xref: /freebsd/sbin/dump/dump.8 (revision 8266d476702faafb2467afd308fad40249a195c3)
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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 0123456789acLnSu
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 S
262Display an estimate of the backup size and the number of
263tapes required, and exit without actually performing the dump.
264.It Fl s Ar feet
265Attempt to calculate the amount of tape needed
266at a particular density.
267If this amount is exceeded,
268.Nm
269prompts for a new tape.
270It is recommended to be a bit conservative on this option.
271The default tape length is 2300 feet.
272.It Fl T Ar date
273Use the specified date as the starting time for the dump
274instead of the time determined from looking in
275the
276.Pa dumpdates
277file.
278The format of date is the same as that of
279.Xr ctime 3 .
280This option is useful for automated dump scripts that wish to
281dump over a specific period of time.
282The
283.Fl T
284option is mutually exclusive from the
285.Fl u
286option.
287.It Fl u
288Update the
289.Pa dumpdates
290file
291after a successful dump.
292The format of
293the
294.Pa dumpdates
295file
296is readable by people, consisting of one
297free format record per line:
298file system name,
299increment level
300and
301.Xr ctime 3
302format dump date.
303There may be only one entry per file system at each level.
304The
305.Pa dumpdates
306file
307may be edited to change any of the fields,
308if necessary.
309The default path for the
310.Pa dumpdates
311file is
312.Pa /etc/dumpdates ,
313but the
314.Fl D
315option may be used to change it.
316.It Fl W
317Tell the operator what file systems need to be dumped.
318This information is gleaned from the files
319.Pa dumpdates
320and
321.Pa /etc/fstab .
322The
323.Fl W
324option causes
325.Nm
326to print out, for each file system in
327the
328.Pa dumpdates
329file
330the most recent dump date and level,
331and highlights those file systems that should be dumped.
332If the
333.Fl W
334option is set, all other options are ignored, and
335.Nm
336exits immediately.
337.It Fl w
338Is like
339.Fl W ,
340but prints only those file systems which need to be dumped.
341.El
342.Pp
343Directories and regular files which have their
344.Dq nodump
345flag
346.Pq Dv UF_NODUMP
347set will be omitted along with everything under such directories,
348subject to the
349.Fl h
350option.
351.Pp
352The
353.Nm
354utility requires operator intervention on these conditions:
355end of tape,
356end of dump,
357tape write error,
358tape open error or
359disk read error (if there are more than a threshold of 32).
360In addition to alerting all operators implied by the
361.Fl n
362key,
363.Nm
364interacts with the operator on
365.Em dump's
366control terminal at times when
367.Nm
368can no longer proceed,
369or if something is grossly wrong.
370All questions
371.Nm
372poses
373.Em must
374be answered by typing
375.Dq yes
376or
377.Dq no ,
378appropriately.
379.Pp
380Since making a dump involves a lot of time and effort for full dumps,
381.Nm
382checkpoints itself at the start of each tape volume.
383If writing that volume fails for some reason,
384.Nm
385will,
386with operator permission,
387restart itself from the checkpoint
388after the old tape has been rewound and removed,
389and a new tape has been mounted.
390.Pp
391The
392.Nm
393utility tells the operator what is going on at periodic intervals
394(every 5 minutes, or promptly after receiving
395.Dv SIGINFO ) ,
396including usually low estimates of the number of blocks to write,
397the number of tapes it will take, the time to completion, and
398the time to the tape change.
399The output is verbose,
400so that others know that the terminal
401controlling
402.Nm
403is busy,
404and will be for some time.
405.Pp
406In the event of a catastrophic disk event, the time required
407to restore all the necessary backup tapes or files to disk
408can be kept to a minimum by staggering the incremental dumps.
409An efficient method of staggering incremental dumps
410to minimize the number of tapes follows:
411.Bl -bullet -offset indent
412.It
413Always start with a level 0 backup, for example:
414.Bd -literal -offset indent
415/sbin/dump -0u -f /dev/nsa0 /usr/src
416.Ed
417.Pp
418This should be done at set intervals, say once a month or once every two months,
419and on a set of fresh tapes that is saved forever.
