How to Install SaraB

Preparation:

1) Install Dar (Disk ARchive) http://dar.sourceforge.net before installing SaraB. I recommend using the 64-bit version, because it will use less memory and will still allow you to work with VERY large archives.

Installation:

1) Download the most recent SaraB file from SourceForge.

2) Untar the file and enter the directory that is created.

# tar -xzf sarab-0.2.2.tar.gz
# cd sarab/

3) Run the "install.sh" script to automatically install SaraB. Follow the directions. (Note: You must have root permissions to install SaraB.)

# ./install.sh

4) Edit the sarab.conf configuration file to meet your needs. The default values are usually good. (Default: SaraB will store backups under /mnt/backup/ )

# vi /etc/sarab/sarab.conf

5) Edit the sarab.dcf configuration file to determine WHAT will be backed up and HOW it is backed up.

# vi /etc/sarab/sarab.dcf

Note: By default, SaraB will backup your entire root filesystem (" / "). If this is not what you want, make sure you edit this file! Make sure you have enough disk space to store your backups as well.

6) Edit the rotation.schedule file to setup up your virtual-tape rotation. (Or you can use one of the examples.)

# vi /etc/sarab/rotation.schedule

7) When you are ready to backup your data, run "/usr/local/sarab.sh". It is a good idea to run SaraB interactively the first time to make sure there are no errors in your setup.

# /usr/local/sarab/sarab.sh

8) To have SaraB run automatically, you need to manually setup a root cron job to start SaraB. There are many ways you can schedule SaraB, and you should create a schedule that works well with your rotation.schedule file. For instance, if the first line of your rotation.schedule file is "sunday-full", then you would want to make sure that the first time you run SaraB is on a Sunday. If you need to, you can manually rotate the rotation.schedule with a text editor to make sure you are starting on the right virtual-tape.

Note: Creating backups is VERY resource intensive and may take a while to complete. Make sure you choose a time that will not interfere with other important functions.

Use the setting below to have SaraB run every day at 3:13 AM.

# crontab -e
3 13 * * * /usr/local/sarab/sarab.sh

Use the setting below to have SaraB run only on weekdays (Monday-Friday) at 3:13 AM.

# crontab -e

3 13 * * 2-5 /usr/local/sarab/sarab.sh

Use the setting below to have SaraB run once a week at 3:13 AM on Saturdays.

# crontab -e
3 13 * * 6 /usr/local/sarab/sarab.sh

How to restore your data:
1) To restore your data, use KDar (KDE Disk Archiver) http://kdar.sourceforge.net for a nice GUI interface, or use Dar commands (see Dar documentation). To locate the virtual-tape that holds the data you want to restore, sort your virtual-tapes by the time they were created. If the backup was an incremental/differential, read the "reference_archive.txt" file in the virtual-tape to learn which virtual-tape was the reference archive.

This will list virtual-tapes stored under "/mnt/backup/", sorted by the date they were created.

# ls -ltr  /mnt/backup/

How to uninstall SaraB (or deinstall, as Oracle would say):
1) To uninstall SaraB, run the provided install.sh file. Follow the directions and be sure to read the warnings.
Note: You need to copy the install.sh to a temporary location, because the install script will fail if it tries to delete itself.

# mkdir -p /root/temp/sarab/
        # cp /usr/local/sarab/install.sh /root/temp/sarab/install.sh
        # /root/temp/sarab/install.sh
        # rm /root/temp/sarab/install.sh