On Tue, 4 Nov 2003 10:16:00 -0500, "Jason Lavigne" <jlavigne AT bwlogic DOT com>
said:
> What do you all recommend for this? I was thinking of using cron to make
> a clone (copy) of the directory that could have open files in it and
> then backup the cloned directory, is this what the rest of you do? As
> you know the FAQ is vague on this subject and I have not yet finished
> reading the "chapter".
>
>
> I am assuming I am getting this STRANGE error due to open files
>
>
...
> /-- dns1.bwlog /usr/local/vpopmail lev 0 STRANGE
>
> sendbackup: start [dns1.bwlogic.com:/usr/local/vpopmail level 0]
> sendbackup: info BACKUP=/usr/local/bin/gtar
> sendbackup: info RECOVER_CMD=/usr/local/bin/gtar -f... -
> sendbackup: info end
>
> ? gtar:
> ./domains/bwlogic.com/jlavigne/Maildir/new/1067955383.93335.dns1.bwlogic
> .com,S=3913: Warning: Cannot stat: (null) ? gtar:
> ./domains/bwlogic.com/pager-forward/Maildir/new/1067955385.93340.dns1.bw
> logic.com,S=4017: Warning: Cannot stat: (null)
I don't think it is an open file problem.
Generally cannot stat means file is missing.
Gnutar works in at least two phases, note all the file to
back up, then back them up. As there is time elapsed between
them, things can change, like files being deleted that were
there and files created that were not. Also, a file's data
could change just when gnutar, in the second phase, is actually
coping the data. (gnutar will actually give a specific message
about the latter)
So gnutar is not really a "point in time" backup. No backup
of an active system can be. That is why we sometimes talk
about the desireableness (is that a word) of a read-only
snapshot capability of some FS's, eg. my Solaris UFS type,
which I've yet to utilize.
In practice, I don't find the "strange" messages for gnutar
to be a problem for me. YMMV!!
In the specific case of your examples, they look to be spool
or temporary files. They may have only existed for a few
seconds. Or they may have been messages that someone picked
up while the backup was in progress. Do you really care
about saving a copy of them? If you do, then backups are
not the way to go, but a change in the application creating
them is. It will have to make permanant versions that will
not disappear between backups.
--
Jon H. LaBadie jon AT jgcomp DOT com
JG Computing
4455 Province Line Road (609) 252-0159
Princeton, NJ 08540-4322 (609) 683-7220 (fax)
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