[CentOS] Help with dump/restore

Fri Dec 28 15:16:32 UTC 2007
Scott Ehrlich <scott at MIT.EDU>

So I recently installed an Overland Arcvault 12 tape library on a server 
to back up /var/log/ and /home.  The server is an out-of-box RHEL 5 
install, with all packages selected, in an isolated lan, with no package 
updates. Also, this is a live server that cannot be brought down for 
backups, and some files may be actively in use during the dump - just 
gotta live with it.

Since I know EL5 and C5 are the same, and the level of support I get from 
RH is actually less effective and slower than resources such as this 
list, I'm looking here, first.

Up to this point I was backing up to a USB-mounted external 1 TB hard 
drive.

I was using a script containing:

/sbin/dump -0v -z2 -f /media/usb_drive/dump0 /home

I played with restore on that, and it tested fine.

For the tape, I thought it would be nice to add /var/log (should have done 
it before, but didn't think of it...)

Trying to adapt the knowledge to a tape library...

/sbin/dump -0 -v -z2 -f /dev/nst0 /var/log
/sbin/dump -0u -v -z2 -f /dev/nst0 /home

I have a cron job that dumps the results to /var/log/dump.log, and a 
review of the log file claims all went well.  Now for the restore...

I just tried playing with different options of restore, but could not 
successfully restore anything.   I ensured I was in a scratch area so as 
to hopefully not overwrite current files.

What is the proper procedure for dumping and restoring now?  Should I be 
dumping to /dev/nst0/dump?    What restore commands would I use to recall 
a file?

I'd like to keep things as simple as possible - people have suggested 
legato and amanda, but for now, I would think/hope dump and restore would 
work.

Thanks.

Scott