From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Dec 8 21:37:23 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C1CC316A420 for ; Thu, 8 Dec 2005 21:37:23 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from LukeD@pobox.com) Received: from thorn.pobox.com (thorn.pobox.com [208.210.124.75]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 84CAE43D68 for ; Thu, 8 Dec 2005 21:37:16 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from LukeD@pobox.com) Received: from thorn (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by thorn.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id E4762EF; Thu, 8 Dec 2005 16:37:37 -0500 (EST) Received: from pool-71-112-202-40.sttlwa.dsl-w.verizon.net (pool-71-112-202-40.sttlwa.dsl-w.verizon.net [71.112.202.40]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by thorn.sasl.smtp.pobox.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 29CEE113C; Thu, 8 Dec 2005 16:37:35 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2005 13:37:11 -0800 (PST) From: Luke Dean X-X-Sender: lukas@border.crystalsphere.multiverse To: Kiffin Gish In-Reply-To: <000a01c60cb3$8aac6130$2401a8c0@XGISH> Message-ID: <20051208131409.U10463@border.crystalsphere.multiverse> References: <000a01c60cb3$8aac6130$2401a8c0@XGISH> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Bacula vs. Amanda vs. whatever ... X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Luke Dean List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2005 21:37:23 -0000 On Thu, 29 Dec 2005, Kiffin Gish wrote: > I have a home network with two FreeBSD servers (web- and file-server), a > number of Windows desktops and a wireless FreeBSD laptop all connected > to one another using Samba. > > What is the best tool to create automatic central backups? For now I > just want to make backups on disk but later using an external tape > drive. > > Some swear by Amanda, others insist Bacula works best with Samba, just > curious is all. Amanda is the one that works with Samba. Bacula has its own client/server software. I have a similar home network. I used Bacula for over a year. I used the SQLite database for the catalog and backed up to a Raid array. I chose bacula because it allows me to have a single backup solution for both Windows and BSD machines, and the only thing I need to set up for communication is TCP/IP. I had some serious deadlocking problems with bacula recently, and was led to believe that those problems were corrected in the version that's currently in the ports collection. However I'm now having hardware problems (why did I buy a $20 RAID controller?) and am unable to make backups of any kind. I will probably give bacula another try after I fix my hardware problems. I have never tried Amanda. These are the only two solutions I know of for making automated backups of both Windows and BSD machines. I've read that bacula can make a backup that's complete enough to do a bare metal recovery on BSD. Thankfully I've never had the opportunity to test that myself. I don't believe either bacula or amanda can make a complete enough backup to do a bare metal recovery of a Windows machine because Windows locks so many critical system files while it's in operation. I wonder if a combination of Microsoft's backup utilities and Samba might accomplish this. There are several simple and good backup solutions for FreeBSD. It's those darn Windows machines that are so hard to back up.