xref: /netbsd-src/sbin/dump/dump.8 (revision d710132b4b8ce7f7cccaaf660cb16aa16b4077a0)
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35.\"     @(#)dump.8	8.3 (Berkeley) 5/1/95
36.\"
37.Dd May 26, 2003
38.Dt DUMP 8
39.Os
40.Sh NAME
41.Nm dump ,
42.Nm rdump
43.Nd file system backup
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.Nm
46.Op Fl 0123456789aceFnStu
47.Bk -words
48.Op Fl B Ar records
49.Ek
50.Bk -words
51.Op Fl b Ar blocksize
52.Ek
53.Bk -words
54.Op Fl d Ar density
55.Ek
56.Bk -words
57.Op Fl f Ar file
58.Ek
59.Bk -words
60.Op Fl h Ar level
61.Ek
62.Bk -words
63.Op Fl k Ar read-blocksize
64.Ek
65.Bk -words
66.Op Fl L Ar label
67.Ek
68.Bk -words
69.Op Fl l Ar timeout
70.Ek
71.Bk -words
72.Op Fl r Ar cachesize
73.Ek
74.Bk -words
75.Op Fl s Ar feet
76.Ek
77.Bk -words
78.Op Fl T Ar date
79.Ek
80.Ar files-to-dump
81.Nm
82.Op Fl W Li \&| Fl w
83.Pp
84.in -\n(iSu
85(The
86.Bx 4.3
87option syntax is implemented for backward compatibility, but
88is not documented here).
89.Sh DESCRIPTION
90.Nm
91examines files on a file system and determines which files need to
92be backed up.
93These files are copied to the given disk, tape or other storage
94medium for safe keeping (see the
95.Fl f
96option below for doing remote backups).
97A dump that is larger than the output medium is broken into
98multiple volumes.
99On most media the size is determined by writing until an
100end-of-media indication is returned.
101This can be enforced by using the
102.Fl a
103option.
104.Pp
105On media that cannot reliably return an end-of-media indication
106(such as some cartridge tape drives) each volume is of a fixed size;
107the actual size is determined by the tape size and density and/or
108block count options below.
109By default, the same output file name is used for each volume
110after prompting the operator to change media.
111.Pp
112.Ar files-to-dump
113is either a single file system,
114or a list of files and directories on a single file system to be backed
115up as a subset of the file system.
116In the former case,
117.Ar files-to-dump
118may be the device of a file system,
119the path to a currently mounted file system,
120the path to an unmounted file system listed in
121.Pa /etc/fstab ,
122or, if
123.Fl F
124is given, a file system image.
125In the latter case, certain restrictions are placed on the backup:
126.Fl u
127is ignored, the only dump level that is supported is
128.Fl 0 ,
129and all of the files must reside on the same file system.
130.Pp
131The following options are supported by
132.Nm :
133.Bl -tag -width Ds
134.It Fl 0\-9
135Dump levels.
136A level 0, full backup, guarantees the entire file system is copied
137(but see also the
138.Fl h
139option below).
140A level number above 0, incremental backup,
141tells dump to copy all files new or modified since the
142last dump of a lower level.
143The default level is 9.
144.It Fl a
145.Dq auto-size .
146Bypass all tape length considerations, and enforce writing
147until an end-of-media indication is returned.
148This fits best for most modern tape drives.
149Use of this option is particularly recommended when appending to an
150existing tape, or using a tape drive with hardware compression (where
151you can never be sure about the compression ratio).
152.It Fl B Ar records
153The number of kilobytes per volume, rounded
154down to a multiple of the blocksize.
155This option overrides the calculation of tape size
156based on length and density.
157.It Fl b Ar blocksize
158The number of kilobytes per dump record.
159.It Fl c
160Modify the calculation of the default density and tape size to be more
161appropriate for cartridge tapes.
162.It Fl d Ar density
163Set tape density to
164.Ar density .
165The default is 1600 Bits Per Inch (BPI).
166.It Fl e
167Eject tape automatically if a tape change is required.
168.It Fl F
169Indicates that
170.Ar files-to-dump
171is a file system image.
172.It Fl f Ar file
173Write the backup to
174.Ar file ;
175.Ar file
176may be a special device file like
177.Pa /dev/rst0
178(a tape drive),
179.Pa /dev/rsd1c
180(a disk drive),
181an ordinary file, or
182.Ql Fl
183(the standard output).
184Multiple file names may be given as a single argument separated by commas.
185Each file will be used for one dump volume in the order listed;
186if the dump requires more volumes than the number of names given,
187the last file name will used for all remaining volumes after prompting
188for media changes.
189If the name of the file is of the form
190.Qq host:file ,
191or
192.Qq user@host:file ,
193.Nm
194writes to the named file on the remote host using
195.Xr rmt 8 .
196Note that methods more secure than
197.Xr rsh 1
198.Pq such as Xr ssh 1
199can be used to invoke
200.Xr rmt 8
201on the remote host, via the environment variable
202.Ev RCMD_CMD .
