regular fsck possible solution

[Bernd Felsche]

In <1239 at cnw01.storesys.coles.oz.au> nigel at 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 at metapro.DIALix.oz.au