CentOS - Sep 2006 - Taring up the OS - how to exclude directories

From the howto:  http://www.faqs.org/docs/securing/chap29sec305.html

I got some ideas to help me to tar up the OS.  I had already been shown 
how to wrap it into SSH to deposit the tar file on another system, so I 
tried the following:

tar cpvzf - -C / --exclude  home --exclude  media --exclude  mnt 
--exclude  proc --exclude  */lost+found | ssh root at 10.0.0.2 
"cat>backup-060907.tgz"

But, whereas the howto is talking about --exclude dealing with files, 
the Centos Man on tar is saying that it applies to files.


So what is wrong?  I know the SSH stuff is correct as when I put in 
something like ls I get a file with result of the ls.  Also I had done 
this without the excludes and of course it died slowing when it got to 
/media/cdrom   :(

Robert Moskowitz wrote:
> From the howto:  http://www.faqs.org/docs/securing/chap29sec305.html
>
> I got some ideas to help me to tar up the OS.  I had already been 
> shown how to wrap it into SSH to deposit the tar file on another 
> system, so I tried the following:
>
> tar cpvzf - -C / --exclude  home --exclude  media --exclude  mnt 
> --exclude  proc --exclude  */lost+found | ssh root at 10.0.0.2 
> "cat>backup-060907.tgz"
>
> But, whereas the howto is talking about --exclude dealing with files, 
> the Centos Man on tar is saying that it applies to files.
>
>
> So what is wrong?  I know the SSH stuff is correct as when I put in 
> something like ls I get a file with result of the ls.  Also I had done 
> this without the excludes and of course it died slowing when it got to 
> /media/cdrom   :(
I recall that before USB2, when tape backup made sense, I used an 
"exclude file" rather than doing it on the command line.  I also 
remember that "/"s most definitely affect the outcome. I believe that
if
you'll look at the info pages (not man) for tar, you'll find a few 
examples buried in the document that will make the tar part of your 
puzzle crystal clear.

Robert wrote:
> Robert Moskowitz wrote:
>> From the howto:  http://www.faqs.org/docs/securing/chap29sec305.html
>>
>> I got some ideas to help me to tar up the OS.  I had already been 
>> shown how to wrap it into SSH to deposit the tar file on another 
>> system, so I tried the following:
>>
>> tar cpvzf - -C / --exclude  home --exclude  media --exclude  mnt 
>> --exclude  proc --exclude  */lost+found | ssh root at 10.0.0.2 
>> "cat>backup-060907.tgz"
>>
>> But, whereas the howto is talking about --exclude dealing with files, 
>> the Centos Man on tar is saying that it applies to files.
>>
>>
>> So what is wrong?  I know the SSH stuff is correct as when I put in 
>> something like ls I get a file with result of the ls.  Also I had 
>> done this without the excludes and of course it died slowing when it 
>> got to /media/cdrom   :(
>
> I recall that before USB2, when tape backup made sense, I used an 
> "exclude file" rather than doing it on the command line.  I also 
> remember that "/"s most definitely affect the outcome. I believe
that
> if you'll look at the info pages (not man) for tar, you'll find a
few
> examples buried in the document that will make the tar part of your 
> puzzle crystal clear.
>
At the very end of info tar, it talks a LITTLE bit about -- exclude PATTERN.

I guess you have to know what pattern means.  So should I be using 
entries like:

--exclude '/home'  ?

