UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums UBB.classic UBB.classic 6 Support Tarring while board is running?

This is something I've been wondering about for a while now. I've always shut my board down first and then tarred everything, but would there actually be a problem if I tarred it while it was running? Take into account that I'd tar the board along with other site files, so the process would take a couple of minutes.

I don't bother closing my forums when i tar everything, the odds of someone posting as it's processing is semi rare; i also exclude the cache from the index (other than counter files).

Well, the odds in our case are pretty big that someone would post in the timeframe it takes for the tar to complete...

Well, then for safety sake, when you want to backup just close the board for 5 minutes during your backup process...

I always do (as I explained in my first post), I just want to hear Charles' take on this, I'm sure he knows for certain. <img src="https://www.ubbcentral.com/boards/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

It's likely that tar does not respect the file locking system, so it's possible that the tar process will archive a file midway through being written, which will result in the backup being invalid for at least that one file. It's also possible that you could capture the board in an inconsistant state, between file writes.

Closing the board is very wise.

Just as I thought. Thanks for confirming this... the problem is it makes automated backup of the whole thing impossible, if you have to close it manually first every time. <img src="https://www.ubbcentral.com/boards/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

You could make the automated system update vars_misc.cgi - change BBStatus to OFF, make the backup, then set BBStatus back to ON. <img src="https://www.ubbcentral.com/boards/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

That'd be pretty complex to do... I have no idea how you could script something to go edit a file like that...