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Hi there, |
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|
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I remember having read some thread about this, and I would like to |
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add my 2cents to the subject. This mail comes from the feeling I get |
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installing some packages and reading some threads on the Gentoo mailing |
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lists or forums. As you may notice from a recent post, I'm evaluating |
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backup software. I came to Bacula, that's included in portage, so I |
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installed it, just to find that feeling I'm talking about. For those who |
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doesn't know anything about Bacula, a quick intro: |
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|
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Bacula has three different daemons that may be installed in |
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different machines. These daemons are the Director, that manages the |
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whole installation, the Storage Daemon, that handles storage devices, |
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and the File Daemon that is installed in every machine with data to |
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backup. If you have *just* one machine to backup, with the storage |
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device attached, it makes sense to have everything installed and |
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running, *but* if you have a _real network environment_, you usually |
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have one machine with the director daemon installed and running, several |
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machines with the storage daemon where the storage devices are attached, |
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and file daemons in every machine with data to backup. The console can |
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be installed in the operator/administrator workstation and configured to |
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connect remotely to the director daemon. |
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|
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In the case of the Gentoo ebuild, everything is built and installed, |
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and even worse, the init script starts all three services, so you cannot |
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use it in a network environment unless you manually edit the init |
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scripts (you can only have one director, and there's no sense in having |
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a storage daemon in a machine with no storage device). Maybe it's |
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overkill to split the ebuild to build these component separately (maybe |
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not), but at least the init script should be able to selectively start |
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the daemons based perhaps in a /etc/conf.d file, so if I want to install |
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bacula in my network I don't have to be individually customizing init |
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scripts. |
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|
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Now the bit of positive criticism: I remember discussions about |
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what's needed for Gentoo to become adopted in real business. I think |
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this is one of the facts that may slow Gentoo adoption. I have found |
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several packages configured to run on a single machine, so if you want |
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to use them in a real environment you have to tweak things you shouldn't |
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tweak, like in this package: there is no possibility of configuring the |
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ebuild to get only a daemon type, or configuring the init script to only |
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start the needed daemons. You have the feeling that whoever made this |
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was thinking of Bacula as an overkill toy to just backup her single |
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machine, instead of the powerful piece of software I think it really is |
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when used in real life with a whole network to backup using full blown |
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tape changers and completely automated and unattended operation with |
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real business data instead of backing up my collection of MP3s and my |
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mail to a CD-RW. |
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|
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I also have this feeling when I read in the mailing list or forums |
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and see that a lot of people tell you to use tar/cp/rsync/whatever. |
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That's ok for your home machine, but I don't think those are solutions |
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for enterprise needs. Just imagine yourself telling your boss or client: |
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"Yes, I'm gonna have all those machines with your critical business data |
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backed up using rsync... err... oh, those tapes... don't worry, I'll |
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write some scripts so the systems tars the rsynced copy and writes them |
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to tape... err... oh. labeling... ummm, I'm gonna give you a wonderful |
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pen so you can write on every tape... err... what do you say? tape |
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changers? robots? err... don't you think those are a waste of money? |
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Better sell them and contract somebody to manually change the tapes at |
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1:30am... after all somebody has to label them..." |
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|
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Some samples: |
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|
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http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=179781&postdays=0&postorder=asc&vote=viewresult |
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(rsync wins here) |
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|
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http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=229794&postdays=0&postorder=asc&vote=viewresult |
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(backing up to CD/DVD or cp are the leaders here) |
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|
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Joking apart, I think Gentoo needs a mind change to become a |
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corporate distribution and attract people doing real business... just |
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some thoughts of somebody who's trying to do Gentoo for a living and |
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would love to see Gentoo in every data center. |
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|
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By the way, I created a bug regarding this, and containing similar |
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text, in http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=68317. |
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|
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Best regards |
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Jose |