xref: /netbsd-src/sbin/dump/dump.8 (revision 81e0d2b0af8485d94ed5da487d4253841a2e6e45)
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31.\"     @(#)dump.8	8.3 (Berkeley) 5/1/95
32.\"
33.Dd May 26, 2003
34.Dt DUMP 8
35.Os
36.Sh NAME
37.Nm dump ,
38.Nm rdump
39.Nd file system backup
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.Nm
42.Op Fl 0123456789aceFnStu
43.Bk -words
44.Op Fl B Ar records
45.Ek
46.Bk -words
47.Op Fl b Ar blocksize
48.Ek
49.Bk -words
50.Op Fl d Ar density
51.Ek
52.Bk -words
53.Op Fl f Ar file
54.Ek
55.Bk -words
56.Op Fl h Ar level
57.Ek
58.Bk -words
59.Op Fl k Ar read-blocksize
60.Ek
61.Bk -words
62.Op Fl L Ar label
63.Ek
64.Bk -words
65.Op Fl l Ar timeout
66.Ek
67.Bk -words
68.Op Fl r Ar cachesize
69.Ek
70.Bk -words
71.Op Fl s Ar feet
72.Ek
73.Bk -words
74.Op Fl T Ar date
75.Ek
76.Ar files-to-dump
77.Nm
78.Op Fl W Li \&| Fl w
79.Pp
80.in -\n(iSu
81(The
82.Bx 4.3
83option syntax is implemented for backward compatibility, but
84is not documented here).
85.Sh DESCRIPTION
86.Nm
87examines files on a file system and determines which files need to
88be backed up.
89These files are copied to the given disk, tape or other storage
90medium for safe keeping (see the
91.Fl f
92option below for doing remote backups).
93A dump that is larger than the output medium is broken into
94multiple volumes.
95On most media the size is determined by writing until an
96end-of-media indication is returned.
97This can be enforced by using the
98.Fl a
99option.
100.Pp
101On media that cannot reliably return an end-of-media indication
102(such as some cartridge tape drives) each volume is of a fixed size;
103the actual size is determined by the tape size and density and/or
104block count options below.
105By default, the same output file name is used for each volume
106after prompting the operator to change media.
107.Pp
108.Ar files-to-dump
109is either a single file system,
110or a list of files and directories on a single file system to be backed
111up as a subset of the file system.
112In the former case,
113.Ar files-to-dump
114may be the device of a file system,
115the path to a currently mounted file system,
116the path to an unmounted file system listed in
117.Pa /etc/fstab ,
118or, if
119.Fl F
120is given, a file system image.
121In the latter case, certain restrictions are placed on the backup:
122.Fl u
123is ignored, the only dump level that is supported is
124.Fl 0 ,
125and all of the files must reside on the same file system.
126.Pp
127The following options are supported by
128.Nm :
129.Bl -tag -width Ds
130.It Fl 0\-9
131Dump levels.
132A level 0, full backup, guarantees the entire file system is copied
133(but see also the
134.Fl h
135option below).
136A level number above 0, incremental backup,
137tells dump to copy all files new or modified since the
138last dump of a lower level.
139The default level is 9.
140.It Fl a
141.Dq auto-size .
142Bypass all tape length considerations, and enforce writing
143until an end-of-media indication is returned.
144This fits best for most modern tape drives.
145Use of this option is particularly recommended when appending to an
146existing tape, or using a tape drive with hardware compression (where
147you can never be sure about the compression ratio).
148.It Fl B Ar records
149The number of kilobytes per volume, rounded
150down to a multiple of the blocksize.
151This option overrides the calculation of tape size
152based on length and density.
153.It Fl b Ar blocksize
154The number of kilobytes per dump record.
155.It Fl c
156Modify the calculation of the default density and tape size to be more
157appropriate for cartridge tapes.
158.It Fl d Ar density
159Set tape density to
160.Ar density .
161The default is 1600 Bits Per Inch (BPI).
162.It Fl e
163Eject tape automatically if a tape change is required.
164.It Fl F
165Indicates that
166.Ar files-to-dump
167is a file system image.
168.It Fl f Ar file
169Write the backup to
170.Ar file ;
171.Ar file
172may be a special device file like
173.Pa /dev/rst0
174(a tape drive),
175.Pa /dev/rsd1c
176(a disk drive),
177an ordinary file, or
178.Ql Fl
179(the standard output).
180Multiple file names may be given as a single argument separated by commas.
181Each file will be used for one dump volume in the order listed;
182if the dump requires more volumes than the number of names given,
183the last file name will used for all remaining volumes after prompting
184for media changes.
185If the name of the file is of the form
186.Qq host:file ,
187or
188.Qq user@host:file ,
189.Nm
190writes to the named file on the remote host using
191.Xr rmt 8 .
192Note that methods more secure than
193.Xr rsh 1
194.Pq such as Xr ssh 1
195can be used to invoke
196.Xr rmt 8
197on the remote host, via the environment variable
198.Ev RCMD_CMD .
