xref: /freebsd/sbin/dump/dump.8 (revision 39beb93c)
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29.\"     @(#)dump.8	8.3 (Berkeley) 5/1/95
30.\" $FreeBSD$
31.\"
32.Dd February 24, 2006
33.Dt DUMP 8
34.Os
35.Sh NAME
36.Nm dump ,
37.Nm rdump
38.Nd file system backup
39.Sh SYNOPSIS
40.Nm
41.Op Fl 0123456789acLnrRSu
42.Op Fl B Ar records
43.Op Fl b Ar blocksize
44.Op Fl C Ar cachesize
45.Op Fl D Ar dumpdates
46.Op Fl d Ar density
47.Op Fl f Ar file | Fl P Ar pipecommand
48.Op Fl h Ar level
49.Op Fl s Ar feet
50.Op Fl T Ar date
51.Ar filesystem
52.Nm
53.Fl W | Fl w
54.Pp
55.Nm rdump
56is an alternate name for
57.Nm .
58.Pp
59.in \" XXX
60(The
61.Bx 4.3
62option syntax is implemented for backward compatibility, but
63is not documented here.)
64.Sh DESCRIPTION
65The
66.Nm
67utility examines files
68on a file system
69and determines which files
70need to be backed up.
71These files
72are copied to the given disk, tape or other
73storage medium for safe keeping (see the
74.Fl f
75option below for doing remote backups).
76A dump that is larger than the output medium is broken into
77multiple volumes.
78On most media the size is determined by writing until an
79end-of-media indication is returned.
80This can be enforced
81by using the
82.Fl a
83option.
84.Pp
85On media that cannot reliably return an end-of-media indication
86(such as some cartridge tape drives)
87each volume is of a fixed size;
88the actual size is determined by the tape size and density and/or
89.Fl B
90options.
91By default, the same output file name is used for each volume
92after prompting the operator to change media.
93.Pp
94The file system to be dumped is specified by the argument
95.Ar filesystem
96as either its device-special file or its mount point
97(if that is in a standard entry in
98.Pa /etc/fstab ) .
99.Pp
100The following options are supported by
101.Nm :
102.Bl -tag -width Ds
103.It Fl 0-9
104Dump levels.
105A level 0, full backup,
106guarantees the entire file system is copied
107(but see also the
108.Fl h
109option below).
110A level number above 0,
111incremental backup,
112tells dump to
113copy all files new or modified since the
114last dump of any lower level.
115The default level is 0.
116.It Fl a
117.Dq auto-size .
118Bypass all tape length considerations, and enforce writing
119until an end-of-media indication is returned.
120This fits best for most modern tape drives.
121Use of this option is particularly
122recommended when appending to an existing tape, or using a tape
123drive with hardware compression (where you can never be sure about
124the compression ratio).
125.It Fl B Ar records
126The number of kilobytes per output volume, except that if it is
127not an integer multiple of the output block size,
128the command uses the next smaller such multiple.
129This option overrides the calculation of tape size
130based on length and density.
131.It Fl b Ar blocksize
132The number of kilobytes per output block.
133The default block size is 10.
134.It Fl C Ar cachesize
135Specify the cache size in megabytes.
136This will greatly improve performance
137at the cost of
138.Nm
139possibly not noticing changes in the file system between passes.
140It is
141recommended that you always use this option when dumping a snapshot.
142Beware that
143.Nm
144forks, and the actual memory use may be larger than the specified cache
145size.
146The recommended cache size is between 8 and 32 (megabytes).
147.It Fl c
148Change the defaults for use with a cartridge tape drive, with a density
149of 8000 bpi, and a length of 1700 feet.
150.It Fl D Ar dumpdates
151Specify an alternate path to the
152.Pa dumpdates
153file.
154The default is
155.Pa /etc/dumpdates .
156.It Fl d Ar density
157Set tape density to
158.Ar density .
159The default is 1600BPI.
160.It Fl f Ar file
161Write the backup to
162.Ar file ;
163.Ar file
164may be a special device file
165like
166.Pa /dev/sa0
167(a tape drive),
168.Pa /dev/fd1
169(a floppy disk drive),
170an ordinary file,
171or
172.Sq Fl
173(the standard output).
174Multiple file names may be given as a single argument separated by commas.
175Each file will be used for one dump volume in the order listed;
176if the dump requires more volumes than the number of names given,
177the last file name will used for all remaining volumes after prompting
178for media changes.
179If the name of the file is of the form
180.Dq host:file ,
181or
182.Dq user@host:file ,
183.Nm
184writes to the named file on the remote host using
185.Xr rmt 8 .
186The default path name of the remote
187.Xr rmt 8
188program is
189.\" rmt path, is the path on the remote host
190.Pa /etc/rmt ;
191this can be overridden by the environment variable
192.Ev RMT .
193.It Fl P Ar pipecommand
194Use
195.Xr popen 3
196to execute the
197.Xr sh 1
198script string defined by
199.Ar pipecommand
200for the output device of each volume.
