Backing Up and Restoring the Server
You can back up server files automatically using Time Machine. It’s a comprehensive
backup solution for the system. It automatically makes a complete backup of all files on
the system to a locally attached external hard drive, an available internal hard drive, or
a remote network file system. It also keeps track as files are created, updated, or deleted
over time. Time Machine backs up the changes and creates a history of the file system
that you can navigate by date. You can use its intuitive time-based visual browser to
search back through time to find and restore any files that were backed up.
You can set up a list of folders and disks that you want to exclude from backup.
Time Machine automatically excludes temporary and cache files located in /tmp/,
/Library/Logs/, /Library/Caches/, and /Users/username/Library/Caches/.
Time Machine automatically backs up data and settings for basic services: file sharing,
address book, iCal, iChat, mail, web and wiki, VPN, and Open Directory. Time Machine
also automatically backs up some settings for other services, but you may not be able
to completely restore settings changed with Server Admin or with command-line tools.
You set backup options in the Time Machine pane of System Preferences on the server,
and use the Time Machine application to restore files. You can also restore the system
to a previous state using the Installer. For information about backing up and restoring
with Time Machine or recovering the server system with the Installer, open System
Preferences and then use the Help menu.
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Chapter 5
Managing Your Server
For information about backing up users’ computers on the server, see “Managing Users’
Backup Storage” on page 162.