OpenBSD Backup Strategies - Beginner Guide

OpenBSD Backup Strategies - Beginner Guide

Protecting your data with regular backups is critical. Here's how to backup your OpenBSD system.

Why Backups Matter

Hardware failure: Disks crash, power supplies fail.
Human error: Accidental deletion or modification of important files.
Ransomware: Malicious encryption of your data.

3-2-1 Backup Rule: Keep 3 copies of data, on 2 different media, with 1 offsite.

Step 1: Identify What to Backup

Critical data: Configuration files, user data, databases, web content.

List important directories:
/etc/ - system configuration
/home/ - user home directories
/var/www/ - web server content
/var/postgres/ - PostgreSQL data

Note: You don't need to backup everything - OpenBSD is installed from CDs/ISOs, so you can always reinstall the base system.

Step 2: Backup Using tar

tar is the most common backup tool on OpenBSD.

Basic backup command:
tar -czvf backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc /home /var/www

What this does:
-c - create a new archive
-z - compress with gzip (reduces size)
-v - verbose (show files being backed up)
-f - filename (creates backup-YYYYMMDD.tar.gz)

Backup to external drive:
mkdir /mnt/backup
tar -czvf /mnt/backup/mybackup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc /home

Step 3: Backup Using dump/restore

OpenBSD's native backup tools for filesystem-level backups.

To backup the root filesystem:
dump -0Lu -f /backup/root-$(date +%Y%m%d).dump /

Explanation:
-0 - level 0 (full) backup
-L - use the line printer message format (for tape, but works for files)
-u - update the dump record
-f - filename for the backup image

To restore:
restore -rf /backup/root-20240101.dump

Important: The restore process is interactive - you'll be prompted to select what to restore.

Note: dump/restore is best for full filesystem backups, not individual file recovery.

Step 4: Remote Backup with ssh

Securely backup to a remote server:
dump -0Lu -f - / | ssh user@remote-server "cat > /backups/$(date +%Y%m%d).dump"

This: Creates a full backup and securely transfers it to your remote server via SSH.

Requirements: SSH access to the remote server, sufficient disk space.

Step 5: Verify Your Backups

The most important step: Test your backups!

Regularly: Once a month, try to restore a few files from your backup.

Checklist:
-[ ] Backup created successfully
-[ ] Backup file size is reasonable
-[ ] Files can be extracted
-[ ] Compression works (if used)
-[ ] Remote backups accessible

Ready to protect your data? Regular backups are the best insurance for your OpenBSD system.

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Article author: Arthur Isaev