System backup - [ok]

tawan · 2010-03-07 05:02:09

When this sounds dumb just stop and educate me...

1) rsync is a great backup tool, even for one man and his laptop

2) using rsync on a live system brings problems

3) even using --exclude on problem parts of the system is dodgy

4) a good idea is to boot to another system on another partition and rsync the now down system

5) e.g. to backup Arch, reboot to debian and rsync the Arch system while it is down

6) so if you are still reading, here is my plan, mostly implemented...

~

a) call the backup script in Arch

b) script copies over the grub.cfg with grub.cfg-faker

c) script reboots the system

d) grub sees the new grub.cfg and loads debain as default (not Arch as normal)

e) debian boots, has auto login, has sudo privileges set for mount, umount, cp, rsync, shutdown

f) debian runs a backup script that rsyncs Arch in all it's glory

g) script copies grub.cfg-original over grub.cfg

h) script reboots machine

i) Arch loads and I return from the toilet to a fully backed up system, the slim login prompt and I didn't have to interact at all.

Dumb? Better ways?

~

Last edited by tawan (2010-03-07 07:29:17)

Peasantoid · 2010-03-07 05:16:40

An interesting idea. You avoid the possibility of inconsistency by this method. (You could also remount / read-only, though that could cause processes to suddenly break.)

I do question the security of having your secondary install execute potentially disastrous commands without supervision, though.

Last edited by Peasantoid (2010-03-07 05:19:11)

tawan · 2010-03-07 05:31:04

Peasantoid wrote:

I do question the security of having your secondary install execute potentially disastrous commands without supervision, though.

Me too. I could have the dangerous system not even listed on the standard grub and it only becomes available when called by the backup script. Hidden from view again once the default grub.cfg is back in place.

tawan · 2010-03-07 07:31:29

Well, security issues exist, pretty wide open ones, but it works.

Post one is pretty much the whole story. I could post the whole script if anyone wants but I assume this is the kind of thing people would set up bespoke.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-03-07 05:02:09

System backup - [ok]

#2 2010-03-07 05:16:40

Re: System backup - [ok]

#3 2010-03-07 05:31:04

Re: System backup - [ok]

#4 2010-03-07 07:31:29

Re: System backup - [ok]

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