############################################################################3 # Searchable Keywords: dump linux 0unsf backup back up archive Linux uses the same type of dump and restore commands that older SunOs does. They are very similar. example: This worked for dumping the root partition to a dump file on a nfs mounted filesystem. dump 0sf 900000 /mnt/tmpmnt/yamin.backup/yamin_backup.dump / The 900000 indicates tape length. The longer the more data you can put on it. Or, the more data you have the longer your tape length is going to have to be. The goal is to have to number of tapes below 1 . I believe you need the s option also for the 900000 tape length to be read. Note: It seems rdump works to remote tape drives but I don't believe you need to use rdump. I think if you just use dump and put the remote in the syntax. It should get to the remote tape.(of course you must make sure that you can use the rcmds and/or in the .rhosts and hosts.allow files) This is from a linux webpage about backing up remotely. Webpage staement..................... You should make sure that transfer of your backup happens in a secure manner over the network. In the previous sections, we have shown you how to make a backup onto both a tape and files from the same system where you execute the backup procedure, with utilities like tar and dump. The programs tar and dump are capable of making backups over the network as well. To be able to backup over the network you must ensure that the packages named rmt and rsh are installed on your system. The rmt utility provides remote access to tape devices for programs like dump, and tar. To complement this, the rsh package contains a set of programs which allow users to run commands on remote machines, login to other machines and copy files between machines, rsh, rlogin and rcp are this set of programs. Since rsh can be easily hacked, and rmt depends on rsh to be able to work, we have chosen to not install them in our setup installation, see Installation of your Linux Server for more information, due to security reasons. Therefore, we must find another way to make backups over the network in a secure manner. SSH technology is the solution for our problem Software -Securities, because it also has the ability to copy data across the network with its scp command, through encryption. The following is a method that permits us to use the potential of SSH software to transfer our backups made with tar or dump in a secure manner via the scp SSH utility. end statement........................... #-------------------- This is from a linux manpage site -----------------# BSD 4 NAME dump - ext2 filesystem backup SYNOPSIS dump [-0123456789acnu ] [-B records ] [-b blocksize ] [-d density ] [-f file ] [-h level ] [-s feet ] [-T date ] filesystem dump [-0123456789acnu ] [-B records ] [-b blocksize ] [-d density ] [-f file ] [-h level ] [-s feet ] [-T date ] directory dump [-W | -w ] (The BSD 4.3 option syntax is implemented for backward compatibility but is not documented here.) DESCRIPTION Dump examines files on an ext2 filesystem and determines which files need to be backed up. These files are copied to the given disk, tape or other storage medium for safe keeping (see the -f option below for doing remote backups). A dump that is larger than the output medium is broken into multiple volumes. On most media the size is determined by writing until an end-of-media indication is returned. This can be enforced by using the a option. On media that cannot reliably return an end-of-media indication (such as some cartridge tape drives), each volume is of a fixed size; the actual size is determined by the tape size, density and/or block count options below. By default, the same output file name is used for each volume after prompting the operator to change media. The following options are supported by dump -0-9 Dump levels. A level 0, full backup, guarantees the entire file system is copied (but see also the -h option below). A level number above 0, incremental backup, tells dump to copy all files new or modified since the last dump of the same or lower level. The default level is 9. ``auto-size'' Bypass all tape length considerations, and enforce writing until an end-of-media indication is returned. This option is recommended for most modern tape drives. Use of this option is particularly recommended when appending to an existing tape, or using a tape drive with hardware compression (where you can never be sure about the compression ratio). -B records The number of dump records per volume. This option overrides the calculation of tape size based on length and density. -b blocksize The number of kilobytes per dump record. Since the IO system slices all requests into chunks of MAXBSIZE (typically 64KB), it is not possible to use a larger blocksize without having problems later with restore(8). Therefore dump will constrain writes to MAXBSIZE. -c Change the defaults for use with a cartridge tape drive, with a density of 8000 bpi, and a length of 1700 feet. -d density Set tape density to density The default is 1600BPI. -f file Write the backup to file file may be a special device file like /dev/st0 (a tape drive), /dev/rsd1c (a disk drive), an ordinary file, or `- ' (the standard output). Multiple file names may be given as a single argument separated by commas. Each file will be used for one dump volume in the order listed; if the dump requires more volumes than the number of names given, the last