On 02/16/2011 09:23 AM, Robert Moskowitz wrote: > How would you back up /etc/passwd and its shadow file (and the same for > /etc/groups) using rsync? > > In my case, I have a USB drive to back stuff up to. I already have a > cron job, backing up /home > > And then, for my documentation, how would I restore the shadow files? > > This is to provide for disaster recovery (which I am in the middle of > right now without proper backups...). > > If it disaster recovery you may want to backup entire root anyway ... certainly /etc /var I would also suggest you use rdiff-backup and not rsync - that way you will have history of changes - and if the disaster is /etc/shadow got turned to 0 byte file - having a backup of earlier versions is vital. rdiff-backup leaves you a browsable top level directory of files of the current snapshot - (just like a rsync backup would) but has the ability to build older revs too. I cron trim my rdiff-backups to 3, 6 or 12 months depending on which partition (directory whatever) it is. You then need to decide on backup frequency - it may vary from minutes or hours to daily .. again depending. I run key backups every 1 to 2 hours and otherwise nightly. The cost of hourly's is low if the change volume is not too rapid. gene -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines