xfsdump(1M)xfsdump(1M)NAMExfsdump - XFS filesystem incremental dump utility
SYNOPSISxfsdump-h
xfsdump [ options ] -f dest [ -f dest ... ] filesystem
xfsdump [ options ] - filesystem
xfsdump-I [ subopt=value ... ]
DESCRIPTIONxfsdump backs up files and their attributes in a filesystem. The files
are dumped to storage media, a regular file, or standard output. Options
allow the operator to have all files dumped, just files that have changed
since a previous dump, or just files contained in a list of pathnames.
The xfsrestore(1M) utility re-populates a filesystem with the contents of
the dump.
Each invocation of xfsdump dumps just one filesystem. That invocation is
termed a dump session. The dump session splits the filesystem into one
or more dump streams, one per destination. The split is done in
filesystem inode number (ino) order, at boundaries selected to equalize
the size of each stream. Furthermore, the breakpoints between streams
may be in the middle of very large files (at extent boundaries) if
necessary to achieve reasonable stream size equalization. Each dump
stream can span several media objects, and a single media object can
contain several dump streams. The typical media object is a tape
cartridge. The media object records the dump stream as one or more media
files. A media file is a self-contained partial dump, intended to
minimize the impact of media dropouts on the entire dump stream at the
expense of increasing the time required to complete the dump. By default
only one media file is written unless a media file size is specified
using the -d option. Other techniques, such as making a second copy of
the dump image, provide more protection against media failures than
multiple media files will.
xfsdump maintains an online dump inventory in /var/xfsdump/inventory.
The -I option displays the inventory contents hierarchically. The levels
of the hierarchy are: filesystem, dump session, stream, and media file.
The options to xfsdump are:
-a Specifies that files for which the Data Migration Facility (DMF) has
complete offline copies (dual-state files) be treated as if they
were offline (OFL). This means that the file data will not be
dumped by xfsdump, resulting in a smaller dump file. If the file is
later restored the file data is still accessible through DMF. If
both '-a option' and '-z option' are specified, '-a option' takes
precedence (see '-z option' below).
Page 1
xfsdump(1M)xfsdump(1M)-b blocksize
Specifies the blocksize to be used for the dump. This option may be
specified with either the minimal rmt option (see the -m option
below) or with a regular, local tape device. For a QIC drive,
blocksize must always be 512. For other drives such as DAT or 8 mm,
a blocksize of 245760 bytes works well. The same blocksize must be
specified to restore the tape. When specified, this blocksize
applies to all specified tape destinations (see the -f option
below). The maximum blocksize used by xfsdump is 2097152 bytes
(2Mb). Any specified blocksize value larger than this will be
truncated to 2097152 bytes (or the maximum blocksize for the device
if it is less than 2097152).
-c progname
Use the specified program to alert the operator when a media change
is required. The alert program is typically a script to send a mail
or flash a window to draw the operator's attention.
-d filesize
Specifies the size, in megabytes, of dump media files. If not
specified, xfsdump will dump data to tape using a single media file
per media object. The specified media file size may need to be
adjusted if, for example, xfsdump cannot fit a media file onto a
single tape.
-e Allow files to be excluded from the dump. This will cause xfsdump
to skip files which have the "no dump" file attribute set. See the
"Excluding individual files" section below for details on setting
this file attribute. Files with an extended attribute named
"SGI_XFSDUMP_SKIP_FILE" will also be skipped, however this method is
deprecated and xfsdump will stop checking for it in a future
version.
-f dest [ -f dest ... ]
Specifies a dump destination. A dump destination can be the
pathname of a device (such as a tape drive), a regular file, or a
remote tape drive (see rmt(1M)). Up to 20 dump destinations can be
specified, in which case each destination receives an equal portion
of the filesystem. This option must be omitted if the standard
output option (a lone - preceding the source filesystem
specification) is specified.
-l level
Specifies a dump level of 0 to 9. The dump level determines the
base dump to which this dump is relative. The base dump is the most
recent dump at a lesser level. A level 0 dump is absolute - all
files are dumped. A dump level where 1 <= level <= 9 is referred to
as an incremental dump. Only files that have been changed since the
base dump are dumped. Subtree dumps (see the -s option below)
cannot be used as the base for incremental dumps.
