xref: /freebsd/sbin/dump/dump.8 (revision 51e16cb8fc536913f490ac6bc9c17e92ebd0411b)
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29.Dd December 28, 2020
30.Dt DUMP 8
31.Os
32.Sh NAME
33.Nm dump ,
34.Nm rdump
35.Nd file system backup
36.Sh SYNOPSIS
37.Nm
38.Op Fl 0123456789acLnrRSu
39.Op Fl B Ar records
40.Op Fl b Ar blocksize
41.Op Fl C Ar cachesize
42.Op Fl D Ar dumpdates
43.Op Fl d Ar density
44.Op Fl f Ar file | Fl P Ar pipecommand
45.Op Fl h Ar level
46.Op Fl s Ar feet
47.Op Fl T Ar date
48.Ar filesystem
49.Nm
50.Fl W | Fl w
51.Sh DESCRIPTION
52The
53.Nm
54utility examines files
55on a file system
56and determines which files
57need to be backed up.
58These files
59are copied to the given disk, tape or other
60storage medium for safe keeping (see the
61.Fl f
62option below for doing remote backups).
63A dump that is larger than the output medium is broken into
64multiple volumes.
65On most media the size is determined by writing until an
66end-of-media indication is returned.
67This can be enforced
68by using the
69.Fl a
70option.
71.Pp
72On media that cannot reliably return an end-of-media indication
73(such as some cartridge tape drives)
74each volume is of a fixed size;
75the actual size is determined by the tape size and density and/or
76.Fl B
77options.
78By default, the same output file name is used for each volume
79after prompting the operator to change media.
80.Pp
81The file system to be dumped is specified by the argument
82.Ar filesystem
83as either its device-special file or its mount point
84(if that is in a standard entry in
85.Pa /etc/fstab ) .
86.Pp
87.Nm
88may also be invoked as
89.Nm rdump .
90The
91.Bx 4.3
92option syntax is implemented for backward compatibility, but
93is not documented here.
94.Pp
95The following options are supported by
96.Nm :
97.Bl -tag -width Ds
98.It Fl 0-9
99Dump levels.
100A level 0, full backup,
101guarantees the entire file system is copied
102(but see also the
103.Fl h
104option below).
105A level number above 0,
106incremental backup,
107tells dump to
108copy all files new or modified since the
109last dump of any lower level.
110The default level is 0.
111.It Fl a
112.Dq auto-size .
113Bypass all tape length considerations, and enforce writing
114until an end-of-media indication is returned.
115This fits best for most modern tape drives.
116Use of this option is particularly
117recommended when appending to an existing tape, or using a tape
118drive with hardware compression (where you can never be sure about
119the compression ratio).
120.It Fl B Ar records
121The number of kilobytes per output volume, except that if it is
122not an integer multiple of the output block size,
123the command uses the next smaller such multiple.
124This option overrides the calculation of tape size
125based on length and density.
126.It Fl b Ar blocksize
127The number of kilobytes per output block.
128The default block size is 10.
129.It Fl C Ar cachesize
130Specify the cache size in megabytes.
131This will greatly improve performance
132at the cost of
133.Nm
134possibly not noticing changes in the file system between passes
135unless a snapshot is being used.
136The potential for performance improvement indicates that
137use of this option together with snapshots is the recommended
138course of action.
139Beware that
140.Nm
141forks, and the actual memory use may be larger than the specified cache
142size.
143The recommended cache size is between 8 and 32 (megabytes).
144.It Fl c
145Change the defaults for use with a cartridge tape drive, with a density
146of 8000 bpi, and a length of 1700 feet.
147.It Fl D Ar dumpdates
148Specify an alternate path to the
149.Pa dumpdates
150file.
151The default is
152.Pa /etc/dumpdates .
153.It Fl d Ar density
154Set tape density to
155.Ar density .
156The default is 1600BPI.