203See
204.Xr rcmd 3
205for more details.
206.It Fl h Ar level
207Honor the user
208.Qq nodump
209flag
210.Pq Dv UF_NODUMP
211only for dumps at or above the given
212.Ar level .
213The default honor level is 1,
214so that incremental backups omit such files
215but full backups retain them.
216.It Fl k Ar read blocksize
217The size in kilobyte of the read buffers, rounded up to a multiple of the
218file system block size.
219Default is 32k.
220.It Fl l Ar timeout
221If a tape change is required, eject the tape and wait for the drive to
222be ready again.
223This is to be used with tape changers which automatically load
224the next tape when the tape is ejected.
225If after the timeout (in seconds) the drive is not ready
226.Nm
227falls back to the default behavior,
228and prompts the operator for the next tape.
229.It Fl L Ar label
230The user-supplied text string
231.Ar label
232is placed into the dump header, where tools like
233.Xr restore 8
234and
235.Xr file 1
236can access it.
237Note that this label is limited to be at most LBLSIZE
238(currently 16) characters, which must include the terminating
239.Ql \e0 .
240.It Fl n
241Whenever
242.Nm
243requires operator attention,
244notify all operators in the group
245.Qq operator
246using
247.Xr wall 1 .
248.It Fl r Ar cachesize
249Use that many buffers for read cache operations.
250A value of zero disables the read cache altogether, higher values
251improve read performance by reading larger data blocks from the
252disk and maintaining them in an LRU cache.
253See the
254.Fl k
255option for the size of the buffers.
256Maximum is 512, the size of the cache is
257limited to 15% of the avail RAM by default.
258.It Fl s Ar feet
259Attempt to calculate the amount of tape needed
260at a particular density.
261If this amount is exceeded,
262.Nm
263prompts for a new tape.
264It is recommended to be a bit conservative on this option.
265The default tape length is 2300 feet.
266.It Fl S
267Display an estimate of the backup size and the number of tapes
268required, and exit without actually performing the dump.
269.It Fl t
270All informational log messages printed by
271.Nm
272will have the time prepended to them.
273Also, the completion time interval estimations
274will have the estimated time at which the dump
275will complete printed at the end of the line.
276.It Fl T Ar date
277Use the specified date as the starting time for the dump
278instead of the time determined from looking in
279.Pa /etc/dumpdates .
280The format of date is the same as that of
281.Xr ctime 3 .
282This option is useful for automated dump scripts that wish to
283dump over a specific period of time.
284The
285.Fl T
286option is mutually exclusive from the
287.Fl u
288option.
289.It Fl u
290Update the file
291.Pa /etc/dumpdates
292after a successful dump.
293The format of
294.Pa /etc/dumpdates
295is readable by people, consisting of one
296free format record per line:
297file system name,
298increment level
299and
300.Xr ctime 3
301format dump date.
302There may be only one entry per file system at each level.
303The file
304.Pa /etc/dumpdates
305may be edited to change any of the fields,
306if necessary.
307If a list of files or subdirectories is being dumped
308(as opposed to an entire file system), then
309.Fl u
310is ignored.
311.It Fl W
312.Nm
313tells the operator what file systems need to be dumped.
314This information is gleaned from the files
315.Pa /etc/dumpdates
316and
317.Pa /etc/fstab .
318The
319.Fl W
320option causes
321.Nm
322to print out, for each file system in
323.Pa /etc/dumpdates
324the most recent dump date and level,
325and highlights those file systems that should be dumped.
326If the
327.Fl W
328option is set, all other options are ignored, and
329.Nm
330exits immediately.
331.It Fl w
332Is like W, but prints only those file systems which need to be dumped.
333.El
334.Pp
335If
336.Nm
337honors the
338.Qq nodump
339flag
340.Pq Dv UF_NODUMP ,
341files with the
342.Qq nodump
343flag will not be backed up.
344If a directory has the
345.Qq nodump
346flag, this directory and any file or directory under it will not be backed up.
347.Pp
348.Nm
349requires operator intervention on these conditions:
350end of tape,
351end of dump,
352tape write error,
353tape open error or
354disk read error (if there are more than a threshold of 32).
355In addition to alerting all operators implied by the
356.Fl n
357option,
358.Nm
359interacts with the operator on
360.Nm Ns 's
361control terminal at times when
362.Nm
363can no longer proceed,
364or if something is grossly wrong.
365All questions
366.Nm
367poses
368.Em must
369be answered by typing
370.Qq yes
371or
372.Qq no ,
373appropriately.
374.Pp
375Since making a dump involves a lot of time and effort for full dumps,
376.Nm
377checkpoints itself at the start of each tape volume.
378If writing that volume fails for some reason,
379.Nm
380will,
381with operator permission,
382restart itself from the checkpoint
383after the old tape has been rewound and removed,
384and a new tape has been mounted.
385.Pp
386.Nm
387tells the operator what is going on at periodic intervals,
388including usually low estimates of the number of blocks to write,
389the number of tapes it will take, the time to completion, and
390the time to the tape change.