201This child pipeline's
202.Dv stdin
203.Pq Pa /dev/fd/0
204is redirected from the
205.Nm
206output stream, and the environment variable
207.Ev DUMP_VOLUME
208is set to the current volume number being written.
209After every volume, the writer side of the pipe is closed and
210.Ar pipecommand
211is executed again.
212Subject to the media size specified by
213.Fl B ,
214each volume is written in this manner as if the output were a tape drive.
215.It Fl h Ar level
216Honor the user
217.Dq nodump
218flag
219.Pq Dv UF_NODUMP
220only for dumps at or above the given
221.Ar level .
222The default honor level is 1,
223so that incremental backups omit such files
224but full backups retain them.
225.It Fl L
226This option is to notify
227.Nm
228that it is dumping a live file system.
229To obtain a consistent dump image,
230.Nm
231takes a snapshot of the file system in the
232.Pa .snap
233directory in the root of the file system being dumped and
234then does a dump of the snapshot.
235The snapshot is unlinked as soon as the dump starts, and
236is thus removed when the dump is complete.
237This option is ignored for unmounted or read-only file systems.
238If the
239.Pa .snap
240directory does not exist in the root of the file system being dumped,
241a warning will be issued and the
242.Nm
243will revert to the standard behavior.
244This problem can be corrected by creating a
245.Pa .snap
246directory in the root of the file system to be dumped;
247its owner should be
248.Dq Li root ,
249its group should be
250.Dq Li operator ,
251and its mode should be
252.Dq Li 0770 .
253.It Fl n
254Whenever
255.Nm
256requires operator attention,
257notify all operators in the group
258.Dq operator
259by means similar to a
260.Xr wall 1 .
261.It Fl r
262Be rsync-friendly.
263Normally dump stores the date of the current
264and prior dump in numerous places throughout the dump.
265These scattered changes significantly slow down rsync or
266another incremental file transfer program when they are
267used to update a remote copy of a level 0 dump,
268since the date changes for each dump.
269This option sets both dates to the epoch, permitting
270rsync to be much more efficient when transferring a dump file.
271.It Fl R
272Be even more rsync-friendly.
273This option disables the storage of the actual inode access time
274(storing it instead as the inode's modified time).
275This option permits rsync to be even more efficient
276when transferring dumps generated from filesystems with numerous files
277which are not changing other than their access times.
278The
279.Fl R
280option also sets
281.Fl r .
282.It Fl S
283Display an estimate of the backup size and the number of
284tapes required, and exit without actually performing the dump.
285.It Fl s Ar feet
286Attempt to calculate the amount of tape needed
287at a particular density.
288If this amount is exceeded,
289.Nm
290prompts for a new tape.
291It is recommended to be a bit conservative on this option.
292The default tape length is 2300 feet.
293.It Fl T Ar date
294Use the specified date as the starting time for the dump
295instead of the time determined from looking in
296the
297.Pa dumpdates
298file.
299The format of date is the same as that of
300.Xr ctime 3 .
301This option is useful for automated dump scripts that wish to
302dump over a specific period of time.
303The
304.Fl T
305option is mutually exclusive from the
306.Fl u
307option.
308.It Fl u
309Update the
310.Pa dumpdates
311file
312after a successful dump.
313The format of
314the
315.Pa dumpdates
316file
317is readable by people, consisting of one
318free format record per line:
319file system name,
320increment level
321and
322.Xr ctime 3
323format dump date.
324There may be only one entry per file system at each level.
325The
326.Pa dumpdates
327file
328may be edited to change any of the fields,
329if necessary.
330The default path for the
331.Pa dumpdates
332file is
333.Pa /etc/dumpdates ,
334but the
335.Fl D
336option may be used to change it.
337.It Fl W
338Tell the operator what file systems need to be dumped.
339This information is gleaned from the files
340.Pa dumpdates
341and
342.Pa /etc/fstab .
343The
344.Fl W
345option causes
346.Nm
347to print out, for each file system in
348the
349.Pa dumpdates
350file
351the most recent dump date and level,
352and highlights those file systems that should be dumped.
353If the
354.Fl W
355option is set, all other options are ignored, and
356.Nm
357exits immediately.
358.It Fl w
359Is like
360.Fl W ,
361but prints only those file systems which need to be dumped.
362.El
363.Pp
364Directories and regular files which have their
365.Dq nodump
366flag
367.Pq Dv UF_NODUMP
368set will be omitted along with everything under such directories,
369subject to the
370.Fl h
371option.
372.Pp
373The
374.Nm
375utility requires operator intervention on these conditions:
376end of tape,
377end of dump,
378tape write error,
379tape open error or
380disk read error (if there are more than a threshold of 32).
381In addition to alerting all operators implied by the
382.Fl n
383key,
384.Nm
385interacts with the operator on
386.Em dump's
387control terminal at times when
388.Nm
389can no longer proceed,
390or if something is grossly wrong.
391All questions
392.Nm
393poses
394.Em must
395be answered by typing
396.Dq yes
397or
398.Dq no ,
399appropriately.
