On Sun, Aug 23, 2009 at 11:02:31PM +0200, Erik Rossen wrote: > I just spent an hour modifying and testing the pre-existing > /etc/cron.daily/samba to backup the /var/lib/samba/*.tdb files to > /var/backups/samba on a number of Samba servers that I manage.
> If /etc/samba/smbpasswd is important enough to backup It isn't. By default, /etc/samba/smbpasswd is pointless to back up. > then so is secrets.tdb, winbind_idmap.tdb, and all of the others. I agree that these are equally as important as *passdb.tdb* to back up. But "copy to /var/backups" is not an appropriate backup strategy - these files are already under /var/lib and should therefore already be part of any system backup policy. We should not be backing them up piecemeal in the samba package. /etc/cron.daily/samba provides handling for /etc/samba/smbpasswd (in the case it's present) equivalent to /etc/cron.daily/standard's handling of /etc/passwd, /etc/group, and /etc/shadow: all of which are variable data stored in /etc out of necessity, and therefore falling outside of any backup policy for /var. That argument does not apply to the files that are already in /var, so I see no argument whatsoever for backing /var/lib/samba up directly in the package. > One other point: many well-meaning sysadmins may be doing rsync backups of > their entire systems, including /var/lib/samba, thinking that they are safe in > case of any catastrophe. But they might not be aware that the modification > date on the *.tdb files rarely gets changed, even if the contents do, because > Samba uses mmap() to access them. Er, use of mmap() should not affect the filesystem semantics of mtime. I think you're mistaken here. -- Steve Langasek Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS Debian Developer to set it on, and I can move the world. Ubuntu Developer http://www.debian.org/ slanga...@ubuntu.com vor...@debian.org -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
