Toolserver:Admin:Backups

We take backups of the various important data stored on the toolserver.

All backups go to hemlock:/aux0. We are investigating options for off-site storage of backups (e.g. Amazon S3).

Home directories (/home)

 * backup script runs on either turnera or damiana, depending on which is the active NFS server.
 * backup script is /opt/local/bin/run-home-backup and runs from cron at 0005h.
 * backups are incremental, with a full backup on Tuesday
 * backups are copied to hemlock:/aux0/backups/YYYY-MM-DD/ /home/YYYY-MM-DD.genX.vx.gz

Restoring a deleted file
Sometimes users ask us to restore deleted files from backups. This is currently fairly intricate; use the following procedure:

Firstly, start with the most recent backup (i.e. yesterday's). If the file isn't found, go back to the previous day's and try again.

To extract a list of files with known names: Verify tape and initialize maps Dump    date: Fri Mar 05 05:00:03 2010 Dumped from: Thu Mar 04 05:00:02 2010 level 3 dump of /global/home-backup on /dev/vx/rdsk/disks/home Extract directories from tape Initialize symbol table. Make node ./rriver Extract requested files extract file ./rriver/.viminfo Add links Set directory mode, owner, and times. set owner/mode for '.'? [yn] n
 * 1) cd /aux0/backups/2010-03-05/turnera/home
 * 2) gzip -dc 2010-03-05.gen3.vx.gz | vxrestore xvf - rriver/.viminfo

This will extract the files into the current directory. Copy them to the appropriate user directories. You can specify as many filenames as you like on the vxrestore commandline.

Or, to interactively extract files if you don't know the exact name: Verify tape and initialize maps Dump    date: Fri Mar 05 05:00:03 2010 Dumped from: Thu Mar 04 05:00:02 2010 level 3 dump of /global/home-backup on /dev/vx/rdsk/disks/home Extract directories from tape Initialize symbol table. vxrestore > vxrestore > cd /river vxrestore > ls deletedfile 3789783 deletedfile vxrestore > add deletedfile vxrestore > extract set owner/mode for '.'? [yn] n vxrestore > quit
 * Invoke vxrestore in interactive mode:
 * 1) cd /aux0/backups/2010-03-05/turnera/home
 * 2) gzip -dc 2010-03-05.gen3.vx.gz | vxrestore vif -
 * Use the cd and ls command to navigate around the backup tree. If the file you're looking for is found, add it to the extraction list:
 * You can add as many files as you want. Once you're done, extract the files:
 * This will extract the files into the current directory. Copy them to the appropriate user directories.

User/MMT databases
User databases are backup up nightly. The backup script is in /opt/local/bin/run-user-db-backups and runs on each server at 0330h. Backups are copied to hemlock:/aux0/backups/YYYY-MM-DD/ /user-databases/ .sql.gz.