From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Aug 28 21:53:07 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: 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 4251616A41F for ; Sun, 28 Aug 2005 21:53:07 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from svein-freebsd-questions@theloosingend.net) Received: from merke.itea.ntnu.no (merke.itea.ntnu.no [129.241.7.61]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CE2DC43D49 for ; Sun, 28 Aug 2005 21:53:04 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from svein-freebsd-questions@theloosingend.net) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by merke.itea.ntnu.no (Postfix) with ESMTP id 59E4A13C4CE for ; Sun, 28 Aug 2005 23:53:03 +0200 (CEST) Received: from maren.thelosingend.net (maren.math.ntnu.no [129.241.211.48]) by merke.itea.ntnu.no (Postfix) with SMTP for ; Sun, 28 Aug 2005 23:53:02 +0200 (CEST) Received: (qmail 22437 invoked by uid 1001); 28 Aug 2005 23:53:02 +0200 Received: from localhost (sendmail-bs@127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 28 Aug 2005 23:53:02 +0200 Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 23:53:02 +0200 (CEST) From: Svein Halvor Halvorsen X-X-Sender: sveinhal@maren.thelosingend.net To: questions@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20050828234043.H22315@maren.thelosingend.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Content-Scanned: with sophos and spamassassin at mailgw.ntnu.no. Cc: Subject: backup w/ snapshots X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: questions@freebsd.org List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 21:53:07 -0000 I'm thinking about using snapshots as a kind of backup-mechanism, in order to restore accidentally deleted files. Also, in order to avoid losing data in case of a fire, etc., I'd like to store the backup off-site. I'm thinking about using rsync to syncronize the relevant filesystems to the off-site backup-server eg. every day, then taking a snapshot of the remote filesystem, mount it as /export/backup/{date} and then nfs-exporting that filesystem to the first computer again. This way I'd have eg. the /home filsystem mirrored in /backup/{date}/home, and my /etc in /backup/{date}/etc. I could symlink /backup/yesterday or /backup/latest to the correct date. The network link between the two computers are about 4 Mbps downstream, and 640 Kbps upstream. That is; to take a backup is considerable faster than to restore a file. Does this sound reasonable? Is there any precautions I should take? Are there any other tools better suited for the task at hand? SVein Halvor