I usually work with virtual machines on PC or online VPS.
So, I have the snapshots available and if something goes wrong after the last change I can go back to the previous situation.
Working now with a dedicated server I don’t have this functionality. What can I activate as an alternative?
| SYSTEM INFORMATION | |
|---|---|
| OS type and version | Debian 12 |
| Webmin version | 2.105 |
| Virtualmin version | 7.10.0 |
| Related packages | SUGGESTED |
Snapshot ? Is not this another term for a backup? I simply take regular incremental backups - then if I wish to roll back to a point in time when everything was good I pick the good backup and restore it.
Some VM providers will even do this for you (at a cost $$)
It is most commonly known on the FreeBSD as a ZFS file system. BSD users are extra proud of it.
@DarkCorner Debian seems to support ZFS: ZFS - Debian Wiki
You would need to do “homework” on this topic yourself since many of us don’t use it.
I don’t believe Webmin supports such backup management but @Joe can comment more about this topic since he is a developer and co-founder of Webmin/Virtualmin.
Simply search “zfs data loss”. First hit is from 11/23.
I use EXT4. As Google did. But I heard they switched to their own filesystem. You can also turn off journaling on EXT4, why do people prefer using EXT2 (if I remember correctly) for “perfect” speed.
On my laptop, which runs on Debian 12 and KDE Plasma, I have turned off ext4 journaling. My computer experienced power outages but never lost any data nor did it get corrupted.
You may have had enough power left in your battery to complete writes? It wasn’t a problem in big data centers with SCSI drives because they had small batteries to ensure the last bit of data was written.
Believe me, going through a power outage and booting machines and manually going through the process was painful and you almost always saw “File system altered” at the end.
Believe me, going through a power outage and booting machines and manually going through the process was painful and you almost always saw “File system altered” at the end.
I completely agree with you. Best to keep it enabled (which is the default). I turned it off to protect NVME from degradation since laptops have internal batteries in case power shuts down in the charger.
@DarkCorner How long does a snapshot take? You can always rsync your current configuration. If you know what changes you are making then the process becomes narrower.
I know ZFS and on my server at home I have snapshots.
Here, however, I am talking about an online server where the configuration is in a system image supplied ready for use and at this moment I cannot think of changing it.
I only need snapshots for a few hours, just for testing and to possibly restore a previous state when something doesn’t work.
In most cases, the VPS provider provides only one snapshot for a day or two and each snapshot replaces the previous one if it still exists.
I’m new to Virtualmin and I’m building, one step at a time, a configuration that was present in a very different context and that wasn’t entirely managed by me.
Now, for example, I’m stuck with the Virtual Servers and if I’m not able to solve it I’ll have to install the whole server from scratch, that’s three days of work wasted.
With a snapshot I may have only lost the changes made in the last few hours.
@DarkCorner You can make backups of your Virtualmin in Webmin » Backup Configuration Files. There you can select modules you want.
If you need to backup your virtual servers, Virtualmin » Backup and Restore » Backup Virtual Servers.
and don’t miss the “Differential (changes since last full backup)” option. which makes it the same as any snapshot.
I hadn’t thought about backup in Webmin.
Sometimes we look for solutions that are already right in front of our noses,
Thank you.
Linux has LVM (logical volume manager) which supports snapshots. You don’t need something “like snapshots”, you can have actual snapshots.
Redhat doc on it. Still learning 
Please use direct links rather than link shortener links.
From a security perspective it’s preferable to see where you’re going and know it won’t change, and from a longevity perspective it removes a point of future failure. A direct link is more likely to keep working for longer.
I’ve edited your comment with the full link.
Why forum does not have Google Safe Browsing API for URLs? If you believe URL shorteners can cause safety concerns. Also, visiting a link won’t infect your computer. Browser only transfers your IP address, user agent, and user language settings. Device’s dimension you can get only through JavaScript. That is all the website can see from the browser. Unlike Android or iOS apps.
We are intentionally moving away from relying on Google services that integrate with the website, at the request of users. The next version of our site will no longer use Google reCAPTCHA and we’ll also be removing Google Analytics when we have time to setup a non-invasive replacement.
I don’t know anything about Google Safe Browsing APIs, though. Maybe they don’t do surveillance. I’ll look into it.
Some might believe that! Many would not!
It is amazing what can be pulled by Javascript and other executed code (and you also trust the provider of your browser Google Chrome? by any chance?)
I use the Opera browser, not Google Chrome. Including on my Android device.
I do not know what kind of false third-party propaganda you read about Google, but reading their privacy policy will give you a more accurate description of how they use your data.
I think not using Google Analytics is great. Most adblockers now block their JavaScript code anyway. I cannot comment much about Google reCAPTCHA, but if it is used only one time on the sign-in page, I don’t believe it is much of a privacy concern.
Perhaps @Joe I can recommend you collect statistics in your own database through a dynamic image. This method was very popular in WAP days. It won’t require you to modify any code in the forum, just adding HTML5 [img src] code which leads to a dynamic image.