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On Friday 22 Oct 2004 18:28, Ben Munat wrote: |
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> Nigel, |
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> |
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> I'm still very new to how backup software works, but Box Backup sounds |
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> very similar to rsnapshot. That's a backup program that uses rsync over |
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> ssh to make incremental backups of remote filesystems (or pieces |
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> thereof). It has the same hourly, daily, weekly, monthly backup points |
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> that it sounds like Box Backup has. And, it's in portage. |
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|
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My clients servers range between Debian, Suse and Gentoo so whether something |
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is in portage makes no difference to me. |
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|
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> |
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> Not that I'm trying to talk you out of Box Backup, I'd just rather use |
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> something in portage if it's close enough in features. It's only |
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> partially a matter of the simplicity of install for me... portage also |
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> (generally) keeps up with security holes so that I don't have to |
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> remember to check up on my apps outside of portage. |
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|
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I usually stick to the distro supplied versions and patches too but, this is |
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not in any distro that I am aware of and it covered mine and my clients needs |
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in a very simple setup. |
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|
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> |
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> Now -- as information that clarifies my needs and also as another |
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> question of strategy -- I will be backing up a single, remote, rented |
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> webserver with whatever package I wind up using. I don't have and can't |
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> afford another server to back up to (though a mirror server would be |
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> nice some day). So, I'm figuring on pulling my snapshots down to my |
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> local gentoo box. |
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|
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I backup several web servers that run mambo and a couple of other php based |
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sites. For this I just backup the /etc files as always. the www dir and the |
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dumped MySQL backup files. If an actual server drive fails then I have to get |
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in my car and go fix it or, if it is a Gentoo box then, I get someone to |
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start it off and I can take over via ssh. |
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|
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> |
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> Even though we have at least a dozen live sites on our server, we're not |
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> using much space on it... about 5 gig total. I looked and I have about |
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> 50 gigs available just in my /home partition. So, I'm thinking that I |
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> should just backup the server's whole drive. The question is, is this |
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> worth the trouble... if the server's hard drive crashed, would I be able |
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> to restore my whole setup from the backup to a new harddrive and have a |
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> working system again? |
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|
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Unless you have no other choice, I would personally just back up the data and |
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config files and leave the worrying about the system to someone else. |
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|
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> |
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> Hmmm, now that I take another look at the rsnapshot man page, that seems |
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> to be one way in which Box Backup is better than rsnapshot... there's no |
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> mention of recovery at all. It seems it's intended to just take |
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> snapshots of your system and it's up to you to figure out what to do |
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> with the snapshot if you need it. |
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|
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Box backups recovery method is simplicity itself. |
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|
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> |
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> Well, in any case... my needs are fairly simple... don't really need the |
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> encyption or to allow anyone other than myself to make backups. |
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> |
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> Any and all comments appreciated. |
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> |
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> Ben |
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> |
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> Nigel Marsh wrote: |
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> > On Friday 22 Oct 2004 15:15, Jose Gonzalez Gomez wrote: |
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> >>Nigel Marsh wrote: |
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> >>>Jose, |
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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 |
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> >>>No... The longer answer is, according the developments on the mailing |
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> >>>list it will do soon. |
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> >> |
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> >> Well, I had that feeling. The final question: let's say that |
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> >>somebody deletes a bunch of files that shouldn't be deleted. You told |
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> >>that the backup system informs of changes every hour or so, so I assume |
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> >>those files will also be deleted on the backed up system, am I wrong? If |
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> >>this is the case, and you notice the problem a few hours later, is there |
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> >>any way to recover those files? That's why I was asking about recovering |
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> >>the state for a given date/time. |
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> > |
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> > No, they will be kept on the backup server and be marked as having been |
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> > deleted on the client. When the allocated space is filled up on the |
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> > backup server then the oldest deleted files will be deleted from the |
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> > server first. So the time a deleted file remains on the server is down to |
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> > allocated drive space and is analogous to tape. When you run out of tape |
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> > space, you either add more storage or you start rotating backup media. |
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> > |
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> > Also old versions of files are kept so that you can jump back say 3 |
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> > weeks to an old version of a file. |
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> > |
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> > If you needed to know more about the internals of it then the mailing |
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> > list, which is a low volume with the odd flurry of activity, would be |
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> > your best bet. Questions are generally answered pretty quickly. |
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> > |
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> >>>On the server side, you have no access to this data. You need to keep a |
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> >>>client key safe to rebuild a totally dead client so that it can restore |
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> >>>and start 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 |
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> >>>answer your question. Must be this new coffee I'm drinking. ;) |
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> >> |
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> >> Not at all. Your answer has been very informative, and will help me |
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> >>a lot in making my mind in my final decission about backup software. |
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> >>Thanks a lot for your kindly response... and tell us about that new |
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> >>coffee, I think it may help us on overnight system failures ;o) |
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> > |
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> > I don't know, it is in a silver unnamed bag and I got 10kg cheap from a |
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> > car boot sale. :) |
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> > |
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> > It's very good though. |
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> > |
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> >>>Nige |
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> >> |
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> >> Best regards |
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> >> Jose |
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> > |
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> > Nige |
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|
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-- |
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Superior training and superior weaponry have, when taken together, |
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a geometric effect on overall military strength. Well-trained, |
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well-equipped troops can stand up to many more times their lesser |
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brethren than linear arithmetic would seem to indicate. |
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|
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-- Spartan Battle Manual |