- Drakbackup is really just a pretty front end to tar or cpio (Tape ARchiver and
CoPy In/Out). You select what to back up, where to put it, and it does it.
What's in /etc/ is pretty much every _system_ configuration file (users/
groups, network configuration, filesystem configuration/ mount points and the
like.
Use extreme caution when restoring /etc from a different version as things
change (particularly things like /etc/init.d/functions and other files that
create/ define/ run shell scripts and functions) and syntaxes may not "jibe"
For example, /etc/mandrake-release is a simple text file that tells you what
version of the OS you're on... so if you've installed Mandrake 10.0 and you
restore your /etc/ directory from your old 9.1 system, suddenly the system
will be very confused (i.e. it'll think it's 9.1 again, even though all your
installed RPMS would be from version 10.0). Urpmi stores it's config in
/etc/urpmi/ as well.
Generally speaking, I back up everything, but keep a log of where I've stored
data that I'd like to be restored for version upgrades etc.:
/etc/httpd/conf/Vhosts # my Virtual host definitions for apache
/var/www # where the webserver files live
/opt # where "optional" programs are installed, such as 3rd
# part virus scanners (Trend) etc.
/home # This is where everything "user-centric" is stored,
# including settings and preferences for user-space
# apps like Mozilla (bookmarks etc.), everybuddy, etc.
That's about all that I keep from the old version... However, I back
everything up nightly so that in the event of a catastrophic hardware failure,
I should be able to boot from a rescue disk, slap in the backup medium, hit
restore (or type the appropriate tar/ cpio command in) and get my whole system
back onto "virgin" disks with only one boot/ restore/ reboot cycle needed.
And without actually installing a thing. Try that on Windoze!!!
Rubin
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