On 20120204_103752, Scott Ferguson wrote: > Reposting to the list > > On 04/02/12 04:35, Gary Roach wrote: > > To your questions: > > <top post re-edited as interleaved style> > > > > > On 01/-10/-28163 11:59 AM, Scott Ferguson wrote: > >> On 03/02/12 13:45, Gary Roach wrote: > >> > >>> I have 3 computer running on Debian Squeeze. One has an unused > >>> hard drive that I wish to use as a backup disk for all 3 > >>> computers. Is there a simple way to do this that can be > >>> completely automated. > >>> > >>> Gary > >>> > >>> > >>> > >> Yes - there are a large number of ways. (as "apt-cache search > >> backups" will show you) > >> > >> Is there a particular box you wish to control the backups from? > > > Yes there is one box that should control the backup process. > > >> Is it local? > > > All 3 computers are in the same room. > > >> Are you a GUI user or do you prefer the command line? > > > I don't care whether GUI or command line just as long as it is > > straight forward. > > The "straight forward" bit will depend on how well you understand your > requirements. :-) > > > >> If the former - which desktop are you using? > > > I use KDE. > > >> > >> How often do you want to run backups? How much space do you have > >> to store backups? How long to you intend to keep backups? How big > >> are the backups you plan on making? > >> > > > I want to backup every day. I would prefer incremental backups with > > a full backup say 1 per month. A full backup will probably take no > > more than 5% of the hard drive space. I would prefer that the full > > backup over write or erase the older backups. > > Good questions > > I missed (at least) one.... so I'll answer it myself ;-p > > If one of those boxen is a database server use LVM snapshots not > selective rsync. > > > > > Gary > >> > >> Kind regards > >> > >> > > NOTES: "full backup" is this instance means everything required to > restore from bare metal (as opposed to "full data backup"). The
I have tried, in the past to have full backup as defined here. But it didn't work for me. I've found that for a Debian system as used by me. a list of installed Debian packages is more workable than a full copy of /bin, /sbin, /boot, portions of /var, and so forth. It IS useful the have a full copy of /etc, /home, and /root (because I keep personal stuff about sysadmin there). In practice, when I had a serious system malfunction, I did feel sure of my system again until I had done a full, fresh install. And policy is that all config files are in /etc, not in /var or other strange places. YMMV > combination of a full backup, and an archive of incremental backups can > allow you to restore a choice of points in time. > If you only want full data backup capability - the suggested daily > backup utilities can do that. > > CLI suggestion:- > ;rsync on a daily basis, make it a cron job, after the first run backups > will on copy changed files. Very fast, minimal space required. > ;fsarchiver for your full backups (it'll cope with ext4), requires nfs > or samba. > ;for convenience use WOL (if available) and run the backups during your > downtime. > ;not a backup strategy, but useful for recovery purposes - apt-cacher > > GUI suggestion:- > ;kbackintime for daily backups - for network support, I found fish > unreliable, the alternative is sshfs and autofs. > ;FOG[*1] - I use dedicated boxen for it, but you could install it onto > the backup box, or a USBkey. > > These are by no means the best, or only solutions. My preference is for > the cli solutions, point and click clients prefer KBackInTime. > > Now that your requirements are known others will be better able to give > you useful suggestions. > > Some useful references:- > http://wiki.debian.org/BackupAndRecovery > > > Kind regards > > [*1]http://www.fogproject.org/ > -- > Iceweasel/Firefox extensions for finding answers to Debian questions:- > https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/collections/Scott_Ferguson/debian/ > > NOTE: new update available for Debian Buttons > (New button for querying Debian Developer Package):- > https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/debian-buttons/ > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org > Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4f2c6fd0.2070...@gmail.com > -- Paul E Condon pecon...@mesanetworks.net -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20120204004401.gb26...@big.lan.gnu
