feleven
Dabbler
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2014
- Messages
- 39
I did a test backup last night using rsync from the FN GUI shell (both src and dest ZFS volumes in the same FN box but physically different drives):
rsync -avz /mnt/FN-1TBMir/PlexMedia /mnt/500GB
This appears to have done what I wanted: copied my PlexMedia files over to my backup disk retaining permissions and ownership. I understand this first time takes a while (90 min) because the files are copied across my motherboard SATA bus exactly from the src to the dest (with compression in this case). Subsequent rsync's will only copy differences between the first copies of the files and changes to the originals, so should be much faster unless there are a LOT of BIG changes. All great. But a few questions burbled up as I watched the files roll across my screen.
Q1. I was hoping to do this through the FN GUI rather than manually under the shell, or run as a cron script. Is there any way to see what the actual command and options the GUI rsync executes? I'd like to get the same effect as above, but from the GUI - its not obvious (to me, anyway) what options the GUI rsync applies. Checking the FreeBSD rsync command reference, there are a LOT of options, so I don't know exactly what I'll get if I just go with an "intuitive" setup of the GUI version. I understand that I can use the "module" push-pull approach from the manual if I use "localhost" as the "remote FN server" to force both server and client to run on my single FN box.
Q2. I chose the above options "-avz" based on a read of the reference material and on an example I found posted online. It worked fine (I think) but - are there other options I should have used instead, or options I should have added? All I want to do is back up the files so I could get them back if my server storage goes south. I figure a weekly backup process should cover my needs. Simple.
Q3. When an original file changes in some way, what exactly ends up on the backup drive: the original file with changes merged into it? or is the original file left untouched and the changes to it appended, or annotated, in some way? I've read and re-read the info on rsync, and either I just didn't understand it, or the answer wasn't there.
Q4. When/if the day comes that I need to recover some or all of my media files, how to I do that? Is it just a matter of running the same rsync command from above again, except with the src and dest paths reversed?
Q5. Finally, I understand I can set up a syslog dataset and FN will "automagically" write all its log files to that dataset. Does this work eel or at all? It just seems too easy. :) Would I create the syslog dataset on my FN storage (which makes sense to me), or on the backup storage, or does it matter?
Q6. Am I doing my backups the hard way, meaning should I be using snapshots and replication as I've read some do? I haven't done much reading on either of these so its definitely a noobie question.
Sorry, I know its a lot to read, and I'm getting greedy asking 6 questions in one post. But I'd sure appreciate any answers that are available, or nudges to where I can find them for myself. My pre-post search didn't turn up anything useful, so I either used the wrong search terms, or...
Rod
rsync -avz /mnt/FN-1TBMir/PlexMedia /mnt/500GB
This appears to have done what I wanted: copied my PlexMedia files over to my backup disk retaining permissions and ownership. I understand this first time takes a while (90 min) because the files are copied across my motherboard SATA bus exactly from the src to the dest (with compression in this case). Subsequent rsync's will only copy differences between the first copies of the files and changes to the originals, so should be much faster unless there are a LOT of BIG changes. All great. But a few questions burbled up as I watched the files roll across my screen.
Q1. I was hoping to do this through the FN GUI rather than manually under the shell, or run as a cron script. Is there any way to see what the actual command and options the GUI rsync executes? I'd like to get the same effect as above, but from the GUI - its not obvious (to me, anyway) what options the GUI rsync applies. Checking the FreeBSD rsync command reference, there are a LOT of options, so I don't know exactly what I'll get if I just go with an "intuitive" setup of the GUI version. I understand that I can use the "module" push-pull approach from the manual if I use "localhost" as the "remote FN server" to force both server and client to run on my single FN box.
Q2. I chose the above options "-avz" based on a read of the reference material and on an example I found posted online. It worked fine (I think) but - are there other options I should have used instead, or options I should have added? All I want to do is back up the files so I could get them back if my server storage goes south. I figure a weekly backup process should cover my needs. Simple.
Q3. When an original file changes in some way, what exactly ends up on the backup drive: the original file with changes merged into it? or is the original file left untouched and the changes to it appended, or annotated, in some way? I've read and re-read the info on rsync, and either I just didn't understand it, or the answer wasn't there.
Q4. When/if the day comes that I need to recover some or all of my media files, how to I do that? Is it just a matter of running the same rsync command from above again, except with the src and dest paths reversed?
Q5. Finally, I understand I can set up a syslog dataset and FN will "automagically" write all its log files to that dataset. Does this work eel or at all? It just seems too easy. :) Would I create the syslog dataset on my FN storage (which makes sense to me), or on the backup storage, or does it matter?
Q6. Am I doing my backups the hard way, meaning should I be using snapshots and replication as I've read some do? I haven't done much reading on either of these so its definitely a noobie question.
Sorry, I know its a lot to read, and I'm getting greedy asking 6 questions in one post. But I'd sure appreciate any answers that are available, or nudges to where I can find them for myself. My pre-post search didn't turn up anything useful, so I either used the wrong search terms, or...
Rod