Page 2
xfsdump(1M)xfsdump(1M)-m Use the minimal rmt protocol for remote tape destinations. This is
used when the remote machine is a non-SGI machine. With this option,
xfsdump uses version 1 rmt protocol for all remote tape drives. This
option cannot be used without specifying a blocksize to be used (see
-b option above). If all rmt destinations are SGI machines, it is
preferable not to specify this option.
-o Overwrite the tape. With this option, xfsdump does not read the tape
first to check the contents. This option may be used if xfsdump is
unable to determine the block size of a tape .
-p interval
Causes progress reports to be printed at the specified interval.
interval is given in seconds. The progress report indicates how
many files have been dumped, the total number of files to dump, the
percentage of data dumped, and the elapsed time.
-s pathname [ -s pathname ... ]
Restricts the dump to files contained in the specified pathnames
(subtrees). Up to 100 pathnames can be specified. A pathname must
be relative to the mount point of the filesystem. For example, if a
filesystem is mounted at /d2, the pathname argument for the
directory /d2/users is ``users''. A pathname can be a file or a
directory; if it is a directory, the entire hierarchy of files and
subdirectories rooted at that directory is dumped. Subtree dumps
cannot be used as the base for incremental dumps (see the -l option
above).
-v verbosity
-v subsys=verbosity[,subsys=verbosity,...]
Specifies the level of detail used for messages displayed during the
course of the dump. The verbosity argument can be passed as either a
string or an integer. If passed as a string the following values may
be used: silent, verbose, trace, debug, or nitty. If passed as an
integer, values from 0-5 may be used. The values 0-4 correspond to
the strings already listed. The value 5 can be used to produce even
more verbose debug output.
The first form of this option activates message logging across all
dump subsystems. The second form allows the message logging level to
be controlled on a per-subsystem basis. The two forms can be
combined (see the example below). The argument subsys can take one
of the following values: general, proc, drive, media, inventory,
inomap and excluded_files.
For example, to dump the root filesystem with tracing activated for
all subsystems:
# xfsdump-v trace -f /dev/tape /
To enable debug-level tracing for drive and media operations:
Page 3
xfsdump(1M)xfsdump(1M)
# xfsdump-v drive=debug,media=debug -f /dev/tape /
To enable tracing for all subsystems, and debug level tracing for
drive operations only:
# xfsdump-v trace,drive=debug -f /dev/tape /
To list files that will be excluded from the dump:
# xfsdump-e -v excluded_files=debug -f /dev/tape /
-x Normally xfsdump treats XVM Snapshots as if it were dumping the base
(original) filesystem. This option specifies that xfsdump should
dump the snapshot as an independent filesystem. See 'Dump XVM
Snapshot' below.
-z size
Specifies the maximum size, in kilobytes, of files to be included in
the dump. Files over this size will be excluded from the dump,
except for DMF dual-state files when '-a option' is specified (see
'-a option' above). When specified, '-a option' takes precedence
over '-z option'. The size is an estimate based on the number of
disk blocks actually used by the file, and so does not include
holes. In other words, size refers to the amount of space the file
would take in the resulting dump. On an interactive restore, the
skipped file is visible with xfsrestore's 'ls' and while you can use
the 'add' and 'extract' commands, nothing will be restored.
-A Do not dump extended file attributes. When dumping a filesystem
managed within a DMF environment this option should not be used. DMF
stores file migration status within extended attributes associated
with each file. If these attributes are not preserved when the
filesystem is restored, files that had been in migrated state will
not be recallable by DMF. Note that dumps containing extended file
attributes cannot be restored with older versions of xfsrestore(1M).
-B session_id
Specifies the ID of the dump session upon which this dump session is
to be based. If this option is specified, the -l (level) and -R
(resume) options are not allowed. Instead, xfsdump determines if
the current dump session should be incremental and/or resumed, by
looking at the base session's level and interrupted attributes. If
the base session was interrupted, the current dump session is a
resumption of that base at the same level. Otherwise, the current
dump session is an incremental dump with a level one greater than
that of the base session. This option allows incremental and
resumed dumps to be based on any previous dump, rather than just the
most recent.
Page 4
xfsdump(1M)xfsdump(1M)-E Pre-erase media. If this option is specified, media is erased prior
to use. The operator is prompted for confirmation, unless the -F
option is also specified.
