DrakBackup: Backup and Restore your System and Personal Files

Abstract

This tool allows you to back up any data present on your computer to a backup media either on hard drive, another networked computer, CD/DVD or tape. Once you have defined the files to back up and configured the way to access the backup media, you can run the backup periodically. Then, you can forget about it until you wish to restore some files.

The backup parameters must be defined so that drakbackup knows what, where and when to perform the backup. We will guide you step by step with a backup and restore example using the wizard and then introduce you to automation of periodic backups.

A Practical Example Using the Wizard

Figure 20.13. Main DrakBackup Window

Main DrakBackup Window

Click on the Wizard Configuration button to start the wizard. After making your choices in each step click on the Next -> button to advance to the next step.

First Step: What to Backup.

Figure 20.14. Selecting What to Backup

Selecting What to Backup

Select Backup system to include the /etc/ directory where all your current system configuration files lie. This allows you to “transport” your system to a different computer with little effort: only hardware-dependent configuration will have to be revised.

Note

The “system” backup does not include applications themselves (i.e. executables, libraries). A priori this makes sense because it is likely that you will have access to the system's installation media from which applications can be easily installed again on the target computer.

Select Backup Users to include all the files included in all of your users' home directories. Clicking on the Select user manually will let you select individual users and the following options:

  • Do not include the browser cache. Select this to exclude the web browser's cache from the backup file set. Recommended due to the very nature of the browser's cache.

  • Use Incremental/Differential Backups. Selecting this will preserve old backups. Choosing Use Incremental Backups will only save files that have been changed/added since the last backup operation. Choosing Use Differential Backups will only save files that have been changed/added since the first backup operation (also known as the “base” backup). This last option takes more space than the first one, but allows you to restore the system's state at any given point in time for which a backup operation was made.

Second Step: Where to Store the Backup

Figure 20.15. Selecting Where to Store the Backup

Selecting Where to Store the Backup

Select on Hard Drive to store the backup on the computer's hard disk or any mounted partition whether local or remote (mounted using NFS). Since drakbackup uses a mounted partition as temporary storage space, this option cannot be unselected. Click on the corresponding Configure button to choose the directory for storage and the limit of storage space. The default space limit is 80% of the free space on the chosen partition.

Select across Network to store the backup on a remote computer accessible using one of ssh, FTP, rsync or WebDAV methods. A machine name or IP address, a user name and password on that machine, a directory on that machine, and the access method and its options (if applicable) must be specified by clicking on the corresponding Configure button.

Select on Tape Device to store the backup on a tape drive. Click on the corresponding Configure button to set the tape device and tape parameters such as whether or not to rewind, erase and eject the tape.

Select on CDROM to store the backup on optical media: (re)writable CD or DVD. This is our media of choice for the example, so click on its Configure button to set the needed parameters (Figure 20.16).

Figure 20.16. Setting Optical Media Parameters

Setting Optical Media Parameters

The CD/DVD device will be automatically set (sr0, the usual device for an IDE recorder, in our example). The device name will be available in the Enter your CD Writer device name combo box: it usually is 0,0,0. We chose a 700 MB medium size and a re-writable medium (the CDRW media option is selected).

If the device name is not available, typing cdrecord -scanbus on an open console or terminal window might be of help. Look for the CD/DVD recorder in the output (CD-RW CRX175A1 in the example below): the device name is the three comma separated numbers at its left (0,0,0 in the example below).

    scsibus0:
            0,0,0     0) 'SONY    ' 'CD-RW  CRX175A1 ' '5YS2' Removable CD-ROM
            0,1,0     1) *
            0,2,0     2) *
            0,3,0     3) *
            0,4,0     4) *
            0,5,0     5) *
            0,6,0     6) *
            0,7,0     7) *
   

Re-writable media will be erased before each backup is performed. If you select the Multisession CD option, only the 1st session will erase the media. Session-related information recording takes some space out (20-30 MB) for each session, so the “real data” storage space will actually be less than the medium's size.

Third Step: Review and Store the Configuration

Figure 20.17. Review Configuration Parameters

Review Configuration Parameters

The last wizard step shows a summary of configuration parameters. Use the <- Previous button to change any parameter you are not satisfied with. Once you are satisfied with all parameters, click on the Save button to store them. drakbackup is ready to perform backups.

Performing the Backup

Figure 20.18. Backup Progress Dialog

Backup Progress Dialog

Click on the Backup Now button on drakbackup's main window and then on the Backup Now from configuration file button to display a confirmation dialog with drakbackup's parameters: make sure the corresponding media (the CD-RW disk in our example) is ready and click on the Build Backup to start the backup operation.

A dialog (Figure 20.18) will display the current progress of the operation. Please be patient: the time it takes to backup depends on many factors such as the size of the backup file set, the speed of the storage option selected, etc. Once the operation is finished a report will be shown: look for errors on it and take corrective measures if needed.

Restoring Backups

Figure 20.19. Choosing the Restore Type to Perform

Choosing the Restore Type to Perform

Make sure the media you want to restore the backup from is accessible and ready. Then click on drakbackup's Restore button. In our example we will restore the whole backup so on the restore dialog (Figure 20.19) click on the Restore all backups button. A dialog will show you the current restore settings. Click on the Restore button to start the restoration process.

Warning

All existing files in the target restoration directory (same location where the backup was made from, by default) will be overwritten.

Automating Periodic Backups

Figure 20.20. Daemon Options Window

Daemon Options Window

In drakbackup's main window, click on the Advanced Configuration button and then on the When button. The backup scheduling window will appear (Figure 20.20). Select Use daemon to define the schedule. You will then be asked to specify the interval (or period) between each backup operation and the storage media. In our example we set up a customized calendar (custom period selected) to perform a backup every Friday at a quarter to midnight and store it on CD. You can also specify hourly (i.e.: performed 1 minute after the hour), daily (i.e.: performed at 4:02AM), weekly (performed at 4:22AM) and monthly (performed at 4:42AM) periods instead of custom.

Other DrakBackup Options

Figure 20.21. Miscellaneous Options Window

Miscellaneous Options Window

Click on the Advanced Configuration button and then on the More Options button. The miscellaneous options window will appear (Figure 20.21).

Select the Use .backupignore files option to have drakbackup exclude certain files from the backup. The .backupignore file should be present in every directory of the backup file set where files are to be excluded. Its syntax is very easy: a one-file-per-line list of the names of the files to exclude.

Tip

You can use the star (* = “matches a random string”) and the question mark (? = “matches one and only one character, regardless of what that character is”) in the .backupignore file to exclude sets of files. For example, somename* will match all files whose names start with somename, and image00?.jpg will match files named image001.jpg, image009.jpg, image00a.jpg, image00h.jpg, etc.

Select the Send mail report after each backup to option and fill the e-mail address to have drakbackup mail the backup operation report to that address. Multiple addresses can be used by entering a comma-separated list. Please bear in mind that the system needs to have a working MTA (Mail Transport Agent) for this option to be effective.

All methods other than disk/NFS use the hard disk drive to store temporary files. Select the Delete Hard Drive tar files after backup to other media option to have drakbackup free that space after performing the backup.