157.It Fl f Ar file
158Write the backup to
159.Ar file ;
160.Ar file
161may be a special device file
162like
163.Pa /dev/sa0
164(a tape drive),
165.Pa /dev/fd1
166(a floppy disk drive),
167an ordinary file,
168or
169.Sq Fl
170(the standard output).
171Multiple file names may be given as a single argument separated by commas.
172Each file will be used for one dump volume in the order listed;
173if the dump requires more volumes than the number of names given,
174the last file name will used for all remaining volumes after prompting
175for media changes.
176If the name of the file is of the form
177.Dq host:file ,
178or
179.Dq user@host:file ,
180.Nm
181writes to the named file on the remote host using
182.Xr rmt 8 .
183The default path name of the remote
184.Xr rmt 8
185program is
186.\" rmt path, is the path on the remote host
187.Pa /etc/rmt ;
188this can be overridden by the environment variable
189.Ev RMT .
190.It Fl P Ar pipecommand
191Use
192.Xr popen 3
193to execute the
194.Xr sh 1
195script string defined by
196.Ar pipecommand
197for the output device of each volume.
198This child pipeline's
199.Dv stdin
200.Pq Pa /dev/fd/0
201is redirected from the
202.Nm
203output stream, and the environment variable
204.Ev DUMP_VOLUME
205is set to the current volume number being written.
206After every volume, the writer side of the pipe is closed and
207.Ar pipecommand
208is executed again.
209Subject to the media size specified by
210.Fl B ,
211each volume is written in this manner as if the output were a tape drive.
212.It Fl h Ar level
213Honor the user
214.Dq nodump
215flag
216.Pq Dv UF_NODUMP
217only for dumps at or above the given
218.Ar level .
219The default honor level is 1,
220so that incremental backups omit such files
221but full backups retain them.
222.It Fl L
223This option is to notify
224.Nm
225that it is dumping a live file system.
226To obtain a consistent dump image,
227.Nm
228takes a snapshot of the file system in the
229.Pa .snap
230directory in the root of the file system being dumped and
231then does a dump of the snapshot.
232The snapshot is unlinked as soon as the dump starts, and
233is thus removed when the dump is complete.
234This option is ignored for unmounted or read-only file systems.
235If the
236.Pa .snap
237directory does not exist in the root of the file system being dumped,
238a warning will be issued and the
239.Nm
240will revert to the standard behavior.
241This problem can be corrected by creating a
242.Pa .snap
243directory in the root of the file system to be dumped;
244its owner should be
245.Dq Li root ,
246its group should be
247.Dq Li operator ,
248and its mode should be
249.Dq Li 0770 .
250.It Fl n
251Whenever
252.Nm
253requires operator attention,
254notify all operators in the group
255.Dq operator
256by means similar to a
257.Xr wall 1 .
258.It Fl r
259Be rsync-friendly.
260Normally dump stores the date of the current
261and prior dump in numerous places throughout the dump.
262These scattered changes significantly slow down rsync or
263another incremental file transfer program when they are
264used to update a remote copy of a level 0 dump,
265since the date changes for each dump.
266This option sets both dates to the epoch, permitting
267rsync to be much more efficient when transferring a dump file.
268The
269.Fl r
270option can be used only to create level 0 dumps.
271A dump using the
272.Fl r
273option cannot be used as the basis for a later incremental dump.
274.It Fl R
275Be even more rsync-friendly.
276This option disables the storage of the actual inode access time
277(storing it instead as the inode's modified time).
278This option permits rsync to be even more efficient
279when transferring dumps generated from filesystems with numerous files
280which are not changing other than their access times.
281The
282.Fl R
283option also sets
284.Fl r .
285The
286.Fl R
287option can be used only to create level 0 dumps.
288A dump using the
289.Fl R
290option cannot be used as the basis for a later incremental dump.
291.It Fl S
292Display an estimate of the backup size and the number of
293tapes required, and exit without actually performing the dump.