400.Pp
401Since making a dump involves a lot of time and effort for full dumps,
402.Nm
403checkpoints itself at the start of each tape volume.
404If writing that volume fails for some reason,
405.Nm
406will,
407with operator permission,
408restart itself from the checkpoint
409after the old tape has been rewound and removed,
410and a new tape has been mounted.
411.Pp
412The
413.Nm
414utility tells the operator what is going on at periodic intervals
415(every 5 minutes, or promptly after receiving
416.Dv SIGINFO ) ,
417including usually low estimates of the number of blocks to write,
418the number of tapes it will take, the time to completion, and
419the time to the tape change.
420The output is verbose,
421so that others know that the terminal
422controlling
423.Nm
424is busy,
425and will be for some time.
426.Pp
427In the event of a catastrophic disk event, the time required
428to restore all the necessary backup tapes or files to disk
429can be kept to a minimum by staggering the incremental dumps.
430An efficient method of staggering incremental dumps
431to minimize the number of tapes follows:
432.Bl -bullet -offset indent
433.It
434Always start with a level 0 backup, for example:
435.Bd -literal -offset indent
436/sbin/dump -0u -f /dev/nsa0 /usr/src
437.Ed
438.Pp
439This should be done at set intervals, say once a month or once every two months,
440and on a set of fresh tapes that is saved forever.
441.It
442After a level 0, dumps of active file systems (file systems with files
443that change, depending on your partition layout some file systems may
444contain only data that does not change) are taken on a daily basis,
445using a modified Tower of Hanoi algorithm,
446with this sequence of dump levels:
447.Bd -literal -offset indent
4483 2 5 4 7 6 9 8 9 9 ...
449.Ed
450.Pp
451For the daily dumps, it should be possible to use a fixed number of tapes
452for each day, used on a weekly basis.
453Each week, a level 1 dump is taken, and
454the daily Hanoi sequence repeats beginning with 3.
455For weekly dumps, another fixed set of tapes per dumped file system is
456used, also on a cyclical basis.
457.El
458.Pp
459After several months or so, the daily and weekly tapes should get
460rotated out of the dump cycle and fresh tapes brought in.
461.Sh ENVIRONMENT
462.Bl -tag -width ".Ev TAPE"
463.It Ev TAPE
464The
465.Ar file
466or device to dump to if the
467.Fl f
468option is not used.
469.It Ev RMT
470Pathname of the remote
471.Xr rmt 8
472program.
473.It Ev RSH
474Pathname of a remote shell program, if not
475.Xr rsh 1 .
476.El
477.Sh FILES
478.Bl -tag -width /etc/dumpdates -compact
479.It Pa /dev/sa0
480default tape unit to dump to
481.It Pa /etc/dumpdates
482dump date records
483(this can be changed;
484see the
485.Fl D
486option)
487.It Pa /etc/fstab
488dump table: file systems and frequency
489.It Pa /etc/group
490to find group
491.Em operator
492.El
493.Sh EXIT STATUS
494Dump exits with zero status on success.
495Startup errors are indicated with an exit code of 1;
496abnormal termination is indicated with an exit code of 3.
497.Sh EXAMPLES
498Dumps the
499.Pa /u
500file system to DVDs using
501.Nm growisofs .
502Uses a 16MB cache, creates a snapshot of the dump, and records the
503.Pa dumpdates
504file.
505.Bd -literal
506/sbin/dump -0u  -L -C16 -B4589840 -P 'growisofs -Z /dev/cd0=/dev/fd/0' /u
507.Ed
508.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
509Many, and verbose.
510.Sh SEE ALSO
511.Xr chflags 1 ,
512.Xr fstab 5 ,
513.Xr restore 8 ,
514.Xr rmt 8
515.Sh HISTORY
516A
517.Nm
518utility appeared in
519.At v6 .
520.Sh BUGS
521Fewer than 32 read errors on the file system are ignored, though all
522errors will generate a warning message.
523This is a bit of a compromise.
524In practice, it is possible to generate read errors when doing dumps
525on mounted partitions if the file system is being modified while the
526.Nm
527is running.
528Since dumps are often done in an unattended fashion using
529.Xr cron 8
530jobs asking for Operator intervention would result in the
531.Nm
532dying.
533However, there is nothing wrong with a dump tape written when this sort
534of read error occurs, and there is no reason to terminate the
535.Nm .
536.Pp
537Each reel requires a new process, so parent processes for
538reels already written just hang around until the entire tape
539is written.
540.Pp
541The
542.Nm
543utility with the
544.Fl W
545or
546.Fl w
547options does not report file systems that have never been recorded
548in the
549.Pa dumpdates
550file,
551even if listed in
552.Pa /etc/fstab .
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.Pp
563The
564.Nm
565utility cannot do remote backups without being run as root, due to its
566security history.
567This will be fixed in a later version of
568.Fx .
569Presently, it works if you set it setuid (like it used to be), but this
570might constitute a security risk.
571