Backup Central

Hi,

I use rdiff-backup and it normally does a good
job.

Why would this command:

$ rdiff-backup -v9 --exclude /c \
--exclude /mnt/dos \
--exclude /mnt/dos_backup \
--exclude /mnt/backup \
--exclude /tmp \
--exclude /var/tmp \
--exclude /var/cache/apt/archives/ \
--exclude /proc \
/ \
/mnt/backup \

Quote:

Quote:

/var/log/mirror_backup \

2>> /var/log/mirror_backup.err ; rdiff-backup returned $?

return this error message:

Fatal Error: Source directory returned does not exist

from version 0.13.4-5 after running for about half
an hour?

Details that might help...

1.) The error message wasn't in stdout or stderr.
It went right to the terminal's command line.

2.) The end of /var/log/mirror_backup is:

[...]
Tue Jun 7 12:58:26 2005 Setting time of /mnt/backup/var to 1096436651
Tue Jun 7 12:58:26 2005 Copying attributes from () to /mnt/backup
Tue Jun 7 12:58:26 2005 Setting time of /mnt/backup to 1116366196
Tue Jun 7 12:58:28 2005 Deleting /mnt/backup/rdiff-backup-data/current_mirror.2005-06-05T01:41:36-07:00.data
Tue Jun 7 12:58:28 2005 Cleaning up

3.) The beginning of /var/log/mirror_backup.err is:

A regular file was indicated by the metadata, but could not be
constructed from existing increments because last increment had type
None. Instead of the actual file's data, an empty length file will be
created. This error is probably caused by data loss in the
rdiff-backup destination directory, or a bug in rdiff-backup
Tue Jun 7 12:25:31 2005 Warning: Could not restore file /mnt/backup/usr/share/doc/motifnls/copyright!
[...]

4.) The end of /var/log/mirror_backup.err is:

[...]
Tue Jun 7 12:40:47 2005 UpdateError sys/module/videodev/sections/__ksymtab_strings Updated mirror temp file /mnt/backup/sys/module/videodev/sections/rdiff-backup.tmp.7068 does not match source
Tue Jun 7 12:40:47 2005 UpdateError sys/module/videodev/sections/__versions Updated mirror temp file /mnt/backup/sys/module/videodev/sections/rdiff-backup.tmp.7069 does not match source
Tue Jun 7 12:40:47 2005 UpdateError sys/power/state Updated mirror temp file /mnt/backup/sys/power/rdiff-backup.tmp.7070 does not match source
Tue Jun 7 12:54:54 2005 SpecialFileError var/run/ptal-mlcd/par:hp_color_LaserJet_2550_series Socket error: AF_UNIX path too long
Tue Jun 7 12:54:55 2005 SpecialFileError var/run/uml-utilities/uml_switch.ctl Socket error: AF_UNIX path too long

Thanks,
Kingsley

On Tue, 2005-06-07 at 18:58, Kingsley G. Morse Jr. wrote:

Quote:

$ rdiff-backup -v9 --exclude /c \
--exclude /mnt/dos \
--exclude /mnt/dos_backup \
--exclude /mnt/backup \
--exclude /tmp \
--exclude /var/tmp \
--exclude /var/cache/apt/archives/ \
--exclude /proc \

You need to add /sys, /dev, and various parts of /var to this exclude
list.

Quote:

4.) The end of /var/log/mirror_backup.err is:

[...]
Tue Jun 7 12:40:47 2005 UpdateError sys/module/videodev/sections/__ksymtab_strings Updated mirror temp file /mnt/backup/sys/module/videodev/sections/rdiff-backup.tmp.7068 does not match source
Tue Jun 7 12:40:47 2005 UpdateError sys/module/videodev/sections/__versions Updated mirror temp file /mnt/backup/sys/module/videodev/sections/rdiff-backup.tmp.7069 does not match source
Tue Jun 7 12:40:47 2005 UpdateError sys/power/state Updated mirror temp file /mnt/backup/sys/power/rdiff-backup.tmp.7070 does not match source

Quote:

Tue Jun 7 12:54:54 2005 SpecialFileError var/run/ptal-mlcd/par:hp_color_LaserJet_2550_series Socket error: AF_UNIX path too long

This file won't backup to well with most anything - its a socket.

Quote:

Tue Jun 7 12:54:55 2005 SpecialFileError var/run/uml-utilities/uml_switch.ctl Socket error: AF_UNIX path too long

Same here.

Different sysadmins have different ideas on the subject, but with the
complexity of whats located at the / and /var and some other filesystems
these days, instead of backing up / and trying to exclude the things
that break, I typically try to backup just the things I know are data.

For a debian system I'm not certain what that might be, but you might
have more luck _just_ backing up
/etc, /root, /srv [newer systems], /home and /usr/local.

--
Hunter Matthews Unix / Network Administrator
Office: BioScience 145/244 Duke Univ. Biology Department
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