Red Hat SummitChapter 12. Restoring an XFS file system from backup
As a system administrator, you can use the xfsrestore utility to restore XFS backup created with the xfsdump utility and stored in a file or on a tape.
12.1. Features of restoring XFS from backup
You can restore XFS file systems from backups by using xfsrestore. Discover available restore modes, session identification, and methods for selectively recovering files, helping ensure data integrity and flexible recovery solutions.
The xfsrestore utility restores file systems from backups produced by xfsdump. The xfsrestore utility has two modes:
- With the simple mode you can restore an entire file system from a level 0 dump. This is the default mode.
- With the cumulative mode you can restore the file system from an incremental backup: that is, level 1 to level 9.
A unique session ID or session label identifies each backup. Restoring a backup from a tape containing multiple backups requires its corresponding session ID or label.
To extract, add, or delete specific files from a backup, enter the xfsrestore interactive mode. The interactive mode provides a set of commands to manipulate the backup files.
For more information, see the xfsrestore(8) man page on your system.
12.2. Restoring an XFS file system from backup with xfsrestore
Restore XFS file system content from file or tape backups by using xfsrestore, including full and incremental backups with optional interactive mode.
Prerequisites
- A file or tape backup of XFS file systems, as described in Backing up an XFS file system.
- A storage device where you can restore the backup.
Procedure
The command to restore the backup varies depending on whether you are restoring from a full backup or an incremental one, or are restoring multiple backups from a single tape device:
# xfsrestore [-r] [-S session-id] [-L session-label] [-i] -f backup-location restoration-path-
Replace backup-location with the location of the backup. This can be a regular file, a tape drive, or a remote tape device. For example,
/backup-files/Data.xfsdumpfor a file or/dev/st0for a tape drive. -
Replace restoration-path with the path to the directory where you want to restore the file system. For example,
/mnt/data/. -
To restore a file system from an incremental (level 1 to level 9) backup, add the
-roption. To restore a backup from a tape device that contains multiple backups, specify the backup by using the
-Sor-Loptions.You can choose a backup by its session ID by using the
-Soption. You can choose by the session label, by using the-Loption. To obtain the session ID and session labels, use thexfsrestore -Icommand.Replace session-id with the session ID of the backup. For example,
b74a3586-e52e-4a4a-8775-c3334fa8ea2c. Replace session-label with the session label of the backup. For example,my_backup_session_label.To use
xfsrestoreinteractively, use the-ioption.The interactive dialog begins after
xfsrestorefinishes reading the specified device. Available commands in the interactivexfsrestoreshell includecd,ls,add,delete, andextract; for a complete list of commands, use thehelpcommand. Below is an example for restoring multiple XFS file systems:To restore the XFS backup files and save their content into directories under
/mnt/:# xfsrestore -f /backup-files/boot.xfsdump /mnt/boot/# xfsrestore -f /backup-files/data.xfsdump /mnt/data/To restore from a tape device containing multiple backups, specify each backup by its session label or session ID:
# xfsrestore -L "backup_boot" -f /dev/st0 /mnt/boot/# xfsrestore -S "45e9af35-efd2-4244-87bc-4762e476cbab" \ -f /dev/st0 /mnt/data/
-
Replace backup-location with the location of the backup. This can be a regular file, a tape drive, or a remote tape device. For example,
12.3. Informational messages when restoring an XFS backup from a tape
When restoring a backup from a tape with backups from multiple file systems, the xfsrestore utility might issue messages. The messages inform you whether a match of the requested backup has been found when xfsrestore examines each backup on the tape in sequential order.
For example:
xfsrestore: preparing drive
xfsrestore: examining media file 0
xfsrestore: inventory session uuid (8590224e-3c93-469c-a311-fc8f23029b2a) does not match the media header's session uuid (7eda9f86-f1e9-4dfd-b1d4-c50467912408)
xfsrestore: examining media file 1
xfsrestore: inventory session uuid (8590224e-3c93-469c-a311-fc8f23029b2a) does not match the media header's session uuid (7eda9f86-f1e9-4dfd-b1d4-c50467912408)
[...]The informational messages keep appearing until the matching backup is found.
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