02-26-2009
An mksysb is basically a "savevg rootvg" (see man savevg). It is a backup of the core system. What makes the mksysb special is that some boot code is included if the destination is a tape so you could put the tape into another machine and restore to clone the system you have drawn the mksysb tape from. Basically the same mechanism is used by NIM (Network Install Manager), but instead of a tape a file transferred via network is used.
The mksysb mechanism is semi-intelligent as it will not backup /tmp, /var/tmp and you can additionally exclude more directories to make the system image smaller and faster to restore.
A "tar /" will backup all files on all mounted filesystems: system, application, data, everything together. You will not want to use that to restore your system.
A well designed system will have different volume groups for system (rootvg) and application and/or application data. Use an mksysb to get a bootable system image and tar/backup/savevg to get an application data backup. You will have to take a new mksysb every time you change some system settings and some regular schedule for taking data backups.
I hope this helps.
bakunin
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LEARN ABOUT CENTOS
idevicebackup2
idevicebackup2(1) General Commands Manual idevicebackup2(1)
NAME
idevicebackup2 - Create or restore backups for devices running iOS 4 or later.
SYNOPSIS
idevicebackup2 [OPTIONS] CMD [CMDOPTIONS] DIRECTORY
DESCRIPTION
Create or restore backup from the current or specified directory.
OPTIONS
-u, --udid UDID
target specific device by its 40-digit device UDID.
-s, --source UDID
use backup data from device specified by UDID.
-i, --interactive
request passwords interactively on the command line.
-d, --debug
enable communication debugging.
-h, --help
prints usage information.
COMMANDS
backup create backup for the device.
restore
restore last backup to the device.
--system
restore system files, too.
--reboot
reboot the system when done.
--copy
create a copy of backup folder before restoring.
--settings
restore device settings from the backup.
--remove
remove items which are not being restored.
--password PWD
supply the password of the source backup.
info show details about last completed backup of device.
list list files of last completed backup in CSV format.
encryption on|off [PWD]
enable or disable backup encryption.
changepw [OLD NEW]
change backup password on target device.
AUTHORS
Martin Szulecki
Nikias Bassen
SEE ALSO
idevicebackup(1)
idevicebackup2(1)