xref: /netbsd-src/sbin/dump/dump.8 (revision 8b0f9554ff8762542c4defc4f70e1eb76fb508fa)
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31.\"     @(#)dump.8	8.3 (Berkeley) 5/1/95
32.\"
33.Dd April 19, 2005
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 0123456789aceFnStuX
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.Bk -words
77.Op Fl x Ar snap-backup
78.Ek
79.Ar files-to-dump
80.Nm
81.Op Fl W Li \&| Fl w
82.Pp
83.in -\n(iSu
84(The
85.Bx 4.3
86option syntax is implemented for backward compatibility, but
87is not documented here).
88.Sh DESCRIPTION
89.Nm
90examines files on a file system and determines which files need to
91be backed up.
92These files are copied to the given disk, tape or other storage
93medium for safe keeping (see the
94.Fl f
95option below for doing remote backups).
96A dump that is larger than the output medium is broken into
97multiple volumes.
98On most media the size is determined by writing until an
99end-of-media indication is returned.
100This can be enforced by using the
101.Fl a
102option.
103.Pp
104On media that cannot reliably return an end-of-media indication
105(such as some cartridge tape drives) each volume is of a fixed size;
106the actual size is determined by the tape size and density and/or
107block count options below.
108By default, the same output file name is used for each volume
109after prompting the operator to change media.
110.Pp
111.Ar files-to-dump
112is either a single file system,
113or a list of files and directories on a single file system to be backed
114up as a subset of the file system.
115In the former case,
116.Ar files-to-dump
117may be the device of a file system,
118the path to a currently mounted file system,
119the path to an unmounted file system listed in
120.Pa /etc/fstab ,
121or, if
122.Fl F
123is given, a file system image.
124In the latter case, certain restrictions are placed on the backup:
125.Fl u
126is ignored, the only dump level that is supported is
127.Fl 0 ,
128and all of the files must reside on the same file system.
129.Pp
130The following options are supported by
131.Nm :
132.Bl -tag -width Ds
133.It Fl 0\-9
134Dump levels.
135A level 0, full backup, guarantees the entire file system is copied
136(but see also the
137.Fl h
138option below).
139A level number above 0, incremental backup,
140tells dump to copy all files new or modified since the
141last dump of a lower level.
142The default level is 9.
143.It Fl a
144.Dq auto-size .
145Bypass all tape length considerations, and enforce writing
146until an end-of-media indication is returned.
147This fits best for most modern tape drives.
148Use of this option is particularly recommended when appending to an
149existing tape, or using a tape drive with hardware compression (where
150you can never be sure about the compression ratio).
151.It Fl B Ar records
152The number of kilobytes per volume, rounded
153down to a multiple of the blocksize.
154This option overrides the calculation of tape size
155based on length and density.
156.It Fl b Ar blocksize
157The number of kilobytes per dump record.
158.It Fl c
159Modify the calculation of the default density and tape size to be more
160appropriate for cartridge tapes.
161.It Fl d Ar density
162Set tape density to
163.Ar density .
164The default is 1600 Bits Per Inch (BPI).
165.It Fl e
166Eject tape automatically if a tape change is required.
167.It Fl F
168Indicates that
169.Ar files-to-dump
170is a file system image.
171.It Fl f Ar file
172Write the backup to
173.Ar file ;
174.Ar file
175may be a special device file like
176.Pa /dev/rst0
177(a tape drive),
178.Pa /dev/rsd1c
179(a disk drive),
180an ordinary file, or
181.Ql Fl
182(the standard output).
183Multiple file names may be given as a single argument separated by commas.
184Each file will be used for one dump volume in the order listed;
185if the dump requires more volumes than the number of names given,
186the last file name will used for all remaining volumes after prompting
187for media changes.
188If the name of the file is of the form
189.Qq host:file ,
190or
191.Qq user@host:file ,
192.Nm
193writes to the named file on the remote host using
194.Xr rmt 8 .
195Note that methods more secure than
196.Xr rsh 1
197.Pq such as Xr ssh 1
198can be used to invoke
199.Xr rmt 8
200on the remote host, via the environment variable
201.Ev RCMD_CMD .
202See
203.Xr rcmd 3
204for more details.
205.It Fl h Ar level
206Honor the user
207.Qq nodump
208flag
209.Pq Dv UF_NODUMP
210only for dumps at or above the given
211.Ar level .
212The default honor level is 1,
213so that incremental backups omit such files
214but full backups retain them.
215.It Fl k Ar read-blocksize
216The size in kilobyte of the read buffers, rounded up to a multiple of the
217file system block size.
218Default is 32k.
219.It Fl l Ar timeout
220If a tape change is required, eject the tape and wait for the drive to
221be ready again.
222This is to be used with tape changers which automatically load
223the next tape when the tape is ejected.
224If after the timeout (in seconds) the drive is not ready
225.Nm
226falls back to the default behavior,
227and prompts the operator for the next tape.
