I have been using tar to backup (for restore of) the directories under "/". I was able to use "tar -cvzpf /tar_ball_dir/file_name.tar.gz /sub_directories ...where sub_directories were bin, etc, home, lib media, opt, root, sbin, srv, tmp, usr, and var. But tar ran into problems with sys, dev, boot and proc. I was able to use "cp -v -p -R /sub_directories /non_compressed_dir/ ...where sub_directories were sys, dev, and boot. But cp ran into problems with proc. I remember some other archiving tool but cannot remember the name -- apparently it will back up the proc directory. Does anyone know the name of this archiving tool. I should probably be using it on all 4 files because it can also do compression. Thanks -- Ted
Ted, The simple answer to issues of "backing up" the /proc directory is: Don't! All of the contents of /proc are synthesized by the kernel to reflect the current status of the system. Nothing there is really a file, none of it is meaningfully backed up and none of it could even be restored. Just avoid backing up /proc and /dev. It sounds like you need to take in some Linux tutorials. Randall Schulz On Friday 04 February 2005 20:48, Ted Hilts wrote:
I have been using tar to backup (for restore of) the directories under "/".
I was able to use "tar -cvzpf /tar_ball_dir/file_name.tar.gz /sub_directories ...where sub_directories were bin, etc, home, lib media, opt, root, sbin, srv, tmp, usr, and var.
But tar ran into problems with sys, dev, boot and proc.
I was able to use "cp -v -p -R /sub_directories /non_compressed_dir/ ...where sub_directories were sys, dev, and boot.
But cp ran into problems with proc.
I remember some other archiving tool but cannot remember the name -- apparently it will back up the proc directory. Does anyone know the name of this archiving tool. I should probably be using it on all 4 files because it can also do compression.
Thanks -- Ted
Randall In the past I used Slackware. Slackware provided a template boot disk to which one could replace the kernel and the LILO file to create their own customized boot disk. Provision existed in a Slackware script to somehow plug into the boot disk file system the "/dev" and "/proc" directories. At least this is how I remember things but I'm getting old, stupid and slowly dying. Anyway, I was thinking that I needed the same directories if I were to manually create a boot disk for SuSE distribution and therefore wondered how best to move these two directories into the boot disk file system. Thus the question on back up of these two directories. I have backed them up in the past as I mentioned. So regardless of what you and others say, it can be done because I did it once and lived to tell the story. But I will try to go back to this Slackware script (if I can find it) and see if I am mistaken and then let you know what I found. May take a few weeks. Thanks to all for the replies. Randall R Schulz wrote:
Ted,
All of the contents of /proc are synthesized by the kernel to reflect the current status of the system. Nothing there is really a file, none of it is meaningfully backed up and none of it could even be restored.
Just avoid backing up /proc and /dev.
It sounds like you need to take in some Linux tutorials.
Randall Schulz
But cp ran into problems with proc.
I remember some other archiving tool but cannot remember the name -- apparently it will back up the proc directory. Does anyone know the name of this archiving tool. I should probably be using it on all 4 files because it can also do compression.
Thanks -- Ted
Provision existed in a Slackware script to somehow plug into the boot disk file system the "/dev" and "/proc" directories. For proc just provide the directory, i.e /proc. The kernel will
Ted Hilts wrote: populate it when it boots. /dev depends on other programs, i.e newer systems use udev which populates /dev 'on the fly' as needed AFAIK. Older systems had the device files already created, thus you could back them up.
Anyway, I was thinking that I needed the same directories if I were to manually create a boot disk for SuSE distribution and therefore wondered how best to move these two directories into the boot disk file system. No matter what, you need the directories (i.e. /proc is the mount point for the proc filesystem, check fstab). I have backed them up in the past as I mentioned. As I said, depends on the age/programs on the system. /dev will be OK, /proc has infinite recursion and I don't believe you can back it up. So regardless of what you and others say, it can be done because I did it once and lived to tell the story. I noticed my backup program (storebackup) started hanging (md5sum running forever) recently. I had updated postfix (which I had forgot I chrooted). The new postfix included a proc directory, which I found out out was my problem. I had already excluded /proc. AFAIK, you cannot backup or cp /proc because there is no end. -- Joe Morris New Tribes Mission Email Address: Joe_Morris@ntm.org Registered Linux user 231871
Joe Thank you for the very helpful information. I accept the statement you and others made about "proc". I will consider your remarks about including the "proc" directory and also your other helpful suggestions regarding populating "dev" and not backing up "sys". As far as I can see, I did a successful backup of SuSE "sys" directory. Thank you also for clarifying that my previous efforts on Slackware will not work on SuSE boot disks. I am trying to figure out how to create a universal boot disk or at least one that will contain information on all of my Linux systems so that one boot disk boots all systems. Thanks very much, TED Joe Morris (NTM) wrote:
Ted Hilts wrote:
Provision existed in a Slackware script to somehow plug into the boot disk file system the "/dev" and "/proc" directories.