-F Don't prompt the operator. When xfsdump encounters a media object
containing non-xfsdump data, xfsdump normally asks the operator for
permission to overwrite. With this option the overwrite is
performed, no questions asked. When xfsdump encounters end-of-media
during a dump, xfsdump normally asks the operator if another media
object will be provided. With this option the dump is instead
interrupted.
-I Displays the xfsdump inventory (no dump is performed). xfsdump
records each dump session in an online inventory in
/var/xfsdump/inventory. xfsdump uses this inventory to determine
the base for incremental dumps. It is also useful for manually
identifying a dump session to be restored. Suboptions to filter the
inventory display are described later.
-J Inhibits the normal update of the inventory. This is useful when
the media being dumped to will be discarded or overwritten.
-L session_label
Specifies a label for the dump session. It can be any arbitrary
string up to 255 characters long.
-M label [ -M label ... ]
Specifies a label for the first media object (for example, tape
cartridge) written on the corresponding destination during the
session. It can be any arbitrary string up to 255 characters long.
Multiple media object labels can be specified, one for each
destination.
-O options_file
Insert the options contained in options_file into the beginning of
the command line. The options are specified just as they would
appear if typed into the command line. In addition, newline
characters (\n) can be used as whitespace. The options are placed
before all options actually given on the command line, just after
the command name. Only one -O option can be used. Recursive use is
ignored. The source filesystem cannot be specified in options_file.
-R Resumes a previously interrupted dump session. If the most recent
dump at this dump's level (-l option) was interrupted, this dump
contains only files not in the interrupted dump and consistent with
the incremental level. However, files contained in the interrupted
dump that have been subsequently modified are re-dumped.
-T Inhibits interactive dialogue timeouts. When the -F option is not
specified, xfsdump prompts the operator for labels and media
changes. Each dialogue normally times out if no response is
supplied. This option prevents the timeout.
Page 5
xfsdump(1M)xfsdump(1M)-Y length
Specify I/O buffer ring length. xfsdump uses a ring of output
buffers to achieve maximum throughput when dumping to tape drives.
The default ring length is 3.
- A lone - causes the dump stream to be sent to the standard output,
where it can be piped to another utility such as xfsrestore(1M) or
redirected to a file. This option cannot be used with the -f
option. The - must follow all other options and precede the
filesystem specification.
The filesystem, filesystem, can be specified either as a mount point or
as a special device file (for example, /dev/dsk/dks0d1s0). The
filesystem must be mounted to be dumped.
NOTES
Dump Interruption
A dump can be interrupted at any time and later resumed. To interrupt,
type control-C (or the current terminal interrupt character). The
operator is prompted to select one of several operations, including dump
interruption. After the operator selects dump interruption, the dump
continues until a convenient break point is encountered (typically the
end of the current file). Very large files are broken into smaller
subfiles, so the wait for the end of the current file is brief.
Dump Resumption
A previously interrupted dump can be resumed by specifying the -R option.
If the most recent dump at the specified level was interrupted, the new
dump does not include files already dumped, unless they have changed
since the interrupted dump.
Dump XVM Snapshot
xfsdump treats XVM snapshots as if it were dumping the base filesystem
(the filesystem the snapshot is based on). When a snapshot is dumped, the
inventory will reflect the filesystem UUID, mount point, and character
special device of the base filesystem rather than the snapshot.
Additionally, the dump date will be set to the time the snapshot was
taken. This is done to allow incremental dumps to function properly when
using snapshots.
If you would like the dump of a snapshot to be considered a separate
filesystem you should specify the '-x' option. This option should always
be used when dumping snapshots which have been modified.
Note: In 6.5.21 and 6.5.22 xfsdump used an extended attribute on the root
directory of the snapshot called "SGI_XFSDUMP_UUID" to retrieve the UUID
of the base filesystem. This is no longer needed and the attribute is no
longer set when a snapshot is created.
Media Management
A single media object can contain many dump streams. Conversely, a
single dump stream can span multiple media objects. If a dump stream is
Page 6
xfsdump(1M)xfsdump(1M)
sent to a media object already containing one or more dumps, xfsdump
appends the new dump stream after the last dump stream. Media files are
never overwritten. If end-of-media is encountered during the course of a
dump, the operator is prompted to insert a new media object into the
drive. The dump stream continuation is appended after the last media
file on the new media object.
