Backing Up Volume Group Metadata
Metadata backups and archives are automatically created on every volume group and logical volume configuration change unless disabled in the lvm.conf file. By default, the metadata backup is stored in the /etc/lvm/backup file and the metadata archives are stored in the /etc/lvm/archives file.
You can manually back up the metadata to the /etc/lvm/backup file with the vgcfgbackupcommand.
The vgcfrestore command restores the metadata of a volume group from the archive to all the physical volumes in the volume groups.
Backing Up Using Acronis True Image
Acronis True Image Enterprise Server allows you to create the exact server disk image for complete server backup.
The server disk backup file includes all the server disk data including system, programs, databases, and the like.
Plesk has integration with Acronis True Image. You can set up either one-time or recurring backup of server’s hard drives via Plesk control panel interface. Presently, restoring of backup data is possible only via separate Acronis True Image utilities.
Backing up your files with rsync
rsync makes the task a lot easier as it only downloads files that have changed - saving time and bandwidth.
Setup ssh keys so that you don’t need to enter a password each time you attempt to rsync folders.
On the destination server, the command is as follows:
rsync -e ’ssh -p 2222′ -avl –delete –stats –progress root@192.168.1.1:/home/buddy /backup/
-e ’ssh -p 2222′: this ensures rsync uses the SSH protocol and sets the port.
-avl: This contains three options;
(a) is archive mode which basically keep the permission settings for the files.
(v) is verbose mode. You can leave it out or increase it by appending two v’s (-vv).
(l) preserves any links you may have created.
–delete: deletes files from the destination folder that are no longer required (i.e. they have been deleted from the folder being backed up).
–stats: Adds a little more output regarding the file transfer status.
–progress: shows the progress of each file transfer. Can be useful to know if you have large files being backup up.