199See
200.Xr rcmd 3
201for more details.
202.It Fl h Ar level
203Honor the user
204.Qq nodump
205flag
206.Pq Dv UF_NODUMP
207only for dumps at or above the given
208.Ar level .
209The default honor level is 1,
210so that incremental backups omit such files
211but full backups retain them.
212.It Fl k Ar read blocksize
213The size in kilobyte of the read buffers, rounded up to a multiple of the
214file system block size.
215Default is 32k.
216.It Fl l Ar timeout
217If a tape change is required, eject the tape and wait for the drive to
218be ready again.
219This is to be used with tape changers which automatically load
220the next tape when the tape is ejected.
221If after the timeout (in seconds) the drive is not ready
222.Nm
223falls back to the default behavior,
224and prompts the operator for the next tape.
225.It Fl L Ar label
226The user-supplied text string
227.Ar label
228is placed into the dump header, where tools like
229.Xr restore 8
230and
231.Xr file 1
232can access it.
233Note that this label is limited to be at most LBLSIZE
234(currently 16) characters, which must include the terminating
235.Ql \e0 .
236.It Fl n
237Whenever
238.Nm
239requires operator attention,
240notify all operators in the group
241.Qq operator
242using
243.Xr wall 1 .
244.It Fl r Ar cachesize
245Use that many buffers for read cache operations.
246A value of zero disables the read cache altogether, higher values
247improve read performance by reading larger data blocks from the
248disk and maintaining them in an LRU cache.
249See the
250.Fl k
251option for the size of the buffers.
252Maximum is 512, the size of the cache is
253limited to 15% of the avail RAM by default.
254.It Fl s Ar feet
255Attempt to calculate the amount of tape needed
256at a particular density.
257If this amount is exceeded,
258.Nm
259prompts for a new tape.
260It is recommended to be a bit conservative on this option.
261The default tape length is 2300 feet.
262.It Fl S
263Display an estimate of the backup size and the number of tapes
264required, and exit without actually performing the dump.
265.It Fl t
266All informational log messages printed by
267.Nm
268will have the time prepended to them.
269Also, the completion time interval estimations
270will have the estimated time at which the dump
271will complete printed at the end of the line.
272.It Fl T Ar date
273Use the specified date as the starting time for the dump
274instead of the time determined from looking in
275.Pa /etc/dumpdates .
276The format of date is the same as that of
277.Xr ctime 3 .
278This option is useful for automated dump scripts that wish to
279dump over a specific period of time.
280The
281.Fl T
282option is mutually exclusive from the
283.Fl u
284option.
285.It Fl u
286Update the file
287.Pa /etc/dumpdates
288after a successful dump.
289The format of
290.Pa /etc/dumpdates
291is readable by people, consisting of one
292free format record per line:
293file system name,
294increment level
295and
296.Xr ctime 3
297format dump date.
298There may be only one entry per file system at each level.
299The file
300.Pa /etc/dumpdates
301may be edited to change any of the fields,
302if necessary.
303If a list of files or subdirectories is being dumped
304(as opposed to an entire file system), then
305.Fl u
306is ignored.
307.It Fl W
308.Nm
309tells the operator what file systems need to be dumped.
310This information is gleaned from the files
311.Pa /etc/dumpdates
312and
313.Pa /etc/fstab .
314The
315.Fl W
316option causes
317.Nm
318to print out, for each file system in
319.Pa /etc/dumpdates
320the most recent dump date and level,
321and highlights those file systems that should be dumped.
322If the
323.Fl W
324option is set, all other options are ignored, and
325.Nm
326exits immediately.
327.It Fl w
328Is like W, but prints only those file systems which need to be dumped.
329.El
330.Pp
331If
332.Nm
333honors the
334.Qq nodump
335flag
336.Pq Dv UF_NODUMP ,
337files with the
338.Qq nodump
339flag will not be backed up.
340If a directory has the
341.Qq nodump
342flag, this directory and any file or directory under it will not be backed up.
343.Pp
344.Nm
345requires operator intervention on these conditions:
346end of tape,
347end of dump,
348tape write error,
349tape open error or
350disk read error (if there are more than a threshold of 32).
351In addition to alerting all operators implied by the
352.Fl n
353option,
354.Nm
355interacts with the operator on
356.Nm Ns 's
357control terminal at times when
358.Nm
359can no longer proceed,
360or if something is grossly wrong.
361All questions
362.Nm
363poses
364.Em must
365be answered by typing
366.Qq yes
367or
368.Qq no ,
369appropriately.
370.Pp
371Since making a dump involves a lot of time and effort for full dumps,
372.Nm
373checkpoints itself at the start of each tape volume.
374If writing that volume fails for some reason,
375.Nm
376will,
377with operator permission,
378restart itself from the checkpoint
379after the old tape has been rewound and removed,
380and a new tape has been mounted.
381.Pp
382.Nm
383tells the operator what is going on at periodic intervals,
384including usually low estimates of the number of blocks to write,
385the number of tapes it will take, the time to completion, and
386the time to the tape change.
