Topic: Backup to disk

[Jan-Willem]

Hi,

Can I use the howto "How to backup to disk using flexbackup on e-smith v4.1.x" on my e-smith server v5.1.2?

Greetingz,

Jan-Willem

[Des Dougan]

Yes, you can.


Des Dougan

[Jan-Willem]

Hi Des,

When I run flexbackup to disk (on E-Smith v5.1.2), I get this message and no backup is made.
Any idea?


flexbackup version 0.9.8 /etc/flexbackup.conf syntax OK

|------------------------------------------------
| Trying "mt defblksize" instead of "mt setblk"
Error setting block size
Neither of these commands worked:
  mt -f /dev/nst0 setblk 0
  mt -f /dev/nst0 defblksize 0


Greetingz,

Jan-Willem

[Des Dougan]

Jan-Willem,

It sounds like you've missed the step headed "Configuring flexbackup to write to disk" - the fragment of output you attached indicates it's looking for a tape drive.

Des Dougan

[Jan-Willem]

Yep, that´s it.

Thankz Des,

Jan-Willem.

[Kelvin]

Hi Des,

I'm trying out your how-to to backup to disk and have the exact same problem as Jan-Willem.

I have followed each step EXACTLY (including any uppercase / lower case names) as laid out in your how-to and no, I did not miss out the step on Configuring flexbackup to write to disk. I am still getting the same error. Checking flexbackup.conf shows that the $device is still pointing to '/dev/nst0'.

Please confirm that the line listed in your how-to :

/sbin/e-smith/db configuration setprop backup Device /mnt/backup

Does it matter if Device is with an uppercase D or should it be device (with lowercase d).

Kelvin

[Kelvin]

Des,

I re-entered the entire section again, checking typing and spelling all the way, and it still did not work.

I did some more checking and just tried it one more time and hey ! It works this time ! I do not know why it would not work the first 2 times. It was not a typo because (being lazy), I simply scrolled up the previously entered commands and hit enter again. So it was not, a typing mistake.

Go figure.

Kelvin

[Des Dougan]

Kelvin,

Just read your two posts. I have to say I've not come across this problem. I've set up e-smith to backup to disk 3 or 4 times now, and each time it's worked successfully. The second step of the db configuration, i.e. the "signal-event" command, is what commits the changes.

Des Dougan

[Kelvin]

Hi Des,

I'm as puzzled as you are. I'll try it again on another server when I get a chance.

Kelvin

[ryan]

It is my understanding that any attempt to backup to a disk or share will result in a 2g or 4g limitation.  If more than 4g of data exists, there is a problem.

Does RAID1 "run" the server on drive hda?  My idea is to install the harddrives into inexpensive removable caddies like this:

http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=GN210

Get a server running with RAID1.  To backup, simply shut down the server and swap the removable drive (hdb) with a 3rd identical drive.  Restart SME.  Would RAID1 then boot from hda, and regenerate the newly inserted hdb?  This would allow one of the 3 drives to be kept off site.  If hda ever failed, SME should continue to run off hdb using RAID1.  If the server was stolen or destroyed, the harddrive kept off site could be used in a similar computer without having to restore.  Would this work?  I don't understand the technicals regarding RAID1 so I hope someone has input to share.  

Purchasing 3 caddies and 2 extra hard drives is much cheaper than a tape drive and several media cartridges.

RS

[Rich Lafferty]

I wouldn't use RAID 1 for this, if only because cataloguing all of the gotchas
would be more work than the alternatives. (You'd have to find some way to
know when to swap the disk out without being in the middle of a write,
and you'd be backing up part of your swapfile, and so on.)

Why not get the caddy, and just perform normal backups but to disk
instead of tape? That way you'll know when the backup is done, can verify
it, and can control which files are backed up -- it'd also let you restore
single files, which in my experience comes up way more often than
obliterated disks do.

There are a handful of contributed howtos for backup to disk at

  http://www.e-smith.org/cgi-bin/contrib.cgi

Cheers,

--Rich