294.It Fl s Ar feet
295Attempt to calculate the amount of tape needed
296at a particular density.
297If this amount is exceeded,
298.Nm
299prompts for a new tape.
300It is recommended to be a bit conservative on this option.
301The default tape length is 2300 feet.
302.It Fl T Ar date
303Use the specified date as the starting time for the dump
304instead of the time determined from looking in
305the
306.Pa dumpdates
307file.
308The format of date is the same as that of
309.Xr ctime 3 .
310This option is useful for automated dump scripts that wish to
311dump over a specific period of time.
312The
313.Fl T
314option is mutually exclusive from the
315.Fl u
316option.
317.It Fl u
318Update the
319.Pa dumpdates
320file
321after a successful dump.
322The format of
323the
324.Pa dumpdates
325file
326is readable by people, consisting of one
327free format record per line:
328file system name,
329increment level
330and
331.Xr ctime 3
332format dump date.
333There may be only one entry per file system at each level.
334The
335.Pa dumpdates
336file
337may be edited to change any of the fields,
338if necessary.
339The default path for the
340.Pa dumpdates
341file is
342.Pa /etc/dumpdates ,
343but the
344.Fl D
345option may be used to change it.
346.It Fl W
347Tell the operator what file systems need to be dumped.
348This information is gleaned from the files
349.Pa dumpdates
350and
351.Pa /etc/fstab .
352The
353.Fl W
354option causes
355.Nm
356to print out, for each file system in
357the
358.Pa dumpdates
359file
360the most recent dump date and level,
361and highlights those file systems that should be dumped.
362If the
363.Fl W
364option is set, all other options are ignored, and
365.Nm
366exits immediately.
367.It Fl w
368Is like
369.Fl W ,
370but prints only those file systems which need to be dumped.
371.El
372.Pp
373Directories and regular files which have their
374.Dq nodump
375flag
376.Pq Dv UF_NODUMP
377set will be omitted along with everything under such directories,
378subject to the
379.Fl h
380option.
381.Pp
382The
383.Nm
384utility requires operator intervention on these conditions:
385end of tape,
386end of dump,
387tape write error,
388tape open error or
389disk read error (if there are more than a threshold of 32).
390In addition to alerting all operators implied by the
391.Fl n
392key,
393.Nm
394interacts with the operator on
395.Em dump's
396control terminal at times when
397.Nm
398can no longer proceed,
399or if something is grossly wrong.
400All questions
401.Nm
402poses
403.Em must
404be answered by typing
405.Dq yes
406or
407.Dq no ,
408appropriately.
409.Pp
410Since making a dump involves a lot of time and effort for full dumps,
411.Nm
412checkpoints itself at the start of each tape volume.
413If writing that volume fails for some reason,
414.Nm
415will,
416with operator permission,
417restart itself from the checkpoint
418after the old tape has been rewound and removed,
419and a new tape has been mounted.
420.Pp
421The
422.Nm
423utility tells the operator what is going on at periodic intervals
424(every 5 minutes, or promptly after receiving
425.Dv SIGINFO ) ,
426including usually low estimates of the number of blocks to write,
427the number of tapes it will take, the time to completion, and
428the time to the tape change.
429The output is verbose,
430so that others know that the terminal
431controlling
432.Nm
433is busy,
434and will be for some time.
435.Pp
436In the event of a catastrophic disk event, the time required
437to restore all the necessary backup tapes or files to disk
438can be kept to a minimum by staggering the incremental dumps.
439An efficient method of staggering incremental dumps
440to minimize the number of tapes follows:
441.Bl -bullet -offset indent
442.It
443Always start with a level 0 backup, for example:
444.Bd -literal -offset indent
445/sbin/dump -0u -f /dev/nsa0 /usr/src
446.Ed
447.Pp
448This should be done at set intervals, say once a month or once every two months,
449and on a set of fresh tapes that is saved forever.
