Can / Folder be Archived?

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Posted by Jesmarin, 05-03-2016, 11:21 AM
Hello, I want to close my CentOS 5 server. But before doing that I want to tar whole / folder and download the tar file into my new server for backup purposes. But can I archive / folder while the server is up and running? Or is there any other way to backup whole server more properly? Cheers
Posted by Time4VPS, 05-04-2016, 03:41 AM
Hello, you should take a look at this solution: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1130207 .
Posted by Phil McKerracher, 05-04-2016, 06:47 PM
It's generally not a good idea to backup from the root of any running operating system because system folders (like /dev and /proc on Linux) aren't likely to restore properly, i.e. in a consistent state with all the correct permissions and hardware drivers. It would be better to either: 1. Try to shut down the system, then make a "system image" (easy if it's a virtual machine) that you can later restore to a compatible hardware and hypervisor environment. or 2. Use a script that is designed to save all database contents, emails, user files, settings etc. in a format that can be restored almost anywhere. Some (but not all) control panels and hosting environments provide this.
Posted by Jesmarin, 05-04-2016, 10:16 PM
Thank you very much for your all answers. Indeed, I tried to zip whole server and got errors while zipping for /named folder as you warned.