick to the Debian
Way and backing up a Debian system is easy.

1) Get a list of all installed packages:
   dpkg --get-selections | grep '[[:space:]]install$' | grep -v 'deinstall$' \|
   awk '{print $1}' > /etc/installed.txt
   Reinstall this package set later with:
   aptitude install `cat /etc/installed.txt`

2) backup /etc/  the largest uncompressed /etc I have handy is just 29MB
3) backup /home, at least for the users you want to keep.
4) backup your data, this is where it gets a little fuzzy.
   In Debian this will live under /var and you have to be a little picky
   /var/log ?  some of it probably, all of it, probably not
5) I usually have some stuff stashed in /usr/local and /data

Every system usually has other quirks -- locally installed perl modules and
so on.  It gets a lot harder if you have admins who don't know what they're
doing, or admins who don't take notes.

Also, remember that backups need to be kept as secure as the system.  That
/etc/ backup has /etc/shadow in it after all.  I've seen system backups
stored on on world readable samba shares!

-troy



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