450.It
451After a level 0, dumps of active file systems (file systems with files
452that change, depending on your partition layout some file systems may
453contain only data that does not change) are taken on a daily basis,
454using a modified Tower of Hanoi algorithm,
455with this sequence of dump levels:
456.Bd -literal -offset indent
4573 2 5 4 7 6 9 8 9 9 ...
458.Ed
459.Pp
460For the daily dumps, it should be possible to use a fixed number of tapes
461for each day, used on a weekly basis.
462Each week, a level 1 dump is taken, and
463the daily Hanoi sequence repeats beginning with 3.
464For weekly dumps, another fixed set of tapes per dumped file system is
465used, also on a cyclical basis.
466.El
467.Pp
468After several months or so, the daily and weekly tapes should get
469rotated out of the dump cycle and fresh tapes brought in.
470.Sh ENVIRONMENT
471.Bl -tag -width ".Ev TAPE"
472.It Ev TAPE
473The
474.Ar file
475or device to dump to if the
476.Fl f
477option is not used.
478.It Ev RMT
479Pathname of the remote
480.Xr rmt 8
481program.
482.It Ev RSH
483Pathname of a remote shell program, if not
484.Xr rsh 1 .
485.El
486.Sh FILES
487.Bl -tag -width /etc/dumpdates -compact
488.It Pa /dev/sa0
489default tape unit to dump to
490.It Pa /etc/dumpdates
491dump date records
492(this can be changed;
493see the
494.Fl D
495option)
496.It Pa /etc/fstab
497dump table: file systems and frequency
498.It Pa /etc/group
499to find group
500.Em operator
501.El
502.Sh EXIT STATUS
503Dump exits with zero status on success.
504Startup errors are indicated with an exit code of 1;
505abnormal termination is indicated with an exit code of 3.
506.Sh EXAMPLES
507Dumps the
508.Pa /u
509file system to DVDs using
510.Nm growisofs .
511Uses a 16MB cache, creates a snapshot of the dump, and records the
512.Pa dumpdates
513file.
514.Bd -literal
515/sbin/dump -0u  -L -C16 -B4589840 -P 'growisofs -Z /dev/cd0=/dev/fd/0' /u
516.Ed
517.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
518Many, and verbose.
519.Sh SEE ALSO
520.Xr chflags 1 ,
521.Xr fstab 5 ,
522.Xr restore 8 ,
523.Xr rmt 8
524.Sh HISTORY
525A
526.Nm
527utility appeared in
528.At v4 .
529.Sh BUGS
530Fewer than 32 read errors on the file system are ignored, though all
531errors will generate a warning message.
532This is a bit of a compromise.
533In practice, it is possible to generate read errors when doing dumps
534on mounted partitions if the file system is being modified while the
535.Nm
536is running.
537Since dumps are often done in an unattended fashion using
538.Xr cron 8
539jobs asking for Operator intervention would result in the
540.Nm
541dying.
542However, there is nothing wrong with a dump tape written when this sort
543of read error occurs, and there is no reason to terminate the
544.Nm .
545.Pp
546Each reel requires a new process, so parent processes for
547reels already written just hang around until the entire tape
548is written.
549.Pp
550The
551.Nm
552utility with the
553.Fl W
554or
555.Fl w
556options does not report file systems that have never been recorded
557in the
558.Pa dumpdates
559file,
560even if listed in
561.Pa /etc/fstab .
562.Pp
563It would be nice if
564.Nm
565knew about the dump sequence,
566kept track of the tapes scribbled on,
567told the operator which tape to mount when,
568and provided more assistance
569for the operator running
570.Xr restore 8 .
571.Pp
572The
573.Nm
574utility cannot do remote backups without being run as root, due to its
575security history.
576This will be fixed in a later version of
577.Fx .
578Presently, it works if you set it setuid (like it used to be), but this
579might constitute a security risk.
580