TDBBACKUP(8)

💾 TDBBACKUP — the tdbbackup era 💾

okay so bestie, welcome to TDBBACKUP(8), a system administration tool that lives in section 8 of your manual, and honestly? she's the friend who shows up with a backup drive AND a vibe check. her whole job is backing up and validating the integrity of samba .tdb files. no cap. 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

tdbbackup [-s suffix] [-v] [-h] [-n hashsize] [-l]

that's the whole fit. five little flags. iconic. 💅

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so first things first: this tool is part of the samba(1) suite. she runs with a whole squad, iykyk.

tdbbackup is a tool you can use to back up samba .tdb files. but the way that she's also out here doing double duty? obsessed. you can also use her to verify the integrity of your .tdb files — either before samba startup, or literally during normal operation, no big deal.

and here's the part that actually matters: if she finds file damage, and she finds a prior backup, then the backup file will be restored. yes, for real. she will just fix it. main character energy fr fr. 👑

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -h — get help information. the "bestie i'm lost" flag. go off. 🙈
• -s suffix — this one lets the administrator specify a file backup extension. why would you want that? because this way it's possible to keep a whole history of tdb backup files, just by using a new suffix for each backup. cute little time capsule, one suffix at a time. 💖
• -v — this will check the database for damages (aka corrupt data), and if any is detected, that causes the backup to be restored. she's not just glancing, she's inspecting. 🔍
• -n hashsize — sets the hash size for the new backup tdb. tiny knob, big consequences. ⭐
• -l — this option disables any locking, by passing TDB_NOLOCK to tdb_open_ex().

⚠️ bestie, listen to me. only use this for database files which are not used by any other process! and also only if it is otherwise not possible to open the database — e.g. databases which were created with mutex locking. this is a "break glass in case of emergency" flag, not an everyday accessory. 💀

🌈 COMMANDS 🌈

🌟 GENERAL INFORMATION 🌟

the tdbbackup utility can safely be run at any time. like, any time. she was designed so that she can be used at any time to validate the integrity of tdb files — even during Samba operation. no downtime, no drama, no "wait until nobody's looking". she's built different. ✨

typical usage for the command will be:

tdbbackup [-s suffix] *.tdb

and before restarting samba, the following command may be run to validate .tdb files:

tdbbackup -v [-s suffix] *.tdb

samba .tdb files are stored in various locations, so be sure to run backup all .tdb file on the system. do not skip this. do not "do it later". do it. 🧚

important files include:

• secrets.tdb — usual location is in the /usr/local/samba/private directory, or on some systems in /etc/samba.
• passdb.tdb — usual location is in the /usr/local/samba/private directory, or on some systems in /etc/samba.
• *.tdb located in the /usr/local/samba/var directory or on some systems in the /var/cache or /var/lib/samba directories.

💜 VERSION 💜

this man page is correct for version 3 of the Samba suite. periodt. 🌸

👑 AUTHOR 👑

the original Samba software and related utilities were created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar to the way the Linux kernel is developed. collaborative queen behaviour honestly. 🫶

the tdbbackup man page was written by John H Terpstra. thank you for your service. 🎀

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this one's from Samba 3.6, dated 2015-04-25 — so yeah, she's been holding it down since way back, and she's still serving. now go back up your .tdb files before something happens. i love you. mwah. 💖🦋⭐