Inventory
Each dump session updates an inventory database in
/var/xfsdump/inventory. xfsdump uses the inventory to determine the base
of incremental and resumed dumps.
This database can be displayed by invoking xfsdump with the -I option.
The display uses tabbed indentation to present the inventory
hierarchically. The first level is filesystem. The second level is
session. The third level is media stream (currently only one stream is
supported). The fourth level lists the media files sequentially
composing the stream.
The following suboptions are available to filter the display.
-I depth=n
(where n is 1, 2, or 3) limits the hierarchical depth of the
display. When n is 1, only the filesystem information from the
inventory is displayed. When n is 2, only filesystem and session
information are displayed. When n is 3, only filesystem, session and
stream information are displayed.
-I level=n
(where n is the dump level) limits the display to dumps of that
particular dump level.
The display may be restricted to media files contained in a specific
media object.
-I mobjid=value
(where value is a media ID) specifies the media object by its media
ID.
-I mobjlabel=value
(where value is a media label) specifies the media object by its
media label.
Similarly, the display can be restricted to a specific filesystem.
-I mnt=mount_point
(that is, [hostname:]pathname), identifies the filesystem by
mountpoint. Specifying the hostname is optional, but may be useful
in a clustered environment where more than one host can be
responsible for dumping a filesystem.
Page 7
xfsdump(1M)xfsdump(1M)-I fsid=filesystem_id
identifies the filesystem by filesystem ID.
-I dev=device_pathname
(that is, [hostname:]device_pathname) identifies the filesystem by
device. As with the mnt filter, specifying the hostname is optional.
More than one of these suboptions, separated by commas, may be specified
at the same time to limit the display of the inventory to those dumps of
interest. However, at most four suboptions can be specified at once:
one to constrain the display hierarchy depth, one to constrain the dump
level, one to constrain the media object, and one to constrain the
filesystem.
For example, -I depth=1,mobjlabel="tape 1",mnt=host1:/test_mnt would
display only the filesystem information (depth=1) for those filesystems
that were mounted on host1:/test_mnt at the time of the dump, and only
those filesystems dumped to the media object labeled "tape 1".
Dump records may be removed (pruned) from the inventory using the
xfsinvutil program.
An additional media file is placed at the end of each dump stream. This
media file contains the inventory information for the current dump
session. This is currently unused.
The inventory files stored in /var/xfsdump are not included in the dump,
even if that directory is contained within the filesystem being dumped.
Including the inventory in the dump may lead to loss or corruption of
data, should an older version be restored overwriting the current
version. To backup the xfsdump inventory, the contents of /var/xfsdump
should be copied to another location which may then be safely dumped.
Upon restoration, those files may be copied back into /var/xfsdump,
overwriting whatever files may be there, or xfsinvutil(1M) may be used to
selectively merge parts of the restored inventory back into the current
inventory. Prior to IRIX 6.5.15, xfsdump would include the /var/xfsdump
directory in the dump. Care should be taken not to overwrite the
/var/xfsdump directory when restoring an old dump, by either restoring
the filesystem to another location or by copying the current contents of
/var/xfsdump to a safe place prior to running xfsrestore(1M).
When operating in the miniroot environment, xfsdump does not create and
does not reference the inventory database. Thus incremental and resumed
dumps are not allowed.
Labels
The operator can specify a label to identify the dump session and a label
to identify a media object. The session label is placed in every media
file produced in the course of the dump, and is recorded in the
inventory.
Page 8
xfsdump(1M)xfsdump(1M)
The media label is used to identify media objects, and is independent of
the session label. Each media file on the media object contains a copy
of the media label. An error is returned if the operator specifies a
media label that does not match the media label on a media object
containing valid media files. Media labels are recorded in the
inventory.
UUIDs
UUIDs (Universally Unique Identifiers) are used in three places: to
identify the filesystem being dumped (using the filesystem UUID, see
xfs(4) for more details), to identify the dump session, and to identify
each media object. The inventory display (-I) includes all of these.
Dump Level Usage
The dump level mechanism provides a structured form of incremental dumps.
