First steps in backups
You learn with simple tools why we back up, what to back up and how to tell whether a backup really works.
Level 101 · 12 lessons · 12 practice labs
Lessons
Why back up
- Why back up: disk failure, accidental deletion, ransomware
- What to back up: data, settings and lists
- The 3-2-1 rule
- Short task: draw up a backup list for a small office server
First backups
- A simple backup with cp and tar
- Dated archives and naming
- Verifying a backup with checksums
- Backing up to an external disk and remembering to unplug it
- Short task: take and verify a weekly archive of the team folder
Restoring
- Bringing back a single file
- Restore testing: a backup only counts once it comes back
- Capstone: restore an accidentally deleted folder from backup and document the process
Practice labs
- List what needs backing up: On a small office server find the data that cannot be recreated and list the directories to back up with their sizes.
- Check a backup setup against the 3-2-1 rule: Review the backup setup at Sedirli Hukuk Bürosu and list in three points what is missing in copies, media and location.
- Show the risk of a same-disk backup and move it: Prove the backup sits on the same disk as the data, move it to a second disk and fix the script for the new target.
- Copy a folder with its permissions: Copy a project folder to the backup disk preserving ownership, permissions and dates, then compare both sides.
- Take a dated, compressed archive: Archive a home directory into a compressed file named with the date, excluding cache folders, and list its contents.
- Mirror with rsync and handle deletions correctly: Sync a share to the backup disk with rsync, first using a dry run to see what would be deleted, then run the sync.
- Restore a single file from an archive: Bring back a report deleted by mistake by extracting only that file from yesterday's archive to its original place.
- Restore to a separate place and compare: Unpack the archive into a temporary directory, compare it with the live folder and revert only the two changed files.
- Test that a backup really restores: Find the corrupt one among three archives with an integrity test, restore a good archive into an empty directory and verify the file count.
- Turn the backup command into a small script: Put the dated archive command in an executable script that reports success or failure in one line.
- Schedule the backup to run every night: Schedule the backup script for two in the morning, redirect its output to a log file and verify the first run.
- Keep only the last seven backups: Add a safe clean-up step to the backup script that removes archives older than seven days and never deletes the newest one.
About this course
You learn with simple tools why we back up, what to back up and how to tell whether a backup really works.
What you will learn
- Why back up
- First backups
- Restoring
Prerequisites
No prior knowledge is needed; the course starts from zero.
Lab environment
Lessons run in your own Kali Linux terminal that opens in the browser. Nothing to install; the lab starts clean in every lesson.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this course right for my level?
- The course is at beginner level; every term is explained where it first appears.
- Is there anything to install?
- No. Every lesson runs in your own lab environment that opens in the browser.
- How do lessons work?
- Each lesson has 8 to 10 steps and a short quiz. Early steps show the command to type, later steps give less help; if two attempts fail, the solution opens.
- Can I try it for free?
- Yes. The first three lessons of every course are free.