Robert wrote:
> Robert Moskowitz wrote:
>> Robert wrote:
>>> Robert Moskowitz wrote:
>>>> From the howto: 
http://www.faqs.org/docs/securing/chap29sec305.html
>>>>
>>>> I got some ideas to help me to tar up the OS.  I had already
been
>>>> shown how to wrap it into SSH to deposit the tar file on
another
>>>> system, so I tried the following:
>>>>
>>>> tar cpvzf - -C / --exclude  home --exclude  media --exclude 
mnt
>>>> --exclude  proc --exclude  */lost+found | ssh root at 10.0.0.2 
>>>> "cat>backup-060907.tgz"
>>>>
>>>> But, whereas the howto is talking about --exclude dealing with 
>>>> files, the Centos Man on tar is saying that it applies to
files.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> So what is wrong?  I know the SSH stuff is correct as when I
put in
>>>> something like ls I get a file with result of the ls.  Also I
had
>>>> done this without the excludes and of course it died slowing
when
>>>> it got to /media/cdrom   :(
>>>
>>> I recall that before USB2, when tape backup made sense, I used an 
>>> "exclude file" rather than doing it on the command line. 
I also
>>> remember that "/"s most definitely affect the outcome. I
believe
>>> that if you'll look at the info pages (not man) for tar,
you'll find
>>> a few examples buried in the document that will make the tar part
of
>>> your puzzle crystal clear.
>>>
>> At the very end of info tar, it talks a LITTLE bit about -- exclude 
>> PATTERN.
>>
>> I guess you have to know what pattern means.  So should I be using 
>> entries like:
>>
>> --exclude '/home'  ?
> O.K., I mounted my USB drive, went back in my archived stuff and found 
> this "exclude" file:
> -----------------------------
> [root at mavis ~]# cat /media/OT*/extra/FC1*/home/rj/nobackup
> /mnt
> /dev
> /proc
> /home/rj/mnt
> /media
> [root at mavis ~]#
> ------------------------
> You can use this rather than several --exclude entries on the command 
> by using the option -X <exclude-file-name>.
> Whatever suits you just tickles me plumb to death.
Thanks.  I could not find any clear reference to the entries in the 
--exclude-from file.  And I figured out that the reason I was getting an 
empty archive was that -C option.  I was telling tar to switch to 
directory / but not telling it what to tar!  Actually, in this case, 
there was no reason for the -C.  Taking it out got things working.  One 
question I have is that every so often the -v is showing things like the 
following:


tar: Removing leading '/' from member names
/
/sbin
/sbin/dump_cis
/sbin/request-key
/sbin/agetty

Well those were the first ones, and the reason I could catch those is at 
that point SSH prompted my for the remote user password.

If I watch the screen (without getting sick with the fast scrolling), I 
see other '/' being removed comments.

Robert Moskowitz wrote:
>  From the howto:  http://www.faqs.org/docs/securing/chap29sec305.html
> 
> I got some ideas to help me to tar up the OS.  I had already been shown 
> how to wrap it into SSH to deposit the tar file on another system, so I 
> tried the following:
> 
> tar cpvzf - -C / --exclude  home --exclude  media --exclude  mnt 
> --exclude  proc --exclude  */lost+found | ssh root at 10.0.0.2 
> "cat>backup-060907.tgz"
> 
> But, whereas the howto is talking about --exclude dealing with files, 
> the Centos Man on tar is saying that it applies to files.
> 
> 
> So what is wrong?  I know the SSH stuff is correct as when I put in 
> something like ls I get a file with result of the ls.  Also I had done 
> this without the excludes and of course it died slowing when it got to 
> /media/cdrom   :(
I know this works for me:
tar clf homes.tar --exclude=scripts --exclude=conf --exclude=bin \
  --exclude=incoming -C ${BASEDIR} .



but I had a completely garbage backup of my firewall, taken just before 
the disk died (I thought, briefly, how fortuitous my timing was!) using 
ssh that way.

The problem is, I have this alias:
alias ssh='ssh -t'
and the result of that is the shell (or something) injects the 
occasional screen control sequence, and my backup was cactus. Absolute junk.

The way to be sure is:
tar cpvzf - -C / <more tar stuff> | \ssh <ssh stuff>

btw unless you have a very fast CPU and/or a slow link, it's faster 
without the compression.

You might also find it simpler to use the "l" switch as I do to avoid 
crossing filesystem boundaries; in your case it would automatically 
exclude /proc, /sys and anything mounted anywhere, such as /media, 
/home, /mnt. I do this:
tar clC / / /boot /home  /var \
| tar xpC /mnt/backup || { df -h ; exit ; }

I do have a list of exclusions (eg --exclude=/var/spool/postfix/), 
enough to cloud the issue:-)

This example's on Debian, and the buffer command's there in hopes of 
reducing head movement and so accelerating the process.


-- 

Cheers
John

-- spambait
1aaaaaaa at coco.merseine.nu  Z1aaaaaaa at coco.merseine.nu
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