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29 .\" @(#)dump.8 8.3 (Berkeley) 5/1/95
30 .\" $FreeBSD: src/sbin/dump/dump.8,v 1.27.2.18 2003/02/23 19:58:23 trhodes Exp $
32 .Dd September 29, 2016
38 .Nd UFS file system backup
41 .Op Fl 0123456789acknSu
57 utility examines files
59 and determines which files
62 are copied to the given disk, tape or other
63 storage medium for safe keeping (see the
65 option below for doing remote backups).
66 A dump that is larger than the output medium is broken into
68 On most media the size is determined by writing until an
69 end-of-media indication is returned.
75 On media that cannot reliably return an end-of-media indication
76 (such as some cartridge tape drives)
77 each volume is of a fixed size;
78 the actual size is determined by the tape size and density and/or
81 By default, the same output file name is used for each volume
82 after prompting the operator to change media.
84 The file system to be dumped is specified by the argument
86 as either its device-special file or its mount point
87 (if that is in a standard entry in
91 may also be invoked as
95 option syntax is implemented for backward compatibility, but
96 is not documented here.
98 The following options are supported by
103 A level 0, full backup,
104 guarantees the entire file system is copied
108 A level number above 0,
111 copy all files new or modified since the
112 last dump of any lower level.
113 The default level is 0.
116 Bypass all tape length considerations, and enforce writing
117 until an end-of-media indication is returned.
118 This fits best for most modern tape drives.
119 Use of this option is particularly
120 recommended when appending to an existing tape, or using a tape
121 drive with hardware compression (where you can never be sure about
122 the compression ratio).
124 The number of kilobytes per output volume, except that if it is
125 not an integer multiple of the output block size,
126 the command uses the next smaller such multiple.
127 This option overrides the calculation of tape size
128 based on length and density.
129 .It Fl b Ar blocksize
130 The number of kilobytes per output block, except that if it is
131 larger than 64, the command uses 64. (See the BUGS section.)
132 The default block size is 10.
134 Change the defaults for use with a cartridge tape drive, with a density
135 of 8000 bpi, and a length of 1700 feet.
136 .It Fl D Ar dumpdates
137 Specify an alternate path to the
142 .It Fl C Ar cachesize
143 Specify the cache size in megabytes. This will greatly improve performance
146 possibly not noticing changes in the filesystem between passes.
149 forks, and the actual memory use may be larger than the specified cache
150 size. The recommended cache size is between 8 and 32 (megabytes).
154 The default is 1600BPI.
159 may be a special device file
164 (a floppy disk drive),
168 (the standard output).
169 Multiple file names may be given as a single argument separated by commas.
170 Each file will be used for one dump volume in the order listed;
171 if the dump requires more volumes than the number of names given,
172 the last file name will used for all remaining volumes after prompting
174 If the name of the file is of the form
179 writes to the named file on the remote host using
181 The default path name of the remote
184 .\" rmt path, is the path on the remote host
186 this can be overridden by the environment variable
193 only for dumps at or above the given
195 The default honor level is 1,
196 so that incremental backups omit such files
197 but full backups retain them.
199 Use Kerberos authentication to talk to remote tape servers. (Only
200 available if this option was enabled when
206 requires operator attention,
207 notify all operators in the group
209 by means similar to a
212 Attempt to calculate the amount of tape needed
213 at a particular density.
214 If this amount is exceeded,
216 prompts for a new tape.
217 It is recommended to be a bit conservative on this option.
218 The default tape length is 2300 feet.
220 Display an estimate of the backup size and the number of
221 tapes required, and exit without actually performing the dump.
223 Use the specified date as the starting time for the dump
224 instead of the time determined from looking in
228 The format of date is the same as that of
230 This option is useful for automated dump scripts that wish to
231 dump over a specific period of time.
234 option is mutually exclusive from the
241 after a successful dump.
246 is readable by people, consisting of one
247 free format record per line:
253 There may be only one entry per file system at each level.
257 may be edited to change any of the fields,
259 The default path for the
265 option may be used to change it.
267 Tell the operator what file systems need to be dumped.
268 This information is gleaned from the files
276 to print out, for each file system in
280 the most recent dump date and level,
281 and highlights those file systems that should be dumped.
284 option is set, all other options are ignored, and
290 but prints only those file systems which need to be dumped.
293 Directories and regular files which have their
297 set will be omitted along with everything under such directories,
304 utility requires operator intervention on these conditions:
309 disk read error (if there are more than a threshold of 32).
310 In addition to alerting all operators implied by the
314 interacts with the operator on
316 control terminal at times when
318 can no longer proceed,
319 or if something is grossly wrong.
324 be answered by typing
330 Since making a dump involves a lot of time and effort for full dumps,
332 checkpoints itself at the start of each tape volume.
333 If writing that volume fails for some reason,
336 with operator permission,
337 restart itself from the checkpoint
338 after the old tape has been rewound and removed,
339 and a new tape has been mounted.
343 utility tells the operator what is going on at periodic intervals
344 (every 5 minutes, or promptly after receiving
346 including usually low estimates of the number of blocks to write,
347 the number of tapes it will take, the time to completion, and
348 the time to the tape change.
349 The output is verbose,
350 so that others know that the terminal
354 and will be for some time.
356 In the event of a catastrophic disk event, the time required
357 to restore all the necessary backup tapes or files to disk
358 can be kept to a minimum by staggering the incremental dumps.
359 An efficient method of staggering incremental dumps
360 to minimize the number of tapes follows:
361 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
363 Always start with a level 0 backup, for example:
364 .Bd -literal -offset indent
365 /sbin/dump -0u -f /dev/nsa0 /usr/src
368 This should be done at set intervals, say once a month or once every two months,
369 and on a set of fresh tapes that is saved forever.
371 After a level 0, dumps of active file systems are taken on a daily basis,
372 using a modified Tower of Hanoi algorithm,
373 with this sequence of dump levels:
374 .Bd -literal -offset indent
375 3 2 5 4 7 6 9 8 9 9 ...
378 For the daily dumps, it should be possible to use a fixed number of tapes
379 for each day, used on a weekly basis.
380 Each week, a level 1 dump is taken, and
381 the daily Hanoi sequence repeats beginning with 3.
382 For weekly dumps, another fixed set of tapes per dumped file system is
383 used, also on a cyclical basis.
386 After several months or so, the daily and weekly tapes should get
387 rotated out of the dump cycle and fresh tapes brought in.
389 .Bl -tag -width ".Ev TAPE"
391 Device from which to read backup.
393 Pathname of the remote
398 .Bl -tag -width /etc/dumpdates -compact
400 default tape unit to dump to
401 .It Pa /etc/dumpdates
403 (this can be changed;
408 dump table: file systems and frequency
414 Dump exits with zero status on success.
415 Startup errors are indicated with an exit code of 1;
416 abnormal termination is indicated with an exit code of 3.
431 Fewer than 32 read errors on the file system are ignored.
433 Each reel requires a new process, so parent processes for
434 reels already written just hang around until the entire tape
439 slices all requests into chunks of 64 KB.
441 impossible to use a larger output block size, so
443 will prevent this from happening.
451 options does not report file systems that have never been recorded
460 knew about the dump sequence,
461 kept track of the tapes scribbled on,
462 told the operator which tape to mount when,
463 and provided more assistance
464 for the operator running
469 utility cannot do remote backups without being run as root, due to its
471 This may be fixed in a later version of
473 Presently, it works if you set it setuid (like it used to be), but this
474 might constitute a security risk.