[SGVLUG] Mondo backups on "mondo" tape drives

[Tom Emerson]

On Tuesday 18 October 2005 18:21, Jeff Carlson wrote:
> Emerson, Tom wrote:
> > Any suggestions for programs that "really do understand" that people
> > might really use a tape drive, ... (notable by their absence are the
> > programs "amanda" and "taper", ...
>
> If I were you, I'd install amanda either from source, package from an
> earlier release, or build an RPM of the latest release.  Well, the last
> one assuming you know how to build an RPM, of course.

I only mentioned Amanda because in prior releases of SuSE, this tended to be 
listed "first" in the category of "productivity / archiving / backups"; it 
was never actually installed "by default", so I haven't actually looked at it 
"in depth" [but just before the latest install, I did start poking at the 
docs, mainly 'cause Dustin asked about backups first... ;) ]

> > Equally ironic, SuSE's own Yast program ... doesn't seem to
> > "understand" that my system really does have a tape drive ...

it might also have been partly "my fault" in that I told the backup module to 
create "media sized archives" (of 40GB), so perhaps "numbered archives" was 
the method it was going to use, rather than recognize "/dev/..." as a special 
type of file.  Then again, it did append ".tar", which isn't strictly 
necessary for "device" files either.

> > I've used Arkiea in the past ...[but]...
> > I've since found out it has a HUGE security hole --
>
> ... is this for a corporate network or your home?

technically, it's for "home", but I also run a publicly-visible web server 
(and pop/imap for my parents) and a few other things.  One thing I've found 
is that "script kiddies" don't care if you're a lone-wolf or #2 on the 
fortune 500 list -- if they see a "potentially open" vulnerability, they'll 
hammer on it till something gives way (or they get bored, or someone in their 
"group" breaks a different system and they all jump on that "bandwagon")

Also, I like to know or be aware of this stuff on the odd chance that someone 
who employs me to do "computer" things might want a backup, and then I'll 
have a reputation to put forth & protect...

> The last solution is the most basic:
>
> # Day 1
> touch /etc/backups/stage0
> tar cvf /dev/st0 /

does this pick up things like /proc?  and what happens when it gets to 
"/dev/st0" [ok, that might be easy to figure out -- /dev/st0 is "open 
exclusively for writing", and thus cannot be read -- problem solved...]

> # Day 2
> touch /etc/backups/stage1
> tar cvf /dev/st0 `find / -newer /etc/backups stage0`
> ...
>
> It will use your tape drive properly,

this is where my ignorance will show -- how exactly does tar handle the EOT 
[end-of-tape] mark?  I'm used to a system that knows and expects it is 
writing to tape, but I kind of gathered from the "docs" that you need to tell 
tar in advance how large the "media" is [or did I misread this?)  of course, 
the "attitude" the author has towards "man" pages kinda leaves a sour taste 
in my mouth -- just because /he/ doesn't like them doesn't make it true that 

"BUGS
       The GNU folks, in general, abhor man pages, and create  info  documents
       instead.  ..."

> but yeah, hope you don't have to 
> find one file out of a ten stage backup.

I'd imagine a creative use of "tee" or other I/O redirection to write the 
list-of-files-stored to a file would do -- then it's a matter of "grep 
<file-I-want> /etc/backups/contents/*" to pick which tape I need.

-- 
Top o' the Blog: Too hot to handle  (hmmm... this is getting stale -- better 
write something new soon...)
http://osnut.homelinux.net/mtblog/ya_index.html
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