A dump of level level includes only files that have changed since the
most recent dump at a level less than level. For example, the operator
can establish a dump schedule that involves a full dump every Friday and
a daily incremental dump containing only files that have changed since
the previous dump. In this case Friday's dump would be at level 0,
Saturday's at level 1, Sunday's at level 2, and so on, up to the Thursday
dump at level 6.
The above schedule results in a very tedious restore procedure to fully
reconstruct the Thursday version of the filesystem; xfsrestore would need
to be fed all 7 dumps in sequence. A compromise schedule is to use level
1 on Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday, and level 2 on Sunday, Tuesday, and
Thursday. The Monday and Wednesday dumps would take longer, but the
worst case restore requires the accumulation of just three dumps, one
each at level 0, level 1, and level 2.
Quotas
If the filesystem being dumped contains quotas, xfsdump will use
repquota(1M) to store the quotas in a file called xfsdump_quotas in the
root of the filesystem to be dumped. This file will then be included in
the dump. Upon restoration, edquota(1M) can be used to reactivate the
quotas for the filesystem. Note, however, that the xfsdump_quotas file
will probably require modification to change the filesystem or UIDs if
the filesystem has been restored to a different partition or system.
Miniroot Restrictions
xfsdump is subject to the following restrictions when operated in the
miniroot environment: non-restartable, no incrementals, no online
inventory, synchronous I/O, no quotas.
Trusted IRIX Restrictions
In the Trusted IRIX environment, the following directories and files must
be labelled as dbadmin to enforce security :
/var/xfsdump/inventory
/var/xfsdump/inventory/*
Page 9
xfsdump(1M)xfsdump(1M)
If xfsdump is executed at the dbadmin label, the following set of
capabilities: CAP_DAC_READ_SEARCH+eip , CAP_DEVICE_MGT+eip , and
CAP_MAC_READ+eip. are needed. If xfsdump is executed with other MAC
label, e.g dblow or userlow , CAP_MAC_WRITE+eip capability is also
required unless -J option is specified. xfsdump can also back up multi-
level directories and their extended attributes (e.g. CAPs, MAC, and ACLs
) without being executed with moldy MAC label.
For example, run xfsdump using suattr command.
# suattr -M dbadmin -C "CAP_MAC_READ, CAP_DEVICE_MGT,\
CAP_DAC_READ_SEARCH+ep" -c "xfsdump ..."
or
# suattr -M userlow -C "CAP_MAC_READ, CAP_DEVICE_MGT,\
CAP_MAC_WRITE, CAP_DAC_READ_SEARCH+ep" -c "xfsdump ..."
If quotas are enabled, xfsdump also needs the CAP_QUOTA_MGT capability.
Clustered Filesystems
In a clustered environment, a CXFS filesystem may be directly accessed
simultaneously by many client nodes and a metadata server node. However,
it is a restriction of xfsdump that it may only be run on a filesystem's
metadata server. With failover or simply server reassignment, a
filesystem may, over time, have a number of metadata servers. Therefore,
in order for xfsdump to maintain a consistent inventory, it must access
the inventory for past dumps, even if this information is located on
another node. It is recommended that the inventory be made accessible by
all nodes in the cluster using one of the following methods:
Relocate the inventory to a shared filesystem, for example:
- On the node currently containing the inventory:
# cp -r /var/xfsdump /shared_filesystem
# mv /var/xfsdump /var/xfsdump.bak
# ln -s ../shared_filesystem /var/xfsdump
- On all other nodes in the cluster:
# mv /var/xfsdump /var/xfsdump.bak
# ln -s ../shared_filesystem /var/xfsdump
Export the directory using an NFS shared filesystem, for example:
- On the node currently containing the inventory, add /var/xfsdump to
/etc/exports and then enter the following:
# exportfs -a
- On all other nodes in the cluster:
Page 10
xfsdump(1M)xfsdump(1M)
# mv /var/xfsdump /var/xfsdump.bak
# ln -s /hosts/hostname/var/xfsdump /var/xfsdump
Note: It is the /var/xfsdump directory that should be shared, rather than
the /var/xfsdump/inventory directory. If there are currently
inventories stored on various nodes, xfsinvutil(1M) can be used to
merge them into a single common inventory, prior to sharing the
inventory among the cluster.
Core Files
If xfsdump abnormally exits causing a core dump, all its associated
processes which dump core will have core file names with their extensions
set to the pids of the processes. See prctl(2) and PR_COREPID for further
details.
