From owner-freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Mar 31 08:22:08 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 89CA916A4CE for ; Wed, 31 Mar 2004 08:22:08 -0800 (PST) Received: from Shenton.org (23.ebbed1.client.atlantech.net [209.190.235.35]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id BEABC43D45 for ; Wed, 31 Mar 2004 08:22:06 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from chris@Shenton.Org) Received: (qmail 40659 invoked by uid 1001); 31 Mar 2004 16:22:05 -0000 To: Christoph Sold References: <20040329183323.GC51870@telus.net> <200403292211.58942.cs@cheasy.de> <4068997A.9000400@buckhorn.net> <200403300045.10562.cs@cheasy.de> From: Chris Shenton Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 11:22:04 -0500 In-Reply-To: <200403300045.10562.cs@cheasy.de> (Christoph Sold's message of "Tue, 30 Mar 2004 00:45:08 +0200") Message-ID: <86wu51oukz.fsf@PECTOPAH.shenton.org> User-Agent: Gnus/5.110002 (No Gnus v0.2) Emacs/21.3 (berkeley-unix) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii cc: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org cc: Bob Martin Subject: Re: tape backup from remote X-BeenThere: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Internet Services Providers List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:22:08 -0000 Christoph Sold writes: > Amanda dumps (or tars -- your choice) to a holding disk on the backup > server. After enough data has been collected to stream to tape, the > tape is started. Keeps the tape streaming. I've also used Amanda and like it for this reason. The only problem, and it can be a killer depending on your situation, is that each dump *must* fit on a physical tape; amanda doesn't know how to split a too-large dump across multiple tapes. They've wanted this feature for years but don't believe it's been implemented yet. (if so, let me know!) As someone else suggested, many folks are now dumping tape (pun intended) all together and backing up to disk. Tape's slow, expensive, and small compared to fast, cheap disk. I've been considering using rsync to a remote site's disk, and each day rsyncing to a different destination directory, e.g., Monday/, Tuesday/, ... Sunday/. That way I have multiple copies/versions of my data -- like you would on multiple tapes. The simplistic way of rsyncing (or copying) to one destination is that if you don't notice you've deleted that critical file until a couple days later, the copy will also not have it. Oh, if you're using FreeBSD-5.x, look into the cool "snapshot" feature. It creates a frozen read-only image of your filesystem at an instant in time. You can then back that up (however you want) without worrying about open files. You can also use as a "backup" in the case of users deleting file; obviously it won't protect you from a disk self-destructing.