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Jose, |
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|
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My clients just have their data ( from apache/MySQL to mail and file servers ) |
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backed up. I also backup essential stuff like the |
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usual /etc, /usr/local, /boot, /var/spool/<whatever>, /var/lib/<whatever>, |
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etc. |
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|
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This means that on the setups I have, I could not do a bare metal recovery on |
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these but, that isn't to say that you couldn't do it with a suitable boot |
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disk and a chroot. |
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|
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when you use bbackupquery on the client machine for recovery you get a file |
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structure like any file browser. You can traverse this with pretty much the |
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same language as bash and ftp combined. If you backed up the entire root |
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filesystem, with some exclusions and a couple of rules for Box Backup ( see |
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below ), you would find yourself looking at a near replica of your filesytem. |
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To retreive files or dirs you use a variation of the get command. If you add |
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a couple of switches you can view files that the client has deleted or old |
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versions of any files. |
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|
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|
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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Obvious exclutions like /proc and... |
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Box Backup doesn't back up across partions so, if you have / on hda3 and /home |
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on hdc1, /home will need a seperate backup entry and / would need /home |
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excluding from its setup. |
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|
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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|
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Below is a sample extract from the client config for such a system. |
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|
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BackupLocations |
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{ |
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/ |
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{ |
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Path = / |
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ExcludeFile = /etc/box/bbackupd/001-FileEncKeys.raw |
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ExcludeDir = /home |
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ExcludeDir = /proc |
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ExcludeDir = /var/run |
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} |
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home |
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{ |
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Path = /home |
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} |
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} |
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|
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When you use the bbackupquery client from a nix client machine you will see |
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something like...... |
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|
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query > ls |
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00000002 -d---- home |
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00000007 -d---- / |
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query > |
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|
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|
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as you can see, each seperate partition backed up is listed seperately |
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and /home will not apperar within / |
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|
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You can cd into any of these to burrow down. |
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|
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The Hex on the left is used if you have several versions of a file stored, |
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with the same name you can select which one via its hex identifier. |
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|
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The "-d----" shows the filetype flags , file, dir, deleted, old version. |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
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|
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As to reverting to a given date. The short answer (unusual for me ;)) is No... |
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The longer answer is, according the developments on the mailing list it will |
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do soon. |
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|
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|
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On the server side, you have no access to this data. You need to keep a client |
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key safe to rebuild a totally dead client so that it can restore and start |
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again where you left off. |
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|
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|
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Sorry, got carried away and probably went way over what was needed to answer |
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your question. Must be this new coffee I'm drinking. ;) |
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|
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Nige |
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|
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|
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On Friday 22 Oct 2004 13:11, Jose Gonzalez Gomez wrote: |
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> Nigel, |
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> |
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> There's something I don't understand in your setup. What does |
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> exactly boxbackup store in your backup server? Do you have an exact copy |
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> of the backed up system? Do you have the possibility of reverting the |
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> original system to its state on a given date? |
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> |
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> Best regards |
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> Jose |
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> |
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> Nigel Marsh wrote: |
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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 |
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> > backups. 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 |
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> > ever 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 |
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> > site. 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 |
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> > data. 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 |
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> > there is something new then it is backed up or if a file has changed |
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> > then, the diff is backed up. The hourly backup means you get a small |
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> > trickle of network usage 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 |
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> > on site with a clone of the main backup server ( a gentoo laptop with a |
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> > firewire 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 |
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> > 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 |
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> > keep 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 |
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> > the limit is reached the files are rotated with the oldest versions of a |
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> > file being removed first. |
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> > |
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> >Old versions of your files are still available unless of course they have |
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> > been 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 |
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> > more important. |
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> > |
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> >This backup server is behind a lowly 1Mb adsl link. It currently stores |
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> > 200G of clients data and the trickle of backup traffic that comes over it |
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> > doesn't 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 |
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> > it, I would suggest that you join the mailing list. Ben is very |
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> > accessible and is 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 |
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> > had 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 |
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> > around 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 |
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> > any great advantage. You run the usual ./configure make |
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> > make-backup-client 0r make-backup-server. The binaries are in |
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> > /usr/loca/bin and it is time for the very simple setup. If I get some |
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> > time and noone beats me to it I may cut my ebuild teeth on this simple |
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> > 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, |
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> >>>> HD,...) * 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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It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more |
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doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage, than the creation of |
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a new system. For the initiator has the emnity of all who would profit |
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by the preservation of the old institutions and merely lukewarm defenders |
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in those who would gain by the new ones. |
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-- Niccolo Machiavelli, 1513 |