From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Dec 30 14:52:32 2004 Return-Path: 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 0FF4116A4CE for ; Thu, 30 Dec 2004 14:52:32 +0000 (GMT) Received: from mail6.speakeasy.net (mail6.speakeasy.net [216.254.0.206]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B936943D66 for ; Thu, 30 Dec 2004 14:52:31 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from freebsd-questions-local@be-well.ilk.org) Received: (qmail 2405 invoked from network); 30 Dec 2004 14:52:31 -0000 Received: from dsl092-078-145.bos1.dsl.speakeasy.net (HELO be-well.ilk.org) ([66.92.78.145]) (envelope-sender ) by mail6.speakeasy.net (qmail-ldap-1.03) with SMTP for ; 30 Dec 2004 14:52:31 -0000 Received: by be-well.ilk.org (Postfix, from userid 1147) id 90F0169; Thu, 30 Dec 2004 09:52:30 -0500 (EST) Sender: lowell@be-well.ilk.org To: "Ted Mittelstaedt" References: From: Lowell Gilbert Date: 30 Dec 2004 09:52:30 -0500 In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <44652jon2p.fsf@be-well.ilk.org> Lines: 42 User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii cc: infofarmer@mail.ru cc: Danny cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD server(s) to backup multi-platform systems remotely X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2004 14:52:32 -0000 "Ted Mittelstaedt" writes: > > -----Original Message----- > > From: owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org]On Behalf Of Andrew P. > > Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 7:33 PM > > To: Danny > > Cc: questions@freebsd.org > > Subject: Re: FreeBSD server(s) to backup multi-platform systems remotely > > > > > I don't want to sound like an ad, but I've heard some experienced backup > > officers say that if you're gonna backup proprietary platforms (i.e. > > Windows) you'd best use proprietary backup software. > > I would agree with this if the goal is to be able to restore a busted > server. > > If the goal of the backup is merely to archive DATA, then this isn't > true. Of course, it's important to understand that archiving data and > backing up the server are two different things. With a server backup > the goal is to create a restore set that allows you to come back > from a flat server with a minimum amount of effort and time. With > a data archive there is no goal to create a restore set - instead > you want to get the data centralized and put to a medium that you > have a ghost of a chance of being able to read in 10 years. (and > that ain't Arcserve, my friends) And there's actually a *third* possible goal, which is quick recovery of accidentally deleted (or overwritten, etc.) user data. UFS2 filesystem snapshots are a remarkably easy way to provide this. And then there's RAID, which doesn't solve any of these problems, but can help you get back up fast after losing a disk. Each of these goals has a different "best solution," and in some cases the solution even depends on the details of the environment. Figure out exactly what you need before deciding how to fill that need. -- Lowell Gilbert, embedded/networking software engineer, Boston area http://be-well.ilk.org/~lowell/