10 Backups
At most sites, the information stored on computers is worth more than the computers themselves. It is also much harder to replace. Protecting this information is one of the system administrator’s most important (and, unfortunately, most tedious) tasks.
There are hundreds of creative and not-so-creative ways to lose data. Software bugs routinely corrupt data files. Users accidentally delete their life’s work. Hackers and disgruntled employees erase disks. Hardware problems and natural disasters take out entire machine rooms.
If executed correctly, backups allow the administrator to restore a filesystem (or any portion of a filesystem) ...
Get UNIX System Administration Handbook, Third Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
