From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Mar 1 16:08:05 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.FreeBSD.org [8.8.178.115]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6EA70BCF for ; Fri, 1 Mar 2013 16:08:05 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from dweimer@dweimer.net) Received: from webmail.dweimer.net (24-240-198-187.static.stls.mo.charter.com [24.240.198.187]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 28EDE75C for ; Fri, 1 Mar 2013 16:08:04 +0000 (UTC) Received: from www.dweimer.net (webmail.dweimer.local [192.168.5.1]) by webmail.dweimer.net (8.14.5/8.14.5) with ESMTP id r21G83va096309 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NO) for ; Fri, 1 Mar 2013 10:08:04 -0600 (CST) (envelope-from dweimer@dweimer.net) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2013 10:08:03 -0600 From: dweimer To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Musings on ZFS Backup strategies Organization: dweimer.net Mail-Reply-To: dweimer@dweimer.net In-Reply-To: <5130CD1C.90709@denninger.net> References: <5130BA35.5060809@denninger.net> <5130CD1C.90709@denninger.net> Message-ID: X-Sender: dweimer@dweimer.net User-Agent: Roundcube Webmail/0.8.1 X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list Reply-To: dweimer@dweimer.net List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2013 16:08:05 -0000 On 03/01/2013 9:45 am, Karl Denninger wrote: >> >> I briefly did something like this between two FreeNAS boxes, it >> seemed >> to work well, but my secondary Box wasn't quite up to par hardware. >> Combine that with the lack of necessary internet bandwidth with a >> second physical location in case of something really disastrous, like >> a tornado or fire destroying my house. I ended up just using an >> eSATA >> drive dock and Bacula, with a few external drives rotated regularly >> into my office at work, rather than upgrading the secondary box. >> >> If you have the secondary box that is adequate, and either offsite >> backups aren't a concern or you have a big enough pipe to a secondary >> location that houses the backup this should work. >> >> I would recommend testing your incremental snapshot rotation, I never >> did test a restore from anything but the most recent set of data when >> I was running my setup, I did however save a weeks worth of hourly >> snapshots on a couple of the more rapidly changing data sets. >> > I rotate the disaster disks out to a safe-deposit box at the bank, and > they're geli-encrypted, so if stolen they're worthless to the thief > (other than their cash value as a drive) and if the building goes > "poof" > I have the ones in the vault to recover from. There's the potential > for > loss up to the rotation time of course but that is the same risk I had > with all UFS filesystems. > > I've tested the restores onto a spare box and it appears to work as > expected... > > Thanks for the comments! Yes, good point on the Geli encryption, I do that as well on my external backup drives, didn't think to mention that in the last post. I have considered the safe-Deposit box as well, but our office building at work is fairly well secured seeing as it houses the main data-center for our company, doors locked 24 hours a day, with electronic locks that log all entries. Its also an old brick and concrete building, that has survived a direct Tornado hit about 15 years ago with only very minor cosmetic exterior damage, to the awning over the front stairs and the Company logo above it. I feel fairly secure in keeping the disk drives there, and if ever need my offsite backup at 3:00am I can go get it rather than be stuck waiting for the bank to open. -- Thanks, Dean E. Weimer http://www.dweimer.net/