Dump command

From RZWiki

A CLI command available on most Linux platforms; used to create backups of ext2 and ext3 file systems.

Usage Syntax

dump [options [file] files_to_dump

Common options include;

• -levelnn -
• -S - size estimate; determine and display the amount of space (in bytes) that is needed to perform the dump, without actually performing the dump (note calculated size is without compression)
• -f file -
• -L label -
• -j[n] - compress the dump file using the bzlib compression library, optionally specifying a compression level number from 0 to 9 (the default level is 2)
• -z[n] - compress the dump file using the zlib compression library, optionally specifying a compression level number from 0 to 9 (the default level is 2)

Usage Examples

/sbin/dump -f /tmp/test-dump-file -L test-dump -j6 . - backup the file system starting at the current working directory (.) to file: /tmp/test-dump-file, label the backup: test-dump and compress with the bzlib library, compression level 6

Usage Notes

Linux Usage Notes

With most Linux or Unix commands;

• Non root users may need to prefix commands with the sudo command, for example: sudo chmod 644 *
• Brief help can be displayed using the -h or --help parameter, for example: chmod --help
• A full command manual can be displayed using the man command followed by the command name, for example: man chmod
• Sometimes 'info' pages are used instead of or to provide more information than man pages; for example: info chmod
• Version information can normally be display using the -v, -V or --version parameter, for example: chmod --version. However, this paramater is also frequently used to display verbose output.

noinclude/noinclude

Typical Output

noinclude/noinclude

/sbin/dump -S -f /tmp/test-dump-file -L test-dump -j6 .

13963264

/sbin/dump -f /tmp/test-dump-file -L test-dump -j6 .

DUMP: Date of this level  dump: Fri Feb 27 14:59:10 2009
DUMP: Dumping /dev/sda2 (/ (dir home/test)) to /tmp/test-dump-file
DUMP: Label: test-dump
DUMP: Writing 10 Kilobyte records
DUMP: Compressing output at compression level 6 (bzlib)
DUMP: mapping (Pass I) [regular files]
DUMP: mapping (Pass II) [directories]
DUMP: estimated 13636 blocks.
DUMP: Volume 1 started with block 1 at: Fri Feb 27 14:59:14 2009
DUMP: dumping (Pass III) [directories]
DUMP: dumping (Pass IV) [regular files]
DUMP: Closing /tmp/test-dump-file
DUMP: Volume 1 completed at: Fri Feb 27 14:59:20 2009
DUMP: Volume 1 took 0:00:06
DUMP: Volume 1 transfer rate: 1673 kB/s
DUMP: Volume 1 13690kB uncompressed, 10042kB compressed, 1.364:1
DUMP: 13690 blocks (13.37MB) on 1 volume(s)
DUMP: finished in 6 seconds, throughput 2281 kBytes/sec
DUMP: Date of this level  dump: Fri Feb 27 14:59:10 2009
DUMP: Date this dump completed:  Fri Feb 27 14:59:20 2009
DUMP: Average transfer rate: 1673 kB/s
DUMP: Wrote 13690kB uncompressed, 10042kB compressed, 1.364:1
DUMP: DUMP IS DONE

Installation

dump can be installed or upgraded as follows, depending on your platform;

• Ubuntu: apt-get install dump
• Fedora Core: yum install dump
• FreeBSD: pkg_add -v -r dump

Related Files

The dump executable is normally found here: /sbin/dump

Related Commands

Use the restore command to restore a backup created by dump.

Use the file command to... investigate

Command Alternatives

tar, gzip, zip etc.

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