Varbackups

Varbackups is a term used to describe the practice and the conventional storage location for automated backups of critical system configuration and data on Unix-like systems, most commonly within the /var/backups directory. The concept encompasses both the directory itself and the backup files it contains, which are created by various system maintenance scripts, package managers, and administrators to help recover from misconfigurations, corruption, or hardware failure.

Overview

Varbackups provide a readily accessible historical snapshot of essential files. The exact contents and retention policies vary by distribution and administrator preferences, but typical backups include copies of key configuration files and vital system data. These backups are intended to enable rapid restoration without requiring full system reinstallation.

Contents

Common items found in varbackups include backups of configuration files such as /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/group, /etc/gshadow, and occasionally /etc/fstab, /etc/hosts, or other critical config files. Some distributions also store copies of package status files, lists of installed packages, or scripts used to reconstruct the system state. The format is usually plain files or tar/tar.gz archives, named with timestamps.

Creation and management

Backups under varbackups are typically created by system maintenance scripts, package management tooling, or administrator-defined cron jobs. Rotation and retention policies determine how many backups are kept and for how long, often based on disk space or predefined time intervals.

Restoration and best practices

To restore, copy the relevant files from varbackups back to their original locations, adjust permissions, and restart affected services if needed. Best practices include limiting access to root, validating backups, testing restoration procedures, and complementing varbackups with offsite or encrypted backups for additional resilience.

See also

/var directory, system backups, disaster recovery, backup rotation, data integrity.