228.It Fl L Ar label
229The user-supplied text string
230.Ar label
231is placed into the dump header, where tools like
232.Xr restore 8
233and
234.Xr file 1
235can access it.
236Note that this label is limited to be at most LBLSIZE
237(currently 16) characters, which must include the terminating
238.Ql \e0 .
239.It Fl n
240Whenever
241.Nm
242requires operator attention,
243notify all operators in the group
244.Qq operator
245using
246.Xr wall 1 .
247.It Fl r Ar cachesize
248Use that many buffers for read cache operations.
249A value of zero disables the read cache altogether, higher values
250improve read performance by reading larger data blocks from the
251disk and maintaining them in an LRU cache.
252See the
253.Fl k
254option for the size of the buffers.
255Maximum is 512, the size of the cache is
256limited to 15% of the avail RAM by default.
257.It Fl s Ar feet
258Attempt to calculate the amount of tape needed
259at a particular density.
260If this amount is exceeded,
261.Nm
262prompts for a new tape.
263It is recommended to be a bit conservative on this option.
264The default tape length is 2300 feet.
265.It Fl S
266Display an estimate of the backup size and the number of tapes
267required, and exit without actually performing the dump.
268.It Fl t
269All informational log messages printed by
270.Nm
271will have the time prepended to them.
272Also, the completion time interval estimations
273will have the estimated time at which the dump
274will complete printed at the end of the line.
275.It Fl T Ar date
276Use the specified date as the starting time for the dump
277instead of the time determined from looking in
278.Pa /etc/dumpdates .
279The format of date is the same as that of
280.Xr ctime 3 .
281This option is useful for automated dump scripts that wish to
282dump over a specific period of time.
283The
284.Fl T
285option is mutually exclusive from the
286.Fl u
287option.
288.It Fl u
289Update the file
290.Pa /etc/dumpdates
291after a successful dump.
292The format of
293.Pa /etc/dumpdates
294is readable by people, consisting of one
295free format record per line:
296file system name,
297increment level
298and
299.Xr ctime 3
300format dump date.
301There may be only one entry per file system at each level.
302The file
303.Pa /etc/dumpdates
304may be edited to change any of the fields,
305if necessary.
306If a list of files or subdirectories is being dumped
307(as opposed to an entire file system), then
308.Fl u
309is ignored.
310.It Fl x Ar snap-backup
311Use a snapshot with
312.Ar snap-backup
313as backup for this dump.
314See
315.Xr fss 4
316for more details.
317Snapshot support is
318.Em experimental .
319Be sure you have a backup before you use it.
320.It Fl X
321Similar to
322.Fl x
323but uses a file system internal snapshot on the file system to be dumped.
324.It Fl W
325.Nm
326tells the operator what file systems need to be dumped.
327This information is gleaned from the files
328.Pa /etc/dumpdates
329and
330.Pa /etc/fstab .
331The
332.Fl W
333option causes
334.Nm
335to print out, for each file system in
336.Pa /etc/dumpdates
337the most recent dump date and level,
338and highlights those file systems that should be dumped.
339If the
340.Fl W
341option is set, all other options are ignored, and
342.Nm
343exits immediately.
344.It Fl w
345Is like W, but prints only those file systems which need to be dumped.
346.El
347.Pp
348If
349.Nm
350honors the
351.Qq nodump
352flag
353.Pq Dv UF_NODUMP ,
354files with the
355.Qq nodump
356flag will not be backed up.
357If a directory has the
358.Qq nodump
359flag, this directory and any file or directory under it will not be backed up.
360.Pp
361.Nm
362requires operator intervention on these conditions:
363end of tape,
364end of dump,
365tape write error,
366tape open error or
367disk read error (if there are more than a threshold of 32).
368In addition to alerting all operators implied by the
369.Fl n
370option,
371.Nm
372interacts with the operator on
373.Nm Ns 's
374control terminal at times when
375.Nm
376can no longer proceed,
377or if something is grossly wrong.
378All questions
379.Nm
380poses
381.Em must
382be answered by typing
383.Qq yes
384or
385.Qq no ,
386appropriately.
387.Pp
388Since making a dump involves a lot of time and effort for full dumps,
389.Nm
390checkpoints itself at the start of each tape volume.
391If writing that volume fails for some reason,
392.Nm
393will,
394with operator permission,
395restart itself from the checkpoint
396after the old tape has been rewound and removed,
397and a new tape has been mounted.
398.Pp
399.Nm
400tells the operator what is going on at periodic intervals,
401including usually low estimates of the number of blocks to write,
402the number of tapes it will take, the time to completion, and
403the time to the tape change.
404The output is verbose,
405so that others know that the terminal
406controlling
407.Nm
408is busy,
409and will be for some time.
