Backup systems: opinions wanted
Hi,
How do people backup their machines? What packages do you use?
How do the backends (dd, dump/restore tar afio/cpio) compare wrt
reliability/ease of use? [dd is just for completeness.] I would like
a full backup, so I guess tar is out as a backend (can't handle
special files). I guess I would like to hear abot dump vs afio.
______________________________________________________________________
|
Tar | cpio / afio
____________________________________|__________________________________
can't handle special files. |may get confused with multiple
|hard links.
|
One copy of hard-linked files, but |Many copies of hardlinked files,
can retrieve file using that one |but can be restored using any
name only. |of the names
|
Uses checksums. |No checksums
|
stops at first sign of corruption | Skips over corrupted area
|
Blocked to start on a record |
boundary |
|
headers always 512 bytes |Efficient use of space for headers
|
______________________________________________________________________
The last time I dealt with backups, I was backing up 30
machines remotely to a tape drive like the moster ones in all the
70's movies, using a mess of home grown scripts and dump/restore.
I'd rather not have to re-write the scripts (haven't things
gotten easier in the last decade?), so I'm now looking for backup
solutions where I don't have to write the scripts. I have come up
with the following (based entirely on the descriptions)
______________________________________________________________________
Amanda: Powerful. Reassuringly, it seems to use dump/restore, which I
understand. Knows which tape and where on the tape to look
for to restore a file (I like that). Cons: Overkill for a
single machine.
afbackup: Again, client server, which I don't need; says it should be
easy to use on just one machine. goes to end of tape
automatically. Hmm. tape marks written (I assume that's
what the description is trying to say). No idea what the
backend is -- afio?
dump: An old friend. I used to do tower of hanoi backups -- has
dump levels, is integrated in (even fstab format caters to
dump/restore). Requires book keeping. Reliability of Linux
dump?
tob: tar/afio. full/differential/incremental backups, determines
size beforehand
floppybackup: Well, I have a tape.
taper: selection using mouseless commander? recursively selected
dirs are supported? This does not sound like what I need to
backup several *partitions*.
______________________________________________________________________
manoj
--
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro..." Dr. Hunter
S. Thompson
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@acm.org> <http://www.datasync.com/%7Esrivasta/>
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