I Backup my systems to
Submitted by ajt on Sun 26 Oct 2008
| Nothing/nowhere |
   17% | 409 votes |
| Local disk(s) |
10% | 258 votes |
| CD/DVD or other optical media |
7% | 188 votes |
| Tape (any kind) |
3% | 88 votes |
| External device (HD, flash etc) |
31% | 744 votes |
| Remote system off site (hosted server or friend) |
13% | 315 votes |
| External backup site |
3% | 92 votes |
| Combination of any of the above or anything else I forgot to ask |
12% | 301 votes |
| Total 2395 votes |
I run a backup server on my network using Bacula. There are two client systems (both laptops) on the network, one W*****s, one Debian. Nightly back-ups run automatically and pretty unobtrusively.
The Bacula server backs up to local disk. Every once in a while I rsync the local backup disk to an external hard disk.
I tried using Bacula to back up to DVD but I got quite a few failed writes, and error handling was cumbersome.
Apart from the pain of configuring it all up, the main problem I've had is that Bacula's scheduling system doesn't give you any clever ways to deal with clients that spend a lot of their time powered down.
The Bacula server backs up to local disk. Every once in a while I rsync the local backup disk to an external hard disk.
I tried using Bacula to back up to DVD but I got quite a few failed writes, and error handling was cumbersome.
Apart from the pain of configuring it all up, the main problem I've had is that Bacula's scheduling system doesn't give you any clever ways to deal with clients that spend a lot of their time powered down.
[ Parent ]
I ran into the same problem with client being down most of the time. To solve it I made an agent to install on the client. This agent would connect to Bacula director and run the backup for the pc when it was powered on.
To do so you need a bit of hacking of the console interface, but its not that hard.
Obviously you need to enable each client to run its backup. You can learn how here:http://www.bacula.org/en/rel-manual/Configuring_Director.htm l#SECTION0014180000000000000000
To do so you need a bit of hacking of the console interface, but its not that hard.
Obviously you need to enable each client to run its backup. You can learn how here:http://www.bacula.org/en/rel-manual/Configuring_Director.htm l#SECTION0014180000000000000000
[ Parent ]
I rsnapshot my data from two desktop systems and one server to the servers local disk every hour. Periodically I additionally rnsaphot to an external disk and also dump data to DVD.
--
"It's Not Magic, It's Work"
Adam
[ Parent ]
Posted by Anonymous (212.175.xx.xx) on Tue 28 Oct 2008 at 06:25
I use a ITB external hard drive to backup my laptop, and use rsync.net to backup my personal server's files.
[ Parent ]
Photos go on CDs and DVDs. That's a manual process.
Source code and similar data (e.g. web site content) is checked in to subversion on a remote server, which acts as a first layer of backup.
The subversion repository, plus other important files (/etc, email, documents) are then rsynced to rsync.net. Daily and hourly cron jobs do this.
One weak spot is my laptop where cron doesn't currently have the right behaviour: it fails to run anything if there's no AC power, and if the network is down when it does run, it doesn't retry for 24 hours. So you can easily wait for a very long time before a backup does run, without noticing! I'm still working on a good solution to that problem.
Source code and similar data (e.g. web site content) is checked in to subversion on a remote server, which acts as a first layer of backup.
The subversion repository, plus other important files (/etc, email, documents) are then rsynced to rsync.net. Daily and hourly cron jobs do this.
One weak spot is my laptop where cron doesn't currently have the right behaviour: it fails to run anything if there's no AC power, and if the network is down when it does run, it doesn't retry for 24 hours. So you can easily wait for a very long time before a backup does run, without noticing! I'm still working on a good solution to that problem.
[ Parent ]
Posted by Anonymous (94.209.xx.xx) on Wed 29 Oct 2008 at 13:30
One weak spot is my laptop where cron doesn't currently have the right behaviour: it fails to run anything if there's no AC power, and if the network is down when it does run, it doesn't retry for 24 hours. So you can easily wait for a very long time before a backup does run, without noticing! I'm still working on a good solution to that problem.
Are you considering anacron?
PJ
Are you considering anacron?
PJ
[ Parent ]
Actually it is anacron that I'm using, at it is specifically anacron that has this nasty and (IIRC) undocumented feature of not running any jobs if the AC power is off, and not retrying for 24 hours.
[ Parent ]
Been using BackupPC since a few months now, and we're very pleased with it.
It's great to backup servers (local and remote) as well as some workstations.
---
stoffell
It's great to backup servers (local and remote) as well as some workstations.
---
stoffell
[ Parent ]
Posted by Anonymous (195.121.xx.xx) on Thu 30 Oct 2008 at 10:38
Using backuppc as well, for the past few years. Use it to backup my colo (and all vm's within it) to an off-site location (home). The server is 24/7 online annd I make backups of every single VM every 3rd day. Works pretty ok, especially with Backuppc v3, where users can manage their backups themselves via a pretty convenient web interface.
Cheers, Harmen
Cheers, Harmen
[ Parent ]
Posted by Anonymous (87.194.xx.xx) on Wed 5 Nov 2008 at 20:54
My local NAS has a mirror in a different city 300 miles away (parents home). Each night incremental rsyncs are executed from local to remote. A monthly rsync is also run to delete data off the remote mirror.
This helps prevent replication of any accidental local deletions and is effectively a monthly backup. The monthly delete is a manual process - although an automatic 'diff' and report should be created.
Very important data is also archived to optical media and stored safe locally.
This helps prevent replication of any accidental local deletions and is effectively a monthly backup. The monthly delete is a manual process - although an automatic 'diff' and report should be created.
Very important data is also archived to optical media and stored safe locally.
[ Parent ]
I've become a big fan of duplicity recently. It does incremental, encrypted backups to a variety of remote URLs (webdav, ssh, rsync, Amazon s3, more). I think one of the best easy uses of it is to do a 'disk space exchange' with a friend, swapping a few GB between servers. You don't need to trust that they won't rummage through your files, only that they'll keep your files stored reliably.
I personally use Amazon s3, but that's mainly as my duplicity backup is my last resort backup. To make duplicity+s3 useful, part of my backup plan is keeping a copy of all the important crypto keys on a memory card on my physical keychain. Regular backups are rsyncs to a colo'd server.
I personally use Amazon s3, but that's mainly as my duplicity backup is my last resort backup. To make duplicity+s3 useful, part of my backup plan is keeping a copy of all the important crypto keys on a memory card on my physical keychain. Regular backups are rsyncs to a colo'd server.
[ Parent ]
Posted by Anonymous (213.227.xx.xx) on Tue 11 Nov 2008 at 10:11
I use optar (http://ronja.twibright.com/optar/)
[ Parent ]
Posted by Anonymous (82.160.xx.xx) on Thu 13 Nov 2008 at 07:57
External system running Freebsd + ZFS, rsynced with other servers.
[ Parent ]
I use rdiff-backup for the data hosted on my VPS. The desktops are backed up on an external hard drive which I exchange every few weeks (one hard drive outside my flat, always, just in case).
Cheers,
Julien
Cheers,
Julien
[ Parent ]