Day 16 - How to Archive Jenkins Logs Using Tar, Zip, and Unzip

🧰 Step-by-Step: Backup Jenkins Logs

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📁 Step 1: Navigate to Jenkins Log Directory

cd /var/log/
ls jenkins/

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🗜️ Step 2: Create a Compressed Archive Using tar

tar -czvf jenkins_06122020.tar.gz jenkins

Options Explained:

• -c: Create a new archive

• -z: Compress using gzip

• -v: Verbose output

• -f: Specify output file name

✅ Check archive:

file jenkins_06122020.tar.gz
ls -ltr

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📦 Step 3: Move Archive and Extract It

mv jenkins_06122020.tar.gz /tmp/
cd /tmp/
tar -xzvf jenkins_06122020.tar.gz

Extract to a different location:

tar -xzvf jenkins_06122020.tar.gz -C /opt/

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🎁 Bonus: Use zip & unzip as an Alternative

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📥 Install zip/unzip

yum install zip unzip -y

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🗜️ Create Zip Archive

zip -r jenkins_06122020.zip jenkins
mv jenkins_06122020.zip /opt/

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📂 Extract Zip

cd /opt/
rm -rf jenkins     # Remove existing dir if needed
unzip jenkins_06122020.zip

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💡 What I Learned

✅ How to archive and compress logs with tar
✅ Use gzip compression with .tar.gz
✅ Extract archives to custom paths using -C
✅ Use zip/unzip for compatibility
✅ Ideal for scheduled backups and automation

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🛠️ Real-World Use Case

• Regular log archiving to save space

• Moving logs to another server or S3 bucket

• Debugging Jenkins issues from historical logs

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🔮 Next Steps

On Day 17, I'll learn Debian Package Management & Network Utilities