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Hosting Operations

Read-only

List Archive Contents Before Extracting

You need to see what an archive contains before extracting it into a restore sandbox.

Command

BACKUP_ROOT=/srv/backups/site && tar -tf "$BACKUP_ROOT/2026-06-25/site.tar" | sed 's#^./##' | sort

Before you run this

System impact: Read-only. Low when scoped to the shown target.

When not to use it: Do not treat a file listing as byte-level integrity validation.

Expected output

Sorted archive paths such as app/config.yml, public/index.html, and uploads/avatar.txt.

System impact

Read-only. Nothing changes. The tar table of contents is read from the archive.

Recovery / rollback: no state is changed.

When to use it

Use before restore drills, migrations, or incident restores to confirm the archive shape.

When not to use it

Do not treat a file listing as byte-level integrity validation.

next steps

Related commands

Hosting Operations Read-only

Find Missing Files in an Old Backup

The fastest failed restore drill is the one that finds missing critical files early.

BACKUP_ROOT=/srv/backups/site REQUIRED=/srv/backups/site/required-files.txt && tar -tf "$BACKUP_ROOT/2026-06-24/site.tar" | sed 's#^./##' | sort | comm -23 "$REQUIRED" -
Hosting Operations Deletes data

Check Required Files After Restore

A successful extraction still needs a required-file check.

BACKUP_ROOT=/srv/backups/site REQUIRED=/srv/backups/site/required-files.txt RESTORE_SANDBOX=/tmp/linuxoneliners-restore/full && rm -rf "$RESTORE_SANDBOX" && mkdir -p "$RESTORE_SANDBOX" && tar -xf "$BACKUP_ROOT/2026-06-25/site.tar" -C "$RESTORE_SANDBOX" && find "$RESTORE_SANDBOX" -type f | sed "s#^$RESTORE_SANDBOX/##" | sort | comm -23 "$REQUIRED" -
Hosting Operations Deletes data

Diff Restored Config Against Expected

A restored config can exist and still be the wrong config.

BACKUP_ROOT=/srv/backups/site EXPECTED_CONFIG=/srv/backups/site/expected/app/config.yml RESTORE_SANDBOX=/tmp/linuxoneliners-restore/full && rm -rf "$RESTORE_SANDBOX" && mkdir -p "$RESTORE_SANDBOX" && tar -xf "$BACKUP_ROOT/2026-06-25/site.tar" -C "$RESTORE_SANDBOX" && diff -u "$EXPECTED_CONFIG" "$RESTORE_SANDBOX/app/config.yml"
Hosting Operations Read-only

Review Critical File Modes in the Archive

Permissions are part of the restore, not decoration.

BACKUP_ROOT=/srv/backups/site && tar -tvf "$BACKUP_ROOT/2026-06-25/site.tar" | awk '/secrets.env|deploy.sh/ {print $1, $6}'
Hosting Operations Deletes data

Extract a Backup Into a Restore Sandbox

A restore drill should write to a sandbox, not production.

BACKUP_ROOT=/srv/backups/site RESTORE_SANDBOX=/tmp/linuxoneliners-restore/full && rm -rf "$RESTORE_SANDBOX" && mkdir -p "$RESTORE_SANDBOX" && tar -xf "$BACKUP_ROOT/2026-06-25/site.tar" -C "$RESTORE_SANDBOX"
Study mapping

Use this as independent command practice: read the notes, predict the output, then compare it with the example before using a real shell.

  • LPIC-1 style command-line practice
  • LFCS style performance-task practice
  • Linux+ style troubleshooting review

Independent study support only. No affiliation, endorsement, exam dumps, or real exam questions.