[cvsnt] Re: Backup a live repository

[Glen Starrett]

Gerhard Fiedler wrote:
> I just got wondering -- do you guys have experiences with or thoughts about
> backing up a repository without shutting down the service?
> 
> For example, there is the shadow copy service of WinXP/2003, and there are
> imaging applications like Ghost and TrueImage that can image live file
> systems. Does this work?

AFAIK the only risk to backing up a live repository is that you might 
happen to catch it in the middle of an update, in which case you'd have 
half the files in one state and the other half in the previous state. 
File locking shouldn't be a problem with this setup (beyond a simple 
retry on any commits that are trying to update a file currently being 
backed up).

The main reason to shut down the CVS service before backing up is to 
ensure a pristine 'snapshot' of the repository and prevent any temporary 
locking contention, but all in all it should run just fine.

I can't comment on the Ghost or TrueImage tools since I've never tried 
them in that context.

Regards,

-- 
Glen Starrett