Hi All; I'm awaiting a new linux laptop that will be my primary work machine. I want to implement a strategy that allows me as easily as possible to revert back to a former state. My primary concern is a scenario where I apply system updates and it breaks something that for me is critical. I wonder if a simple rsync script would work. If so, here's what I'm thinking: 1) updates are available so I execute the rsync script which pulls any updated files from my laptop to a backup server/drive 2) apply updates 3) if something breaks (even if I can no longer login) I boot the laptop, run the rsync script in the opposite direction (push files from the backup drive to the laptop) I assume that if I were to execute step 3 above that my system would be in the exact state that it was before I ran the updates. Is this a correct assumption ? Are there better approaches ? Thanks in advance..
Kevin Kempter wrote:> Hi All; > > I'm awaiting a new linux laptop that will be my primary work machine. I want > to implement a strategy that allows me as easily as possible to revert back > to a former state. My primary concern is a scenario where I apply system > updates and it breaks something that for me is critical. > > I wonder if a simple rsync script would work. If so, here's what I'm thinking: > > 1) updates are available so I execute the rsync script which pulls any updated > files from my laptop to a backup server/drive > > 2) apply updates > > 3) if something breaks (even if I can no longer login) I boot the laptop, run > the rsync script in the opposite direction (push files from the backup drive > to the laptop) > > I assume that if I were to execute step 3 above that my system would be in the > exact state that it was before I ran the updates. Is this a correct > assumption ?Depends in part on the rsync commands, the file structure, and the order of operations. Restoring over a running system would overwrite files that are in use, particularly in /etc and /var - not a good idea. Restoring from a backup of a live system would restore copies of files that might have been in the process of being changed. Would be safer to do this using a live CD for both the backup and the restore. Would want to do the backup/restore on a per-filesystem basis. Assuming you have / /boot and /home: rsync --archive --delete --hard-links --one-file-system / /backup/laptop/ rsync --archive --delete --hard-links --one-file-system /boot/ /backup/laptop/boot/ rsync --archive --delete --hard-links --one-file-system /home/ /backup/laptop/home/ On restore would need to mount and restore / first, then mount other partitions and restore them.> Are there better approaches ?Perhaps using other backup tools (backuppc has been mentioned favorably recently), but it should be workable; however, this sounds like a time/labor-intensive approach every time there are updates, for a low probability of fatal problems with the OS. Just backing up user files would be a lot faster and easier. Phil -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Philip_R_Schaffner.vcf Type: text/x-vcard Size: 354 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos/attachments/20081110/92294ae0/attachment-0003.vcf>
Kevin Kempter wrote:> Hi All; > > I'm awaiting a new linux laptop that will be my primary work machine. I want > to implement a strategy that allows me as easily as possible to revert back > to a former state. My primary concern is a scenario where I apply system > updates and it breaks something that for me is critical. > > I wonder if a simple rsync script would work. If so, here's what I'm thinking: > > 1) updates are available so I execute the rsync script which pulls any updated > files from my laptop to a backup server/drive > > 2) apply updates > > 3) if something breaks (even if I can no longer login) I boot the laptop, run > the rsync script in the opposite direction (push files from the backup drive > to the laptop) > > I assume that if I were to execute step 3 above that my system would be in the > exact state that it was before I ran the updates. Is this a correct > assumption ? Are there better approaches ? > > > Thanks in advance.. >Taking a disk image snapshot with something like clonezilla might be an alternative for you to consider. http://clonezilla.org/
Kevin Kempter <kevin at kevinkempterllc.com> writes:> Hi All; > > I'm awaiting a new linux laptop that will be my primary work machine. I want > to implement a strategy that allows me as easily as possible to revert back > to a former state. My primary concern is a scenario where I apply system > updates and it breaks something that for me is critical. > > I wonder if a simple rsync script would work. If so, here's what I'm thinking: > > 1) updates are available so I execute the rsync script which pulls any updated > files from my laptop to a backup server/drive > > 2) apply updates > > 3) if something breaks (even if I can no longer login) I boot the laptop, run > the rsync script in the opposite direction (push files from the backup drive > to the laptop) > > I assume that if I were to execute step 3 above that my system would be in the > exact state that it was before I ran the updates. Is this a correct > assumption ? Are there better approaches ? > > > Thanks in advance..Look at rsnapshot, which is rsync based and enables hourly, daily, weekly and monthly rotating backups. This is what I used on my laptop, to an external USB HD. It provides an OSX Time Machine like schema, albeit without the fancy GUI. http://rsnapshot.org/ HTH, Marc Schwartz