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Performing Backups and Restores on a Linux Host

The Linux command line provides several utilities for creating and restoring backups. The `tar` command can be used to create compressed archives of files and directories. The `dd` command can be used to copy and restore drives and partitions, and to create image files of drives and partitions that can be used for backups. Both archives and image files, as well as regular files and directories, can be remotely synced using the `rsync` command. In this lab, you will be tasked with using these utilities to back up important data on a Linux host and sync it to a backup server.

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Path Info

Level
Clock icon Intermediate
Duration
Clock icon 30m
Last updated
Clock icon Sep 02, 2025

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Table of Contents

  1. Challenge

    Use the tar Command to Create Backups of Directories on the server01 Host

    • Create an archive called full_bkp.tgz in /home/cloud_user using gzip compression on the following directories: /home, /etc, /opt, /usr/local, /root, and /srv.
    • Create an archive called var_bkp.tbz in /home/cloud_user of the /var directory using bzip2 compression.

  2. Challenge

    Use the dd Command to Create and Restore Backups of Devices on the server01 Host

    • Use /home/cloud_user/xvdg.img to restore the /dev/xvdg device (use a byte size of 4MB).
    • Create an image file of /dev/xvdf in /home/cloud_user/, and call it xvdf.img.bz (it should be compressed with bzip2).
    • Once the xvdf.img.bz file has been created, wipe the /dev/xvdf device using the /dev/zero device.

  3. Challenge

    Synchronize Backups to server02 Using the rysnc Command on the server01 Host

    • Sync (with compression) var_bkp.tbz and full_bkp.tgz to /home/cloud_user/archive on server02. Permissions and timestamps should be preserved.
    • Sync xvdf.img.bz to /home/cloud_user/archive. Do not use archive mode or compression.
    • Sync (with compression) the following directories to /home/cloud_usr/sync on server02: /home, /etc, /opt, /usr/local, /var/lib, /var/log, /root, /srv. Permissions and timestamps should be preserved.

  4. Challenge

    Validate the Backup Files and Directories Were Successfully Copied on the server02 Host

    • List the contents of the /home/cloud_user/archive directory.
    • List the contents of the /home/cloud_user/sync directory.
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Pluralsight Skills

Pluralsight Skills gives leaders confidence they have the skills needed to execute technology strategy. Technology teams can benchmark expertise across roles, speed up release cycles and build reliable, secure products. By leveraging our expert content, skill assessments and one-of-a-kind analytics, keep up with the pace of change, put the right people on the right projects and boost productivity. It's the most effective path to developing tech skills at scale.

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