Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 04:43:45 -0600 (CST) From: hawkeyd@visi.com (D J Hawkey Jr) To: simon@optinet.com, freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: network backup Message-ID: <200212131043.gBDAhjM56880@sheol.localdomain> In-Reply-To: <20021213082019.0A66B43EDC_mx1.FreeBSD.org@ns.sol.net> References: <20021213052738.T5723-100000_extortion.peterh.dropbear.id.au@ns.sol.net> <20021213082019.0A66B43EDC_mx1.FreeBSD.org@ns.sol.net>
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In article <20021213082019.0A66B43EDC_mx1.FreeBSD.org@ns.sol.net>,
simon@optinet.com writes:
>
> rsync is nice, but it can't (afaik) compress data being synced on the fly to
> save disk space :-( Is there anything out there which works like rsync and
> can compress on the fly to space disk space? having 100GB of text files
> compressed can save quite a few gigs.
You'll want to back up 100Gb the first time, and perhaps at some interval
thereafter, but perform incremental backups thereafter or in-between?
I set up something like you describe a while back. What I did was to have
scripts at the backed-up machine (client) tar and gzip files to an archive
named with a date/time stamp, and the backing-up machine (server) rsync
that archive. The client scripts also deleted local archives by age. The
server then wrote the accumulated archives from several clients to tape
(a six-cartridge changer), and also deleted archives by age. Both the client
and server mailed me activity results every morning.
This saves disk space on the server, but requires more space on the client.
The upshot though, was a client-side archive as well as a server-side
archive; if the transfer blew up, or a restoration is required, a local
archive was always present.
To state the obvious: The archives on both sides should reside on their
own media (i.e., a different HDD), and should a restoration be required,
enough disk space for both the compressed and uncompressed tarball may be
required. There are also "coordination" issues, but they are easily dealt
with.
There are network backup programs Out There(tm) that are probably more
efficient, but the ones I checked out wrote image-oriented archives,
while the company wanted file-oriented archives (this might have changed
since then).
BTW, this thread probably belongs in freebsd-questions.
HTH,
Dave
--
Windows: "Where do you want to go today?"
Linux: "Where do you want to go tomorrow?"
FreeBSD: "Are you guys coming, or what?"
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