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Date:      Wed, 31 Mar 2004 11:22:04 -0500
From:      Chris Shenton <chris@shenton.org>
To:        Christoph Sold <cs@cheasy.de>
Cc:        Bob Martin <bob@buckhorn.net>
Subject:   Re: tape backup from remote
Message-ID:  <86wu51oukz.fsf@PECTOPAH.shenton.org>
In-Reply-To: <200403300045.10562.cs@cheasy.de> (Christoph Sold's message of "Tue, 30 Mar 2004 00:45:08 %2B0200")
References:  <20040329183323.GC51870@telus.net> <200403292211.58942.cs@cheasy.de> <4068997A.9000400@buckhorn.net> <200403300045.10562.cs@cheasy.de>

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Christoph Sold <cs@cheasy.de> 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. 



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