Topic: Backup to Desktop, revisited

[Devlyn Davis]

This seems to be a popular topic on the boards...

I have done a search through the forum archives and there seems to be a lot of conflicting ideas on how to get 'Backup to Desktop' to do a *near* complete backup of the system.  I'd like to hammer this down, as succinctly as possible on how to customize 'Backup to Desktop' to backup standard files and settings, as well as non-standard.  First here is my setup and my backup goal:

I am running SME 5.1.2
I have upgraded PHP to 4.1.2
I have upgraded IMP to ver 3.0
I have several MySQL databases
I have installed Gallery in /opt/gallery
I have installed .htaccess support

My goal is to backup all of my ibays, the current version of PHP, the current version of IMP, all of my MySQL databases, Gallery, and .htaccess support.  Obviously, I'm looking to backup pretty much the whole system.  However, I do not need to backup EVERY single file on the disk.  I want to backup the minimum possible while capturing everything in my backup goal.

I have done a standard Backup to Desktop and it does capture much of the most important data.  However, it does fall short. My feeling is that the default Backup to Desktop was designed just to capture user data so a sysadmin can pull individual files out of the tar file.  As a disaster recovery solution, it's almost pointless because it misses so much (again, it appears by design.)

As far as I can tell, the default Backup to Desktop does not backup MySQL databases.  From searching through the forums, the databases are supposed to show up in the tar file here:  home/e-smith/db.  However, nothing is there in the several backups that I've done.  

I've followed the How-To in this thread by Stephen Noble:
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=13360.msg50562#msg50562

In an attempt to add more directories to the backup routine I have added the directories to the backup file in /etc/e-smith/web/functions.  The directories I added do seem to get backed up, but when I try to restore the backup on a freshly installed machine, I get an error, even though the system is able to verify the backup file.

Has anyone with a similar setup successfully customized 'Backup to Desktop' to backup all of their files and custom settings?  I am considering purchasing dungog-backup, but I want to make sure that I'd actually be able to do a restore before I commit to that.  

Thanks,
-Dev

[Devlyn Davis]

This is the error that I am getting:
===========================================================
Software error:
Could not decode backup file:


For help, please send mail to the webmaster (admin@smetest), giving this error message
and the time and date of the error.

Restore failed! There was an error in reading the backup file

===========================================================

I get this message, even though I am able to 'Verify' the backup file.

[stephen noble]

>as far as I can tell, the default Backup to Desktop does not backup MySQL databases.

i say it does  
but the discussion is helpful anyway


[root@sme5 dungogbackup]# ls -la home/e-smith/db/mysql/mysql.dump
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root       207231 Apr  3 03:27 home/e-smith/db/mysql/mysql.dump


> The directories I added do seem to get backed up, but when I try to restore the backup on a freshly installed machine, I get an error,

i document this,
it's cosmetic, its' because the restore function expects etc/smbpassword to be last
i've altered my rpm but not the howto to suggest  you include the extras before /etc/smbpassword

regards
stephen

[stephen noble]

>Software error:
>Could not decode backup file:

hmmm, i havn't seem that
the verify is only checking that /etc/smbpasswd is the last file

the error i mentioned was after a successfull restore
http://www4.tpgi.com.au/users/dungog/sme/howto/demo/demo-backup-opening.html


regards
stephen

[Devlyn Davis]

>[root@sme5 dungogbackup]# ls -la home/e-smith/db/mysql/mysql.dump
>-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 207231 Apr 3 03:27 home/e-smith/db/mysql/mysql.dump

I checked this location and it is empty.  I have not altered any part of the backup script other than adding a few directories to it.  Also, before altering the script, I had run several standard 'Backup to Desktops.'  Should the mysql dump be in this location?

-Dev

[stephen noble]

sorry, it wasn't clear
that was a relative path in the backup dir.
it was showing the existance of the mysql dumps in my backup file

/home/e-smith/db is usually empty
mysql.dump is created then deleted during the backup process

maybe the SME restore doen't like some of the directories we are adding
i test the backup.tgz by doing a gunzip and tar -tvf [tar --help]
rather than restoring to my server

regards
stephen