Backup Solutions for Small Tech Companies? 34
Brushfireb asks: "This has been hit on before, but given the cheap cost of hard drives, larger capacities and speed increases in possible storage (USB2, FIOS, etc) we though that an update would be really helpful. Here's the scenario: We are a small tech company and we have an assortment of workstations (Macs, Linux and Windows desktops), and servers (Web, Database, File, e-Mail, DNS, etc) that run on different Linux distributions. What advice or recommendations do Slashdot readers have for our needs that: won't break the bank; won't force us to take our servers down for an extended period of time (our servers must run 24/7); are reliable; and are easily to maintain. What are some typical mistakes that small tech companies make when it comes to backing up? What software and hardware do Slashdot readers use to accomplish these tasks in similar situations?"
Did someone backup and restore this story? (Score:1, Funny)
Large raid system with periodic offsite backups (Score:1)
Re:Large raid system with periodic offsite backups (Score:3, Interesting)
And if on the 6th day the RAID controller goes haywire and screws up your data, you've lost 6 days of inserts/updates/deletes.
Maybe your data is pretty static, but for most 99.9% of businesses, daily backups are essential.
Re:Large raid system with periodic offsite backups (Score:2)
I agree with the phrase "RAID is not backup" if that's what you're trying to say, but in this case the OP isn't pretending that a single RAID array counts as backup. That's why it's backed up onto this other RAID array (so there are now two copies on two separate machines) and then onto DVD.
Re:Large raid system with periodic offsite backups (Score:2)
Ah, yes, you're right. My eyes passed right over the " It is backed up nightly onto a large raid system.
rsnapshot and/or backuppc (Score:4, Interesting)
It's downsides: it's basically just a wrapper for rsync. It requires a lot of babysitting (if your backups fail for some reason, it'll try to do full backups the next day possibly with disasterous consequences as it tries to jam hundreds of gig down your T1). Also, it has to log in as root on all of your boxes, so there are some very careful sercurity considerations.
But a box with a bunch of disks in it, put it off site, and whamo you have a complete backup solution.
For the windows users, I like backuppc [sourceforge.net]. I have never actually used it, but it allows windows users to choose when their backups are taken, and allows them to recover files themselves through a web interface. It's big downside is the cryptic way it stores files internally, making it really hard to extract files without using the web interface.
Backuppc (Score:4, Interesting)
We have around 15 desktops and 10 servers being backup by this solution. It was trivial to setup. Drives are secure while in transport and storage. Its automated. Recoveries can be made very easily from the website on the linux server.
Its much easier for us than the tape backup system (Veritas) that it replaced.
The only issue is that with windows servers, it cant access open files. Our sql servers simply make a backup copy of their databases which it grabs, but exchange will cause you issues.
Re:rsnapshot and/or backuppc (Score:2, Interesting)
I didn't use rsnapshot (didn't know about it), instead I wrote a script to take care of the linking.
It's easy, it's fast, it's reliable and I don't miss Backup Exec at all.
Re:rsnapshot and/or backuppc (Score:1)
Netbackup vs. scripts (Score:2, Informative)
Not cheap at all. When the database dies, it's very difficult to revive it. I suggest having a stand-in copy just in case.
I tested about 10 more or less freeware programs like Amanda, afbackup, Arkeia etc. - and idn't liked any of them.
Basically I use 2 scripts on systems
Re:Netbackup vs. scripts (Score:1)
I suggest buying an SDTL2 tape system: the mechanism of tapes and tape-units are very realiable and the tape is highly resistant to EMP, better than any other tape media.
DAT and 8mm and it's derivates are mechanically less stable, they are a bit slower too and takes less EMP.
cross platform and free (Score:3, Informative)
Amanda (Score:3, Informative)
Don't have enough information to adequately respon (Score:2)
My first thought would be external firewire disks that "you" bring home.
More factors: (Score:2)
I like the firewire disk approach -- we use it here for systems where we have a lot of data, but it doesn't change t
Re:More factors: (Score:2)
For multi-TB systems, why aren't you all using multiple high-end (LTO 6 or SDLT-320) tape drives? With autoloaders, you kick them off at night, come in the next morning, take them off site and you're done.
Why not tape drives (Score:2)
Re:Why not tape drives (Score:1)
Shame on your shop for not testing the backups. But you know that now...
plug the firewire disks into it, and have an image up within 30 minutes.
How long does it take to back up "many terabytes" to disk?
And how often do you back it up?
We need to back up 3TB every other night, and keep the those backups for a month. Even with the
one big massively redundant device (Score:2)
It depends (Score:2)
For that reason we're not blowing a lot of needless money on things we don't need. We a
Re:It depends (Score:1)
Another vote for amanda (Score:2)
Also can backup to disks (via virtual tapes) or traditional tape drives.
Used it at work for over 4 years with no problems, even old SunOS 4 hosts are still OK.
An alternative is Bacula, but you an RDBMS (mysql or postgress I think) to store the indexes whereas amanda uses files. Also I think bacula uses it's own backup client whereas amanda is merely a front to dump(), tar() etc so it's more platform/filesystem idependant.
Don't forget to test restor
DIY? (Score:1)
Here's an easily modifiable script that uses hard links and rsync [mikerubel.org]. I used this as our office's starting point and now have a system that:
The nightly back-ups mainly account for users accidentally deleting files or saving changes they wish they hadn't rather than hardware failure. Since it's all just stored as
Re:DIY? (Score:2)
One distro first (Score:1)
servers (Web, Database, File, e-Mail, DNS, etc) that run on different Linux distributions. What advice or recommendations do Slashdot readers have for our needs that: won't break the bank; won't force us to take our servers down for an extended period of time (our servers must run 24/7); are reliable;
If you intend to use some form of backup software or customized scripts to perform these tasks, you have to think about OS compatibility and the like. Why would you run various Linux distributions if you ar
the biggest mistake (Score:1)
Arkeia (Score:1)
Arkeia has a very good solution for small businesses. It has native agents for Linux, Unix, Windows and MacOS. It can backup to tapes, managing tape libraries and autoloaders. It can also backup to disk. It has plugins to backup databases online so there is no need to stop the database.
There are 2 products:
Arkeia Smart Backup is free for 50GB of backed up data. An
Software? (Score:1)
tape is back! (Score:1)
This might mean that you can find Ultrium 2 drives for cheap now and in my opinion the technology is worth a glance. the tapes are not cheap at around 125-140 per 400/800 cartridge and they do have restrictive humidi
Data Recovery (Score:1)
For a complete security solution for you data, y