Excluding individual files
It may be desirable to exclude particular files or directories from the
dump. The -s option can be used to limit the dump to a specified
directory, and the -z option can be used to exclude files over a
particular size. Additionally, when xfsdump is run with the -e option,
files that are tagged with the "no dump" file attribute will not be
included in the dump. The chattr(1) command can be used to set this
attribute on individual files or entire subtrees.
To tag an individual file for exclusion from the dump:
$ chattr +d file
To tag all files in a subtree for exclusion from the dump:
$ chattr -R +d directory
Note that any new files or directories created in a directory which has
the "no dump" attribute set will automatically inherit this attribute.
Also note that xfsdump does not check directories for the "no dump"
attribute.
Care should be taken to note which files have been tagged. Under normal
operation, xfsdump will only report the number of files it will skip.
The -v excluded_files=debug option, however, will cause xfsdump to list
the inode numbers of the individual files affected.
EXAMPLES
To perform a level 0, single stream dump of the root filesystem to a
locally mounted tape drive, prompting for session and media labels when
required:
# xfsdump-f /dev/tape /
To specify session and media labels explicitly:
Page 11
xfsdump(1M)xfsdump(1M)
# xfsdump-L session_1 -M tape_0 -f /dev/tape /
To perform a dump to a remote tape using the minimal rmt protocol and a
set blocksize of 64k:
# xfsdump-m -b 65536 -f otherhost:/dev/tape /
To perform a level 0, multi-stream dump to two locally mounted tape
drives:
# xfsdump-L session_2 -f /dev/rmt/tps4d6v -M tape_1 \
-f /dev/rmt/tps5d6v -M tape_2 /
To perform a level 1 dump relative to the last level 0 dump recorded in
the inventory:
# xfsdump-l 1 -f /dev/tape /
To copy the contents of a filesystem to another directory (see
xfsrestore(1M)):
# xfsdump-J - / | xfsrestore -J - /new
FILES
/var/xfsdump/inventory dump inventory database
SEE ALSOattr(1), repquota(1M), rmt(1M), xfsinvutil(1M), xfsrestore(1M),
attr_get(2), quotas(4).
DIAGNOSTICS
The exit code is 0 on normal completion, non-zero if an error occurs or
the dump is terminated by the operator.
For all verbosity levels greater than 0 (silent) the final line of the
output shows the exit status of the dump. It is of the form:
xfsdump: Dump Status: code
Where code takes one of the following values: SUCCESS (normal
completion), INTERRUPT (interrupted), QUIT (media no longer usable),
INCOMPLETE (dump incomplete), FAULT (software error), and ERROR (resource
error). Every attempt will be made to keep both the syntax and the
semantics of this log message unchanged in future versions of xfsdump.
However, it may be necessary to refine or expand the set of exit codes,
or their interpretation at some point in the future.
The message ``xfsdump: WARNING: unable to open directory: ino N: Invalid
argument'' can occur with filesystems which are actively being modified
while xfsdump is running. This can happen to either directory or regular
file inodes - affected files will not end up in the dump, files below
Page 12
xfsdump(1M)xfsdump(1M)
affected directories will be placed in the orphanage directory by
xfsrestore.
BUGSxfsdump does not dump unmounted filesystems.
The dump frequency field of /etc/fstab is not supported.
xfsdump uses the alert program only when a media change is required.
xfsdump requires root privilege (except for inventory display).
xfsdump can only dump XFS filesystems.
The media format used by xfsdump can only be understood by xfsrestore.
xfsdump does not know how to manage CD-ROM or other removable disk
drives.
When the minimal rmt option is specified, xfsdump applies it to all
remote tape destinations. The same blocksize (specified by the -b option)
is used for all these remote drives.
xfsdump can become confused when doing incremental or resumed dumps if on
the same machine you dump two XFS filesystems and both filesystems have
the same filesystem identifier (UUID). Since xfsdump uses the filesystem
identifier to identify filesystems, xfsdump maintains one combined set of
dump inventories for both filesystems instead of two sets of dump
inventories. This scenario can happen only if dd or some other block-
by-block copy program was used to make a copy of an XFS filesystem. See
xfs_copy(1M) and xfs(4) for more details.
Page 13
