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33 .\" @(#)dump.8 8.3 (Berkeley) 5/1/95
34 .\" $FreeBSD: src/sbin/dump/dump.8,v 1.27.2.18 2003/02/23 19:58:23 trhodes Exp $
35 .\" $DragonFly: src/sbin/dump/dump.8,v 1.6 2008/10/16 23:08:30 swildner Exp $
43 .Nd file system backup
46 .Op Fl 0123456789acknSu
61 is an alternate name for
67 option syntax is implemented for backward compatibility, but
68 is not documented here.)
72 utility examines files
74 and determines which files
77 are copied to the given disk, tape or other
78 storage medium for safe keeping (see the
80 option below for doing remote backups).
81 A dump that is larger than the output medium is broken into
83 On most media the size is determined by writing until an
84 end-of-media indication is returned.
90 On media that cannot reliably return an end-of-media indication
91 (such as some cartridge tape drives)
92 each volume is of a fixed size;
93 the actual size is determined by the tape size and density and/or
96 By default, the same output file name is used for each volume
97 after prompting the operator to change media.
99 The file system to be dumped is specified by the argument
101 as either its device-special file or its mount point
102 (if that is in a standard entry in
105 The following options are supported by
110 A level 0, full backup,
111 guarantees the entire file system is copied
115 A level number above 0,
118 copy all files new or modified since the
119 last dump of any lower level.
120 The default level is 0.
123 Bypass all tape length considerations, and enforce writing
124 until an end-of-media indication is returned.
125 This fits best for most modern tape drives.
126 Use of this option is particularly
127 recommended when appending to an existing tape, or using a tape
128 drive with hardware compression (where you can never be sure about
129 the compression ratio).
131 The number of kilobytes per output volume, except that if it is
132 not an integer multiple of the output block size,
133 the command uses the next smaller such multiple.
134 This option overrides the calculation of tape size
135 based on length and density.
136 .It Fl b Ar blocksize
137 The number of kilobytes per output block, except that if it is
138 larger than 64, the command uses 64. (See the BUGS section.)
139 The default block size is 10.
141 Change the defaults for use with a cartridge tape drive, with a density
142 of 8000 bpi, and a length of 1700 feet.
143 .It Fl D Ar dumpdates
144 Specify an alternate path to the
149 .It Fl C Ar cachesize
150 Specify the cache size in megabytes. This will greatly improve performance
153 possibly not noticing changes in the filesystem between passes.
156 forks, and the actual memory use may be larger than the specified cache
157 size. The recommended cache size is between 8 and 32 (megabytes).
161 The default is 1600BPI.
166 may be a special device file
171 (a floppy disk drive),
175 (the standard output).
176 Multiple file names may be given as a single argument separated by commas.
177 Each file will be used for one dump volume in the order listed;
178 if the dump requires more volumes than the number of names given,
179 the last file name will used for all remaining volumes after prompting
181 If the name of the file is of the form
186 writes to the named file on the remote host using
188 The default path name of the remote
191 .\" rmt path, is the path on the remote host
193 this can be overridden by the environment variable
200 only for dumps at or above the given
202 The default honor level is 1,
203 so that incremental backups omit such files
204 but full backups retain them.
206 Use Kerberos authentication to talk to remote tape servers. (Only
207 available if this option was enabled when
213 requires operator attention,
214 notify all operators in the group
216 by means similar to a
219 Attempt to calculate the amount of tape needed
220 at a particular density.
221 If this amount is exceeded,
223 prompts for a new tape.
224 It is recommended to be a bit conservative on this option.
225 The default tape length is 2300 feet.
227 Display an estimate of the backup size and the number of
228 tapes required, and exit without actually performing the dump.
230 Use the specified date as the starting time for the dump
231 instead of the time determined from looking in
235 The format of date is the same as that of
237 This option is useful for automated dump scripts that wish to
238 dump over a specific period of time.
241 option is mutually exclusive from the
248 after a successful dump.
253 is readable by people, consisting of one
254 free format record per line:
260 There may be only one entry per file system at each level.
264 may be edited to change any of the fields,
266 The default path for the
272 option may be used to change it.
274 Tell the operator what file systems need to be dumped.
275 This information is gleaned from the files
283 to print out, for each file system in
287 the most recent dump date and level,
288 and highlights those file systems that should be dumped.
291 option is set, all other options are ignored, and
297 but prints only those file systems which need to be dumped.
300 Directories and regular files which have their
304 set will be omitted along with everything under such directories,
311 utility requires operator intervention on these conditions:
316 disk read error (if there are more than a threshold of 32).
317 In addition to alerting all operators implied by the
321 interacts with the operator on
323 control terminal at times when
325 can no longer proceed,
326 or if something is grossly wrong.
331 be answered by typing
337 Since making a dump involves a lot of time and effort for full dumps,
339 checkpoints itself at the start of each tape volume.
340 If writing that volume fails for some reason,
343 with operator permission,
344 restart itself from the checkpoint
345 after the old tape has been rewound and removed,
346 and a new tape has been mounted.
350 utility tells the operator what is going on at periodic intervals
351 (every 5 minutes, or promptly after receiving
353 including usually low estimates of the number of blocks to write,
354 the number of tapes it will take, the time to completion, and
355 the time to the tape change.
356 The output is verbose,
357 so that others know that the terminal
361 and will be for some time.
363 In the event of a catastrophic disk event, the time required
364 to restore all the necessary backup tapes or files to disk
365 can be kept to a minimum by staggering the incremental dumps.
366 An efficient method of staggering incremental dumps
367 to minimize the number of tapes follows:
368 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
370 Always start with a level 0 backup, for example:
371 .Bd -literal -offset indent
372 /sbin/dump -0u -f /dev/nsa0 /usr/src
375 This should be done at set intervals, say once a month or once every two months,
376 and on a set of fresh tapes that is saved forever.
378 After a level 0, dumps of active file systems are taken on a daily basis,
379 using a modified Tower of Hanoi algorithm,
380 with this sequence of dump levels:
381 .Bd -literal -offset indent
382 3 2 5 4 7 6 9 8 9 9 ...
385 For the daily dumps, it should be possible to use a fixed number of tapes
386 for each day, used on a weekly basis.
387 Each week, a level 1 dump is taken, and
388 the daily Hanoi sequence repeats beginning with 3.
389 For weekly dumps, another fixed set of tapes per dumped file system is
390 used, also on a cyclical basis.
393 After several months or so, the daily and weekly tapes should get
394 rotated out of the dump cycle and fresh tapes brought in.
396 .Bl -tag -width ".Ev TAPE"
398 Device from which to read backup.
400 Pathname of the remote
405 .Bl -tag -width /etc/dumpdates -compact
407 default tape unit to dump to
408 .It Pa /etc/dumpdates
410 (this can be changed;
415 dump table: file systems and frequency
423 Dump exits with zero status on success.
424 Startup errors are indicated with an exit code of 1;
425 abnormal termination is indicated with an exit code of 3.
437 Fewer than 32 read errors on the file system are ignored.
439 Each reel requires a new process, so parent processes for
440 reels already written just hang around until the entire tape
445 slices all requests into chunks of 64 KB.
447 impossible to use a larger output block size, so
449 will prevent this from happening.
457 options does not report file systems that have never been recorded
466 knew about the dump sequence,
467 kept track of the tapes scribbled on,
468 told the operator which tape to mount when,
469 and provided more assistance
470 for the operator running
475 utility cannot do remote backups without being run as root, due to its
477 This may be fixed in a later version of
479 Presently, it works if you set it setuid (like it used to be), but this
480 might constitute a security risk.