Backups and restores in RHEL

Linux and Unix-Like Red Hat
1

Hi,

I am new to RHEL. and started exploring/learning RHEL from last few months.

I understood LVM and other system admin concepts. But I did not get a chance to explore backup/restore options in RHEL.

Can you please explain the procedure on how backups/restores work in linux environment?

  1. Once we install RHEL, how we usually take OS backups (how often) in organization (small/big) and how we restore when needed.

  2. As a LINUX sys admin, is it our responsibility to backup/restore the USER/App/Databse information on RHEL server ? If yes, how we are running backups/restore ?
    I am already working on AIX, just want to compare to see if anything similar tools in LINUX.

  3. We've mksysb (OS backup utility) in AIX to capture/restore rootvg/root fs. Is there any similar command in RHEL ?

Please explain.

Thank you

2

There are a number of ways of doing backup and restore of RHEL fileystems. What you use depends on your configuration and how you wish to do backups.

For example, if you have an XFS filesystem, you could use xfsdump and xfsrestore.

For LVM, you could use vgcfgbackup and vgcfgrestore, lvmdump, lvmsnapshot and more.

For ext3/4, you could use dd, tar, cpio, pax and lots more.

3

Thanks for your reply. I understand that, some commands/utilities are available on RHEL OS. But, are most of the customers using these tools for backing up OS. so that they can use in case of disaster?

please let me know high-level practices/procedure for backing up OS and app/db's.

Thank you.