For proc just provide the directory, i.e /proc. The kernel will populate it when it boots. /dev depends on other programs, i.e newer systems use udev which populates /dev 'on the fly' as needed AFAIK. Older systems had the device files already created, thus you could back them up.
Anyway, I was thinking that I needed the same directories if I were to manually create a boot disk for SuSE distribution and therefore wondered how best to move these two directories into the boot disk file system.
No matter what, you need the directories (i.e. /proc is the mount point for the proc filesystem, check fstab).
I have backed them up in the past as I mentioned.
As I said, depends on the age/programs on the system. /dev will be OK, /proc has infinite recursion and I don't believe you can back it up.
So regardless of what you and others say, it can be done because I did it once and lived to tell the story.
I noticed my backup program (storebackup) started hanging (md5sum running forever) recently. I had updated postfix (which I had forgot I chrooted). The new postfix included a proc directory, which I found out out was my problem. I had already excluded /proc. AFAIK, you cannot backup or cp /proc because there is no end.
On Saturday 05 February 2005 11:27 am, Ted Hilts wrote:
Randall
In the past I used Slackware. Slackware provided a template boot disk to which one could replace the kernel and the LILO file to create their own customized boot disk. Provision existed in a Slackware script to somehow plug into the boot disk file system the "/dev" and "/proc" directories. At least this is how I remember things but I'm getting old, stupid and slowly dying. Anyway, I was thinking that I needed the same directories if I were to manually create a boot disk for SuSE distribution and therefore wondered how best to move these two directories into the boot disk file system. Thus the question on back up of these two directories. I have backed them up in the past as I mentioned. So regardless of what you and others say, it can be done because I did it once and lived to tell the story. But I will try to go back to this Slackware script (if I can find it) and see if I am mistaken and then let you know what I found. May take a few weeks.
You can easily make a grub boot floppy which will give you the same menu setup that you have on SuSE and you can go from there. Go to: www.linux-sxs.org and do a search on grub to find some instructions.
Thanks to all for the replies.
Randall R Schulz wrote:
Ted,
All of the contents of /proc are synthesized by the kernel to reflect the current status of the system. Nothing there is really a file, none of it is meaningfully backed up and none of it could even be restored.
Just avoid backing up /proc and /dev.
It sounds like you need to take in some Linux tutorials.
Randall Schulz
But cp ran into problems with proc.
I remember some other archiving tool but cannot remember the name -- apparently it will back up the proc directory. Does anyone know the name of this archiving tool. I should probably be using it on all 4 files because it can also do compression.
Thanks -- Ted
!DSPAM:4204f4f1183621025518759!
Bruce: I've already done that in the form of a Boot CD Rom which I liked better than the Boot Diskette. It seems the rescue part of the Boot CD Rom is more extensive than the rescue part of the Boot Diskette which I also built. But I did not think I could use this Boot CD Rom to Boot up other systems. Are you suggesting that I provide an input to the Boot CD Rom "Boot to Hard Drive" option using GRUB notation??? Have you actually booted up another machine this way?? Thanks -- Ted Bruce said
You can easily make a grub boot floppy which will give you the same menu setup that you have on SuSE and you can go from there.
Go to: www.linux-sxs.org and do a search on grub to find some instructions.
Quoting Ted Hilts
I have been using tar to backup (for restore of) the directories under "/".
I was able to use "tar -cvzpf /tar_ball_dir/file_name.tar.gz /sub_directories ...where sub_directories were bin, etc, home, lib media, opt, root, sbin, srv, tmp, usr, and var.
But tar ran into problems with sys, dev, boot and proc.
I was able to use "cp -v -p -R /sub_directories /non_compressed_dir/ ...where sub_directories were sys, dev, and boot.
But cp ran into problems with proc.
I remember some other archiving tool but cannot remember the name -- apparently it will back up the proc directory. Does anyone know the name of this archiving tool. I should probably be using it on all 4 files because it can also do compression.
Thanks -- Ted
There is no point in backing up the /proc directory. It is not a disk filesystem. It is a psuedo-file system created by the kernel at run-time that allows communication between the kernel and user space. Also, not much point in backing up /tmp. The files there should not expect to survive rebooting. HTH, Jeffrey
participants (5)
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Bruce Marshall
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Jeffrey L. Taylor
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Joe Morris (NTM)
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Randall R Schulz
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Ted Hilts