OS Config to simplify backups, info please

[rasterburn]

hey i got some quick questions here, just want answers no need to ask questions y... ok i want to know if it would be safe to do these and if not what the effects would be if i did these... first i want to remove some sym links:

/cdrom
/initrd.img
/vmlinuz
/media/cdrom

second i want to move "/media/cdrom0" to "/mnt/cdrom" and then edit fstab to allow this change.

third i want to move "/etc/passwd" and "/etc/shadow" to "/var" and symlink them back to "/etc" but i noticed there are "/etc/passwd-" and "/etc/shadow-" what are those 2 with the "-" for?

the reason i would like to do these few things is because if those 4 symlinks arent required then i feel they should be removed, and for the passwd file and shadow file i would like to do this so that when i do backups then all i need to do is backup 1 folder instead of 2, so the first backup is a full system backup and then every following backup would be of just "/var" which would be the only folder that would change on a regular basis, the reason i ask about the password and shadow files is because they are system files and i am not sure how they would effect my local user accounts if i moved them and symlinked them back. please help asap.

[martinfst]

I strongly advise you NOT to mess with the standard symlinks of your distribution. The cdrom links might works, but all the others will most likely seriously screw your system. passwd and shadow DO NOT belong in /var.

/var is for variable user data, /etc for (semi) permanent system configuration data.

Removing

/initrd.img
/vmlinuz

will make your system un-bootable and commands like 'ps' will no longer work. So no questions, just a friendly advise: don't do this.

[rasterburn]

ok thanks for getting back to me so quickly, now because you stated that the password files do not belong in var, of course the base install would have put them there if they did, but my next question is, would there be any security risk in moving them to var and then symlinking back to etc?

[martinfst]

Don't move. If you really want, symlink from /var to /etc and adapt your backup script to follow symlinks. Now I do have a question: Why do you insist to move something to /var that so obviously does not belong there?

If this is your local, personal, toy system, go ahead. If this is a system that others might have to maintain sometime in the future, it will be a nightmare for your successor(s) to figure why the well know *nix structures have been broken. It a really a bad idea. I rest my case.

[rasterburn]

well first off, i am the only maintainer of the server, i have all access, local root, remote, etc. etc. and the reason i ask is because i want to move everything that changes often over to the var directory so that instead of figureing out how to make my backup software (mondo) follow symlinks then they all sit in 1 folder and also i have /var on its own hdd, and also the 2 password files contain the virtual user accounts. , but i will look into getting mondo to follow symlinks