420.It
421After a level 0, dumps of active file systems (file systems with files
422that change, depending on your partition layout some file systems may
423contain only data that does not change) are taken on a daily basis,
424using a modified Tower of Hanoi algorithm,
425with this sequence of dump levels:
426.Bd -literal -offset indent
4273 2 5 4 7 6 9 8 9 9 ...
428.Ed
429.Pp
430For the daily dumps, it should be possible to use a fixed number of tapes
431for each day, used on a weekly basis.
432Each week, a level 1 dump is taken, and
433the daily Hanoi sequence repeats beginning with 3.
434For weekly dumps, another fixed set of tapes per dumped file system is
435used, also on a cyclical basis.
436.El
437.Pp
438After several months or so, the daily and weekly tapes should get
439rotated out of the dump cycle and fresh tapes brought in.
440.Sh ENVIRONMENT
441.Bl -tag -width ".Ev TAPE"
442.It Ev TAPE
443The
444.Ar file
445or device to dump to if the
446.Fl f
447option is not used.
448.It Ev RMT
449Pathname of the remote
450.Xr rmt 8
451program.
452.It Ev RSH
453Pathname of a remote shell program, if not
454.Xr rsh 1 .
455.El
456.Sh FILES
457.Bl -tag -width /etc/dumpdates -compact
458.It Pa /dev/sa0
459default tape unit to dump to
460.It Pa /etc/dumpdates
461dump date records
462(this can be changed;
463see the
464.Fl D
465option)
466.It Pa /etc/fstab
467dump table: file systems and frequency
468.It Pa /etc/group
469to find group
470.Em operator
471.El
472.Sh EXIT STATUS
473Dump exits with zero status on success.
474Startup errors are indicated with an exit code of 1;
475abnormal termination is indicated with an exit code of 3.
476.Sh EXAMPLES
477Dumps the
478.Pa /u
479file system to DVDs using
480.Nm growisofs .
481Uses a 16MB cache, creates a snapshot of the dump, and records the
482.Pa dumpdates
483file.
484.Bd -literal
485/sbin/dump -0u  -L -C16 -B4589840 -P 'growisofs -Z /dev/cd0=/dev/fd/0' /u
486.Ed
487.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
488Many, and verbose.
489.Sh SEE ALSO
490.Xr chflags 1 ,
491.Xr fstab 5 ,
492.Xr restore 8 ,
493.Xr rmt 8
494.Sh HISTORY
495A
496.Nm
497utility appeared in
498.At v6 .
499.Sh BUGS
500Fewer than 32 read errors on the file system are ignored, though all
501errors will generate a warning message.
502This is a bit of a compromise.
503In practice, it is possible to generate read errors when doing dumps
504on mounted partitions if the file system is being modified while the
505.Nm
506is running.
507Since dumps are often done in an unattended fashion using
508.Xr cron 8
509jobs asking for Operator intervention would result in the
510.Nm
511dying.
512However, there is nothing wrong with a dump tape written when this sort
513of read error occurs, and there is no reason to terminate the
514.Nm .
515.Pp
516Each reel requires a new process, so parent processes for
517reels already written just hang around until the entire tape
518is written.
519.Pp
520The
521.Nm
522utility with the
523.Fl W
524or
525.Fl w
526options does not report file systems that have never been recorded
527in the
528.Pa dumpdates
529file,
530even if listed in
531.Pa /etc/fstab .
532.Pp
533It would be nice if
534.Nm
535knew about the dump sequence,
536kept track of the tapes scribbled on,
537told the operator which tape to mount when,
538and provided more assistance
539for the operator running
540.Xr restore 8 .
541.Pp
542The
543.Nm
544utility cannot do remote backups without being run as root, due to its
545security history.
546This will be fixed in a later version of
547.Fx .
548Presently, it works if you set it setuid (like it used to be), but this
549might constitute a security risk.
550