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TYPO(new-years-backups): Thanks Seth

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Danny O'Brien 2024-01-05 22:39:55 -08:00
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assets/editorial/09final/integrity-new-years-backups/new-years-backups.md
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@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ date: January 1, 2024
---
::: {.maintext}
![T](res/new-years-backups-initial.png){ .initial }
he year ends, the North pole tips its deepest bow to the darkness, and we see
he year ends, the North Pole tips its deepest bow to the darkness, and we see
even large language models have been [taking it easy](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/12/is-chatgpt-becoming-lazier-because-its-december-people-run-tests-to-find-out/) for the
winter[^winterbreak]. But for the faithful maintainer of systems, there's still
work to be done, here in the cooling embers of the year.
@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ work to be done, here in the cooling embers of the year.
Now is a fine time to dust off your backup scripts and see if they're working
as they should. An untested backup is no backup at all, said the wise elders of
the [Scary Devil
Monastery](http://www.faqs.org/faqs/sysadmin-recovery/)[^scarydevilmonastery]
Monastery](http://www.faqs.org/faqs/sysadmin-recovery/)[^scarydevilmonastery],
and if we want to set the new year off to its best start, we should ensure we
can pause, tear down, and re-start its march, even at its lowest
points.
@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ shut down and then restarted anew. Humans need their respite over the holiday br
but should I have granted my server the same indulgence? My plan accepted
that `boat` would be offline for, I hoped, a small slice of time.
There are more convoluted ways to ensure that none of my web sites, file
There are more convoluted ways to ensure that none of my websites, file
syncing, and miscellaneous tools flickered, even for a moment. I could have
temporarily switched my DNS settings to point at the fresh clean `tub`, for
instance, while overwriting `boat`. Or perhaps just repurposed `boat` for
@ -92,8 +92,7 @@ While I was never *not* relaxed during my holiday restoration. I did
occasionally carol a high-pitched note or two of concern.
Two hefty snowbanks stood between me and a perfectly clean restore. Since I
first installed it, I have had REAR create ISO files for burning onto a CD-ROM
that I could restore from. "CD' stand now for "Cretaceous Disk": I have not
first installed it, I have had REAR create ISO files for burning onto a rescue CD-ROM. "CD" stand now for "Cretaceous Disk": I have not
used one for over a decade. Pouring a bootable ISO into a contemporary USB
drive drive turns out to be surprisingly tricky, and I can never remember how
to do it. In the end, I was forced, humiliatingly, to read [REAR's
@ -104,7 +103,7 @@ In the future, I've set REAR to output those bootable blobs as
which can be burned (warmed?) onto a USB drive.
REAR's ecumenical acceptance of external backup programs can introduce
a tremors into its solid scripts. My use of a distribution [borg
tremors into its solid scripts. My use of a distribution [borg
backup](https://github.com/rear/rear/blob/master/usr/share/rear/conf/examples/borg-example.conf) package
broke the restore. REAR [scans
executables](https://github.com/rear/rear/blob/0bd84e259c7c61612a1d8eb296ee1e81a2cbc87b/usr/share/rear/build/default/990_verify_rootfs.sh#L51)
@ -112,7 +111,7 @@ that it plans to include on its rescue bootable blob to detect what libraries
they require, so that it may copy those over. Sadly, the borg executable can be
either a binary executable -- for which this suffices -- or a Python script,
whose demands REAR cannot fathom. This is undoubtedly a bug a future
REAR will fix. In the meantime I copied over the [binary
REAR will fix. In the meantime, I copied over the [binary
borg](https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/installation.html#standalone-binary)
into `/usr/local/bin` instead of the Pythonic borg of the
Debian repos.
@ -123,7 +122,7 @@ screw as
always (these [plastic nubbin replacements](https://www.ebay.com/itm/275937873783) tempted me in the fallout, though apparently a [pencil sharpener](https://linustechtips.com/topic/1319971-missing-a-screw-for-your-m2-ssd-check-this-out/) will work in a pinch). `Boat`
wobbled and then, like a lucky [North Sea seafarer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlrvzLRgzdc), bobbed back up from an early visit to "[Fiddler's Green](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddler%27s_Green)".
Testing your recovery plans during your own end-of-year downtime gives you a
Testing your recovery plans during your end-of-year downtime gives you a
moment to look back at the record of what has been, and prepare for the ups and
downs of the coming year. What will be the same? What will change? What parts
of your life can you simply hard link to the habits of the past? And what will