[comp.unix.questions] regular fsck possible solution

nigel@cnw01.storesys.coles.oz.au (Nigel Harwood) (03/19/91)

I asked a little while back about people's opinions regarding doing
a regular fsck on systems to prevent file system corruption going
unnoticed.

I have decided to run a script using cron on the systems in question
once a day.  The script would run fsck -n and check its output.
If no problems were found it would continue on.  If problems were found
it would then wait 10 minutes and run fsck -n again.  If none of
the problems are duplicated exactly on the second run then it will
continue on.  If they are however it will consider corruption to have
occurred and I can arrange for a proper fsck to be done in single user.

Hopefully by running fsck twice I will be able to differentiate between
valid file systems changes due to the running system and real corruption.

Thoughts ?
-- 
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<  Nigel Harwood  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
<< Post:  Coles Myer Ltd, PO Box 2000 Tooronga 3146, Australia     >>
<< Phone: +61 3 829 6090  E-mail: nigel@cnw01.storesys.coles.oz.au >>
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

bernie@metapro.DIALix.oz.au (Bernd Felsche) (03/24/91)

In <1239@cnw01.storesys.coles.oz.au> nigel@cnw01.storesys.coles.oz.au 
(Nigel Harwood) writes:

>I have decided to run a script using cron on the systems in question
>once a day.  The script would run fsck -n and check its output.
>If no problems were found it would continue on.  If problems were found
>it would then wait 10 minutes and run fsck -n again.  If none of
>the problems are duplicated exactly on the second run then it will
>continue on.  If they are however it will consider corruption to have
>occurred and I can arrange for a proper fsck to be done in single user.

>Hopefully by running fsck twice I will be able to differentiate between
>valid file systems changes due to the running system and real corruption.

>Thoughts ?

We run root and usr filesystems all the time, backing up the
filesystem using dd every night. The copy is then fsck'd and the
summary mailed. This proves more reliable than a tape backup from a
live system. The copied filesystems can be subsequently archived on
tape for off-site paranoia.

The main problem occurs with FIFO's, which are never the right size,
somewhat disconcerting, but you should be aware that this has no real
impact. It's best to remake the FIFO when the filesystem is actually
needed.
-- 
Bernd Felsche,                 _--_|\   #include <std/disclaimer.h>
Metapro Systems,              / sale \  Fax:   +61 9 472 3337
328 Albany Highway,           \_.--._/  Phone: +61 9 362 9355
Victoria Park,  Western Australia   v   Email: bernie@metapro.DIALix.oz.au