Linux Storage & Backup Lab 💾

A real-world lab to master Linux storage management, LVM, rsync, and reliable backup/restore operations.

---

📌 Objective

This lab simulates a full backup-and-recovery workflow using:

• LVM (Logical Volume Manager)
• rsync for incremental backups
• Mount control for restore points
• Real-world file deletion and recovery

Great practice for anyone preparing for CompTIA Linux+ (XK0-005) or day-to-day sysadmin roles.

---

🧠 Skills Demonstrated

• Create and manage loopback storage with dd and losetup
• Provision LVM: PV ➜ VG ➜ LV
• Format and mount volumes (mkfs, mount)
• Perform safe backups and restores with rsync
• Troubleshoot access issues and restore deleted data

---

🖥️ Environment

Component	Version / Tool
OS	Fedora 41 (workstation)
Shell	Bash
Key CLI	losetup, lvm, rsync, mount, dd, df, lsblk

---

🛠️ Tasks Performed

🧱 Disk Provisioning & LVM Setup

# 1️⃣  Create a 1 GB “disk” file
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/opt/backup-disk.img bs=1M count=1024

# 2️⃣  Attach it as /dev/loopX
sudo losetup -fP /opt/backup-disk.img

# 3️⃣  Create the Physical Volume (replace X with actual loop number)
sudo pvcreate /dev/loopX

# 4️⃣  Create VG & LV
sudo vgcreate backup_vg /dev/loopX
sudo lvcreate -L 900M -n backup_lv backup_vg

# 5️⃣  Format & mount
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/backup_vg/backup_lv
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/backup
sudo mount /dev/backup_vg/backup_lv /mnt/backup

sudo mkdir -p /opt/projects
echo "Alpha Project" | sudo tee /opt/projects/alpha.txt
echo "Beta  Project" | sudo tee /opt/projects/beta.txt

sudo rsync -avh /opt/projects/ /mnt/backup/

sudo find /opt/projects -type f -exec rm -f {} +

sudo rsync -avh /mnt/backup/ /opt/projects/ | sudo tee outputs/restore-log.txt

---

---

📄 Output Logs

File	Description
outputs/restore-log.txt	Log captured from the rsync restore process

---

📸 Screenshots

🔍 Initial Setup & LVM Provisioning

Step	Description	Screenshot
1️⃣	Before Loopback Setup – Disk layout before attaching the backup image
2️⃣	Loop Device Mounted – Loopback disk appears after mounting with losetup
3️⃣	LVM Setup: PV Created – Physical volume initialized with pvcreate
4️⃣	LVM Setup: VG + LV Created – Volume group and logical volume provisioned
5️⃣	Filesystem & Mount – Filesystem formatted and volume mounted to /mnt/backup
6️⃣	Final Layout – View of the mounted loopback volume using lsblk

---

💾 Backup & Restore Process

Phase	Description	Screenshot
✅ Backup Complete	Files alpha.txt and beta.txt successfully backed up using rsync
❌ Simulated Failure	Files deleted from /opt/projects to simulate data loss
🔁 Restore Log	Output of the restore process captured using tee
🎯 Recovery Verified	Files restored from backup and visible in /opt/projects

---

📋 Rsync Restore Log Output

Output of the rsync command during the restore process, captured using tee.