410.Pp
411In the event of a catastrophic disk event, the time required
412to restore all the necessary backup tapes or files to disk
413can be kept to a minimum by staggering the incremental dumps.
414An efficient method of staggering incremental dumps
415to minimize the number of tapes follows:
416.Bl -bullet -offset indent
417.It
418Always start with a level 0 backup, for example:
419.Bd -literal -offset indent
420/sbin/dump -0u -f /dev/nrst1 /usr/src
421.Ed
422.Pp
423This should be done at set intervals, say once a month or once every two months,
424and on a set of fresh tapes that is saved forever.
425.It
426After a level 0, dumps of active file
427systems are taken on a daily basis,
428using a modified Tower of Hanoi algorithm,
429with this sequence of dump levels:
430.Bd -literal -offset indent
4313 2 5 4 7 6 9 8 9 9 ...
432.Ed
433.Pp
434For the daily dumps, it should be possible to use a fixed number of tapes
435for each day, used on a weekly basis.
436Each week, a level 1 dump is taken, and
437the daily Hanoi sequence repeats beginning with 3.
438For weekly dumps, another fixed set of tapes per dumped file system is
439used, also on a cyclical basis.
440.El
441.Pp
442After several months or so, the daily and weekly tapes should get
443rotated out of the dump cycle and fresh tapes brought in.
444.Pp
445If
446.Nm
447receives a
448.Dv SIGINFO
449signal
450(see the
451.Qq status
452argument of
453.Xr stty 1 )
454whilst a backup is in progress, statistics on the amount completed,
455current transfer rate, and estimated finished time, will be written
456to the standard error output.
457.Sh ENVIRONMENT
458If the following environment variables exist, they are used by
459.Nm .
460.Bl -tag -width Fl
461.It Ev TAPE
462If no -f option was specified,
463.Nm
464will use the device specified via
465.Ev TAPE
466as the dump device.
467.Ev TAPE
468may be of the form
469.Qq tapename ,
470.Qq host:tapename ,
471or
472.Qq user@host:tapename .
473.It Ev RCMD_CMD
474.Nm
475will use
476.Ev RCMD_CMD
477rather than
478.Xr rsh 1
479to invoke
480.Xr rmt 8
481on the remote machine.
482.It Ev TIMEFORMAT
483can be used to control the format of the timestamps produced by the
484.Fl t
485option.
486.Ev TIMEFORMAT
487is a string containing embedded formatting commands for
488.Xr strftime 3 .
489The total formatted string is limited to about 80 characters, if this
490limit is exceeded then
491.Qo
492ERROR: TIMEFORMAT too long, reverting to default
493.Qc
494will be printed and the time format will revert to the default one.
495If
496.Ev TIMEFORMAT
497is not set then the format string defaults to
498.Qo
499%T %Z
500.Qc
501.El
502.Sh FILES
503.Bl -tag -width /etc/dumpdates -compact
504.It Pa /dev/nrst0
505default tape unit to use.
506Taken from
507.Dv _PATH_DEFTAPE
508in
509.Pa /usr/include/paths.h .
510.It Pa /dev/rst*
511raw SCSI tape interface
512.It Pa /etc/dumpdates
513dump date records
514.It Pa /etc/fstab
515dump table: file systems and frequency
516.It Pa /etc/group
517to find group
518.Em operator
519.El
520.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
521Many, and verbose.
522.Pp
523.Nm
524exits with zero status on success.
525Startup errors are indicated with an exit code of 1;
526abnormal termination is indicated with an exit code of 3.
527.Sh SEE ALSO
528.Xr chflags 1 ,
529.Xr rcmd 1 ,
530.Xr stty 1 ,
531.Xr wall 1 ,
532.Xr fts 3 ,
533.Xr rcmd 3 ,
534.Xr fss 4 ,
535.Xr st 4 ,
536.Xr fstab 5 ,
537.Xr environ 7 ,
538.Xr restore 8 ,
539.Xr rmt 8
540.Sh HISTORY
541A
542.Nm
543command appeared in
544.At v6 .
545.Sh BUGS
546Fewer than 32 read errors on the file system are ignored.
547.Pp
548Each reel requires a new process, so parent processes for
549reels already written just hang around until the entire tape
550is written.
551.Pp
552.Nm
553with the
554.Fl W
555or
556.Fl w
557options does not report file systems that have never been recorded
558in
559.Pa /etc/dumpdates ,
560even if listed in
561.Pa /etc/fstab .
562.Pp
563When dumping a list of files or subdirectories, access privileges are
564required to scan the directory (as this is done via the
565.Xr fts 3
566routines rather than directly accessing the file system).
567.Pp
568It would be nice if
569.Nm
570knew about the dump sequence,
571kept track of the tapes scribbled on,
572told the operator which tape to mount when,
573and provided more assistance
574for the operator running
575.Xr restore 8 .
576.Pp
577Snapshot support is
578.Em experimental .
579Be sure you have a backup before you use it.
580