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I don't know about better. Box backup means that my clients never have to |
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change a tape, store it somewhere off site or even think about their backups. |
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we take care of that on the server alone. |
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|
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It works a little like rsync so large files only have the changed section |
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backed up as a patch. It can also be told to work like tape but I only ever |
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use it in its lazy rsync style mode. |
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|
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A few points (in no particular order) that are expanded upon on the web site. |
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http://www.fluffy.co.uk/boxbackup |
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|
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The data is encrypted over the wire: |
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|
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The data is encrypted in storage: |
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clients don't need to trust us not to peek |
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|
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The compression ratio is fairly good: |
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The first one I see before me here is a very small business with 23G of data. |
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They are using 11G on the backup server. |
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|
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backups occur only when there is data to back up: |
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By default the client checks for changes approximately every hour. If there is |
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something new then it is backed up or if a file has changed then, the diff is |
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backed up. The hourly backup means you get a small trickle of network usage |
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rather than a deluge at set backup times. |
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|
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It uses system raid or will impliment its own userland raid. |
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|
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After the initial transfer, the data over the wire is minimal: |
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As all my clients are backing up via adsl links, I do the initial backup on |
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site with a clone of the main backup server ( a gentoo laptop with a firewire |
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drive ) and then transfer this to the main server. |
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|
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Recovery is trivial and involves using an ftp like interface on the client. |
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|
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A native win32 client is currently in the works as is an OSX one. |
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|
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if for some reason the backup server is unavailable, the client will just keep |
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trying every 5 minutes until it is. |
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|
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A client is allocated a soft and hard limit of space on the server. When the |
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limit is reached the files are rotated with the oldest versions of a file |
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being removed first. |
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|
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Old versions of your files are still available unless of course they have been |
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removed during the rotation. |
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|
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Once set up, it is a no brainer. Watch the logs and get on with something more |
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important. |
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|
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This backup server is behind a lowly 1Mb adsl link. It currently stores 200G |
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of clients data and the trickle of backup traffic that comes over it doesn't |
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even interupt a UT2K4 session. ;) |
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|
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Well, that is my situation with this software. If you are interested in it, I |
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would suggest that you join the mailing list. Ben is very accessible and is |
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very open to questions and suggestions. |
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|
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I have been using this with my clients now for about 6 months and have not had |
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a single problem. |
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|
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I would like to see a client ported to my zaurus. :) |
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|
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That may have been a little more than you asked for and I only just got around |
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to answering the question about picking something not in portage. |
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|
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The install of this is so trivial that I cannot see it being in portage is any |
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great advantage. You run the usual ./configure make make-backup-client 0r |
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make-backup-server. The binaries are in /usr/loca/bin and it is time for the |
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very simple setup. If I get some time and noone beats me to it I may cut my |
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ebuild teeth on this simple app. |
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|
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Nige. |
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|
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On Friday 22 Oct 2004 06:56, Ben Munat wrote: |
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> Just out of curiosity, why pick something not in portage? Does it do |
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> something better? |
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> |
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> Ben |
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> |
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> Nigel Marsh wrote: |
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> > I recently came accross Box Backup and am very happy with it. |
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> > |
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> > http://www.fluffy.co.uk/boxbackup/ |
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> > |
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> > On Wednesday 20 Oct 2004 17:48, Jose Gonzalez Gomez wrote: |
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> >> Hi there, |
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> >> |
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> >> I sent this to the gentoo-user list without much success, I hope in |
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> >>the server list there are more people doing backups... you know what |
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> >>they say: "there are only two kind of people: those doing backups and |
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> >>those that never lost any data". I hope I become one of the third kind, |
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> >>those that never lost any data but are doing backups :o) |
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> >> |
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> >> I'm searching for some backup software with the following |
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> >> requirements: |
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> >> |
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> >> * Capability to scale from a single machine to backups of full |
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> >>networks, including heterogeneous OS (Linux, Windows,...) |
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> >> * Capability to do full or incremental backups |
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> >> * Network friendly (don't wanna have my network down because the |
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> >>backup traffic ate all the bandwidth) |
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> >> * Possibility of using different backup media (tape, CD, DVD, HD,...) |
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> >> * Ease of maintenance and recovery, preferably with unattended |
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> >> operation (don't wanna be hanging around changing tapes) |
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> >> * Snapshot backups of live file systems (don't wanna have to stop my |
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> >> web/mail/database server to do the backup) |
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> >> * Ready to go (so please, don't tell me to use tar / cpio / mt) |
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> >> * Of course open source |
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> >> |
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> >> After a preliminary search, I've found Amanda, Mondo Rescue and |
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> >>Bacula, all of them in portage. I would like to hear experiences, and |
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> >>thoughts about this. |
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> >> |
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> >> Thanks in advance, best regards |
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> >> Jose |
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|
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-- |
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timesharing, n: |
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An access method whereby one computer abuses many people. |