387The output is verbose,
388so that others know that the terminal
389controlling
390.Nm
391is busy,
392and will be for some time.
393.Pp
394In the event of a catastrophic disk event, the time required
395to restore all the necessary backup tapes or files to disk
396can be kept to a minimum by staggering the incremental dumps.
397An efficient method of staggering incremental dumps
398to minimize the number of tapes follows:
399.Bl -bullet -offset indent
400.It
401Always start with a level 0 backup, for example:
402.Bd -literal -offset indent
403/sbin/dump -0u -f /dev/nrst1 /usr/src
404.Ed
405.Pp
406This should be done at set intervals, say once a month or once every two months,
407and on a set of fresh tapes that is saved forever.
408.It
409After a level 0, dumps of active file
410systems are taken on a daily basis,
411using a modified Tower of Hanoi algorithm,
412with this sequence of dump levels:
413.Bd -literal -offset indent
4143 2 5 4 7 6 9 8 9 9 ...
415.Ed
416.Pp
417For the daily dumps, it should be possible to use a fixed number of tapes
418for each day, used on a weekly basis.
419Each week, a level 1 dump is taken, and
420the daily Hanoi sequence repeats beginning with 3.
421For weekly dumps, another fixed set of tapes per dumped file system is
422used, also on a cyclical basis.
423.El
424.Pp
425After several months or so, the daily and weekly tapes should get
426rotated out of the dump cycle and fresh tapes brought in.
427.Pp
428If
429.Nm
430receives a
431.Dv SIGINFO
432signal
433(see the
434.Qq status
435argument of
436.Xr stty 1 )
437whilst a backup is in progress, statistics on the amount completed,
438current transfer rate, and estimated finished time, will be written
439to the standard error output.
440.Sh ENVIRONMENT
441If the following environment variables exist, they are used by
442.Nm .
443.Bl -tag -width Fl
444.It Ev TAPE
445If no -f option was specified,
446.Nm
447will use the device specified via
448.Ev TAPE
449as the dump device.
450.Ev TAPE
451may be of the form
452.Qq tapename ,
453.Qq host:tapename ,
454or
455.Qq user@host:tapename .
456.It Ev RCMD_CMD
457.Nm
458will use
459.Ev RCMD_CMD
460rather than
461.Xr rsh 1
462to invoke
463.Xr rmt 8
464on the remote machine.
465.It Ev TIMEFORMAT
466can be used to control the format of the timestamps produced by the
467.Fl t
468option.
469.Ev TIMEFORMAT
470is a string containing embedded formatting commands for
471.Xr strftime 3 .
472The total formatted string is limited to about 80 characters, if this
473limit is exceeded then
474.Qo
475ERROR: TIMEFORMAT too long, reverting to default
476.Qc
477will be printed and the time format will revert to the default one.
478If
479.Ev TIMEFORMAT
480is not set then the format string defaults to
481.Qo
482%T %Z
483.Qc
484.El
485.Sh FILES
486.Bl -tag -width /etc/dumpdates -compact
487.It Pa /dev/nrst0
488default tape unit to use.
489Taken from
490.Dv _PATH_DEFTAPE
491in
492.Pa /usr/include/paths.h .
493.It Pa /dev/rst*
494raw SCSI tape interface
495.It Pa /etc/dumpdates
496dump date records
497.It Pa /etc/fstab
498dump table: file systems and frequency
499.It Pa /etc/group
500to find group
501.Em operator
502.El
503.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
504Many, and verbose.
505.Pp
506.Nm
507exits with zero status on success.
508Startup errors are indicated with an exit code of 1;
509abnormal termination is indicated with an exit code of 3.
510.Sh SEE ALSO
511.Xr chflags 1 ,
512.Xr rcmd 1 ,
513.Xr stty 1 ,
514.Xr wall 1 ,
515.Xr fts 3 ,
516.Xr rcmd 3 ,
517.Xr st 4 ,
518.Xr fstab 5 ,
519.Xr environ 7 ,
520.Xr restore 8 ,
521.Xr rmt 8
522.Sh HISTORY
523A
524.Nm
525command appeared in
526.At v6 .
527.Sh BUGS
528Fewer than 32 read errors on the file system are ignored.
529.Pp
530Each reel requires a new process, so parent processes for
531reels already written just hang around until the entire tape
532is written.
533.Pp
534.Nm
535with the
536.Fl W
537or
538.Fl w
539options does not report file systems that have never been recorded
540in
541.Pa /etc/dumpdates ,
542even if listed in
543.Pa /etc/fstab .
544.Pp
545When dumping a list of files or subdirectories, access privileges are
546required to scan the directory (as this is done via the
547.Xr fts 3
548routines rather than directly accessing the file system).
549.Pp
550It would be nice if
551.Nm
552knew about the dump sequence,
553kept track of the tapes scribbled on,
554told the operator which tape to mount when,
555and provided more assistance
556for the operator running
557.Xr restore 8 .
558