Back Up question / problem

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#1 Mon, 05/12/2008 - 07:11
sgtg619

Back Up question / problem

Hi,

I keep getting this error when attempting to backup the entire file system:

DUMP: Cannot open output "/stripe1": Is a directory

I have tried to change the output to other drives as well.

Also, if (heaven forbids) my OS needs to be reinstalled, once the initial OS has been reinstalled and Virtualmin has been reinstalled, I use the backup/restore to restore all my virtual servers, right? Or is there an easier way? Since it is a complete system backup, is there an option that will let me restore the server (OS and Virtualmin, domains) before I install all that stuff? Like making a rescue CD and then pointing to the back up?

Thank you.

Mon, 05/12/2008 - 09:52
jaldeguer

Are you just sending your backup for example /etc to /stripe1? If you are, you'll need to set is as /stripe1/etc. Then you'll have an archived called etc within the directory /stripe1.

Mon, 05/12/2008 - 19:19 (Reply to #2)
Joe
Joe's picture

Yes, as jaldeguer pointed out, but I'll make more emphatic:

dump creates a <i>file</i> archive, so you need to give is a full file path, not merely a directory.

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Wed, 05/14/2008 - 03:15 (Reply to #3)
sgtg619

Thank you for the help. I thought I was telling it the file name when I filled out the &quot;back up label&quot; field.

This time I told it to back up to /stripe1/backup1.tar

It seemed to have worked. Did I use the correct extension of .tar?

So, now, if this is a tar of my entire file system, can I restore it completely from with in Virtualmin or can I use some kind of rescue CD to restore the OS? If so, where could I find some information about it?

Thank you for the assistance.

Wed, 05/14/2008 - 13:56 (Reply to #4)
Joe
Joe's picture

<div class='quote'>So, now, if this is a tar of my entire file system, can I restore it completely from with in Virtualmin or can I use some kind of rescue CD to restore the OS? If so, where could I find some information about it?</div>

The Filesystem Backup module is just that--a dump or tar archive backup of whatever files you ask it to backup. It is not a system recovery tool, and doesn't attempt to be. So no &quot;bare-metal&quot; restore is available--but that's actually a pretty good idea for a Webmin-related project...a CD that contains Webmin and all of the bits and pieces needed to restore a system from a filesystem dump or tar backup. I won't be embarking on that project any time soon, but it'd be a fun/cool one to work on. Maybe somebody else will pick up the idea. It'd actually probably only take about a week or two--start from a Fedora or Debian or Knoppix bootable CD image, and add a few bits and pieces from there. Wouldn't need anything complicated--just X and a browser to run Webmin and all of the filesystem related tools. Though it would also probably need a new module that insures the backup includes all of the bits needed to recover the bootable state of the disk (grub configuration, and partition layout).

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Wed, 05/14/2008 - 05:39 (Reply to #5)
jaldeguer

No need to add the extension, the backup will do that for you. For more solutions to backup your server, check this site out - http://howtoforge.com/howtos/backup

Tue, 05/27/2008 - 11:42 (Reply to #6)
sgtg619

ok, so I have a backup now. I used the backup filesystem option. If my server died and I reinstalled the OS and Virtualmin, I would use the restore option to put my virtual servers back correct? Thank you for your help and patients.

Tue, 05/27/2008 - 16:41 (Reply to #7)
Joe
Joe's picture

<div class='quote'>ok, so I have a backup now. I used the backup filesystem option. If my server died and I reinstalled the OS and Virtualmin, I would use the restore option to put my virtual servers back correct?</div>

Actually, for what you describe, you don't want to use Filesystem Backup at all!

You want to use the Virtualmin Backup feature, as it's designed for backing up virtual servers in a form that can be easily restored one server at a time, including all of the applications and other bits and pieces that are configured within the virtual server. Filesystem Backup is a whole system backup and knows nothing about virtual servers--you could restore from a filesystem backup and get everything back to normal, but it doesn't sound like you want a whole system backup (because a filesystem backup includes the whole filesystem, by default, including the OS).

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