fbackup -/var/spool/sockets/pwgr files not stored

[BOB BARBA]

WE use fbackup to back up our entire system on a nightly basis. Applications and databases are closed and then a full backup is initiated via a cron script.

The script and graph file are:

crm-root: more fullbackup
/usr/sbin/fbackup -0uvc /var/adm/fbackupfiles/config -g /var/adm/fbackupfiles/graph -f /dev/rmt/0m -I /var/adm/fbackupfiles/fullindex
crm-root:
crm-root: more graph
i /
e /cdrom
crm-root:
crm-root:


We invariably have a number of files which fail to store. The number varies quite dramatically. For examnple:

fbackup(1102): WARNING: unable to stat file /var/spool/sockets/pwgr/client27019
fbackup(1102): WARNING: unable to stat file /var/spool/sockets/pwgr/client27020

1. What are these files?
2. Are they related to prcesses that should be stopped prior to starting the backup?
3. Should I be concerned?
4. Should I exclude them from my full backup graph file?

Any information gratefully received.

BobB

[Tony Constantine_1]

There are loads of temporary files created in /var by different aplications running on your server. The files existed when the list of all files to backup was created but by the time the tape was ready to store these files, they were gone (unable to stat).

[Victor BERRIDGE · Accepted solution]

Hi Bob,
These sockets are been seen by fbackup as opened files thus the warning it cannot status...
here is a link that will explain you what sockets are:
http://world.std.com/~jimf/papers/sockets/sockets.html

Best regards
Victor

[Victor BERRIDGE]

I forgot,
Yes you can exclude them from your backup...
all the best
Victor

[James R. Ferguson]

Bob:

If these files are sockets or named pipes (shown with an "s" or "p" in an 'ls' listing) then they do not "hold" data, but rather act only as a conduit of data between processes. You do not (cannot) backup these files -- it has no meaning. I would exclude these files and/or directories in your fbackup graphs if for no other reason than to be able to quickly analyze the results of the backup for warnings.

...JRF...

[Kofi ARTHIABAH]

In addition to the above:

>1. What are these files?
They are socket files that are related to a network-related process.

>2. Are they related to prcesses that should be stopped prior to starting the backup?
Not necessarily. In order to confirm, download lsof from http://hpux.cs.utah.edu/hppd/hpux/Sysadmin/lsof-4.51/
and run it to see what process use those files... on my system, it was sendmail, dtlogin, etc. to be precise, man on pwgrd says:
" pwgrd provides accelerated lookup of password and group information for libc routines like getpwuid and getgrname"

lsof is also useful to find out what processes a running using what - and if you are worried, you should use it to determine what files are open and if they need to be closed/exempted, exclude them accordingly.

>3. Should I be concerned?
Not for the pwgr files. Unless you are concerned about people logging back in when the backups have begun.


>4. Should I exclude them from my full backup graph file?

certainly.