391The output is verbose,
392so that others know that the terminal
393controlling
394.Nm
395is busy,
396and will be for some time.
397.Pp
398In the event of a catastrophic disk event, the time required
399to restore all the necessary backup tapes or files to disk
400can be kept to a minimum by staggering the incremental dumps.
401An efficient method of staggering incremental dumps
402to minimize the number of tapes follows:
403.Bl -bullet -offset indent
404.It
405Always start with a level 0 backup, for example:
406.Bd -literal -offset indent
407/sbin/dump -0u -f /dev/nrst1 /usr/src
408.Ed
409.Pp
410This should be done at set intervals, say once a month or once every two months,
411and on a set of fresh tapes that is saved forever.
412.It
413After a level 0, dumps of active file
414systems are taken on a daily basis,
415using a modified Tower of Hanoi algorithm,
416with this sequence of dump levels:
417.Bd -literal -offset indent
4183 2 5 4 7 6 9 8 9 9 ...
419.Ed
420.Pp
421For the daily dumps, it should be possible to use a fixed number of tapes
422for each day, used on a weekly basis.
423Each week, a level 1 dump is taken, and
424the daily Hanoi sequence repeats beginning with 3.
425For weekly dumps, another fixed set of tapes per dumped file system is
426used, also on a cyclical basis.
427.El
428.Pp
429After several months or so, the daily and weekly tapes should get
430rotated out of the dump cycle and fresh tapes brought in.
431.Pp
432If
433.Nm
434receives a
435.Dv SIGINFO
436signal
437(see the
438.Qq status
439argument of
440.Xr stty 1 )
441whilst a backup is in progress, statistics on the amount completed,
442current transfer rate, and estimated finished time, will be written
443to the standard error output.
444.Sh ENVIRONMENT
445If the following environment variables exist, they are used by
446.Nm .
447.Bl -tag -width Fl
448.It Ev TAPE
449If no -f option was specified,
450.Nm
451will use the device specified via
452.Ev TAPE
453as the dump device.
454.Ev TAPE
455may be of the form
456.Qq tapename ,
457.Qq host:tapename ,
458or
459.Qq user@host:tapename .
460.It Ev RCMD_CMD
461.Nm
462will use
463.Ev RCMD_CMD
464rather than
465.Xr rsh 1
466to invoke
467.Xr rmt 8
468on the remote machine.
469.It Ev TIMEFORMAT
470can be used to control the format of the timestamps produced by the
471.Fl t
472option.
473.Ev TIMEFORMAT
474is a string containing embedded formatting commands for
475.Xr strftime 3 .
476The total formatted string is limited to about 80 characters, if this
477limit is exceeded then
478.Qo
479ERROR: TIMEFORMAT too long, reverting to default
480.Qc
481will be printed and the time format will revert to the default one.
482If
483.Ev TIMEFORMAT
484is not set then the format string defaults to
485.Qo
486%T %Z
487.Qc
488.El
489.Sh FILES
490.Bl -tag -width /etc/dumpdates -compact
491.It Pa /dev/nrst0
492default tape unit to use.
493Taken from
494.Dv _PATH_DEFTAPE
495in
496.Pa /usr/include/paths.h .
497.It Pa /dev/rst*
498raw SCSI tape interface
499.It Pa /etc/dumpdates
500dump date records
501.It Pa /etc/fstab
502dump table: file systems and frequency
503.It Pa /etc/group
504to find group
505.Em operator
506.El
507.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
508Many, and verbose.
509.Pp
510.Nm
511exits with zero status on success.
512Startup errors are indicated with an exit code of 1;
513abnormal termination is indicated with an exit code of 3.
514.Sh SEE ALSO
515.Xr chflags 1 ,
516.Xr rcmd 1 ,
517.Xr stty 1 ,
518.Xr wall 1 ,
519.Xr fts 3 ,
520.Xr rcmd 3 ,
521.Xr st 4 ,
522.Xr fstab 5 ,
523.Xr environ 7 ,
524.Xr restore 8 ,
525.Xr rmt 8
526.Sh HISTORY
527A
528.Nm
529command appeared in
530.At v6 .
531.Sh BUGS
532Fewer than 32 read errors on the file system are ignored.
533.Pp
534Each reel requires a new process, so parent processes for
535reels already written just hang around until the entire tape
536is written.
537.Pp
538.Nm
539with the
540.Fl W
541or
542.Fl w
543options does not report file systems that have never been recorded
544in
545.Pa /etc/dumpdates ,
546even if listed in
547.Pa /etc/fstab .
548.Pp
549When dumping a list of files or subdirectories, access privileges are
550required to scan the directory (as this is done via the
551.Xr fts 3
552routines rather than directly accessing the file system).
553.Pp
554It would be nice if
555.Nm
556knew about the dump sequence,
557kept track of the tapes scribbled on,
558told the operator which tape to mount when,
559and provided more assistance
560for the operator running
561.Xr restore 8 .
562