file name will used for all remaining volumes after prompting for media changes. If the name of the file is of the form ``host:file'' or `user@host:file'' dump writes to the named file on the remote host using rmt(8). -h level Honor the user ``nodump'' flag Dp Dv UF_NODUMP only for dumps at or above the given level The default honor level is 1, so that incremental backups omit such files but full backups retain them. -n Whenever dump requires operator attention, notify all operators in the group ``operator'' by means similar to a wall(1). -s feet Attempt to calculate the amount of tape needed at a particular density. If this amount is exceeded, dump prompts for a new tape. It is recommended to be a bit conservative on this option. The default tape length is 2300 feet. -T date Use the specified date as the starting time for the dump instead of the time determined from looking in /etc/dumpdates The format of date is the same as that of ctime(3). This option is useful for automated dump scripts that wish to dump over a specific period of time. The -T option is mutually exclusive from the -u option. -u Update the file /etc/dumpdates after a successful dump. The format of /etc/dumpdates is readable by people, consisting of one free format record per line: filesystem name, increment level and ctime(3) format dump date. There may be only one entry per filesystem at each level. The file /etc/dumpdates may be edited to change any of the fields, if necessary. -W Dump tells the operator what file systems need to be dumped. This information is gleaned from the files /etc/dumpdates and /etc/fstab The -W option causes dump to print out, for each file system in /etc/dumpdates the most recent dump date and level, and highlights those file systems that should be dumped. If the -W option is set, all other options are ignored, and dump exits immediately. -w Is like -W but prints only those filesystems which need to be dumped. Dump requires operator intervention on these conditions: end of tape, end of dump, tape write error, tape open error or disk read error (if there is more than a threshold of 32). In addition to alerting all operators implied by the -n key, dump interacts with the operator on dump's control terminal at times when dump can no longer proceed, or if something is grossly wrong. All questions dump poses must be answered by typing ``yes'' or ``no'' appropriately. Since making a dump involves a lot of time and effort for full dumps, dump checkpoints itself at the start of each tape volume. If writing that volume fails for some reason, dump will, with operator permission, restart itself from the checkpoint after the old tape has been rewound and removed, and a new tape has been mounted. Dump tells the operator what is going on at periodic intervals, including usually low estimates of the number of blocks to write, the number of tapes it will take, the time to completion, and the time to the tape change. The output is verbose, so that others know that the terminal controlling dump is busy, and will be for some time. In the event of a catastrophic disk event, the time required to restore all the necessary backup tapes or files to disk can be kept to a minimum by staggering the incremental dumps. An efficient method of staggering incremental dumps to minimize the number of tapes follows: Always start with a level 0 backup, for example: /sbin/dump -0u -f /dev/nrst1 /usr/src This should be done at set intervals, say once a month or once every two months, and on a set of fresh tapes that is saved forever. After a level 0, dumps of active file systems are taken on a daily basis, using a modified Tower of Hanoi algorithm, with this sequence of dump levels: 3 2 5 4 7 6 9 8 9 9 ... For the daily dumps, it should be possible to use a fixed number of tapes for each day, used on a weekly basis. Each week, a level 1 dump is taken, and the daily Hanoi sequence repeats beginning with 3. For weekly dumps, another fixed set of tapes per dumped file system is used, also on a cyclical basis. After several months or so, the daily and weekly tapes should get rotated out of the dump cycle and fresh tapes brought in. FILES /dev/rmt8 default tape unit to dump to /etc/dumpdates dump date records /etc/fstab dump table: file systems and frequency /etc/group to find group operator SEE ALSO restore(8), rmt(8), dump(5), fstab(5) DIAGNOSTICS Many, and verbose. Dump exits with zero status on success. Startup errors are indicated with an exit code of 1; abnormal termination is indicated with an exit code of 3. BUGS It might be considered a bug that this version of dump can only handle ext2 filesystems. Specifically, it does not work with FAT filesystems. Fewer than 32 read errors on the filesystem are ignored. If noticing read errors is important, the output from dump can be parsed to look for lines that contain the text 'read error'. Each reel requires a new process, so parent processes for reels already written just hang around until the entire tape is written. Dump with the -W or -w option does not report filesystems that have never been recorded in /etc/dumpdates even if listed in /etc/fstab It would be nice if dump knew about the dump sequence, kept track of the tapes scribbled on, told the operator which tape to mount when, and provided more assistance for the operator running restore. HISTORY A dump command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX. See in the notes directory also ,Solaris dumpcmd, Solaris restore