Topic: Other Backup Options

[sahosting]

Hi,

Is there anyway that we can get some other reliable easy to use backup options for users in v.7 ?

It would be nice to have the option to backup to CD, DVD, FTP (remote offsite secondary backup) and / or a network share.

I've added cdutils personally but it's a pain to custom build it for every box I setup.  I'm also aware of backup2ws but many of these tools are fairly old and need to be manually updated to work with ver 7

this would be great...  I wish I could help more... but my linux skills are still lower than they should be.  I can hack my way around but wouldn't want my sloppy source in a solid distro...

any help would be GREAT!!!!  I love SME but find the backup features serious limit my ability to explain a simple backup solution for others.

thanks,
curtis =)

[NickCritten]

Seconded!!

I've tried using backup2ws in the past and had major problems getting it working, and when it is working.. It doesn't backup properly.

A Backup via FTP(or SFTP/SCP) option would be perfect.
Also it would be nice to be able to use these backups to restore from the server-manager, the same as the Backup2desktop one...


Also:

An option to backup User & Ibays ONLY
This has been covered dozens of times in the forums, but no-one has ever come up with a decent solution (That i know of)

Sometimes you have a box that is completely screwed, or has too many contribs or hacks installed on it to do a straight upgrade.
I'd like to have the option to Backup only users & Ibays, and be able to just drop this backup onto any newly installed SME.
Having this would have saved me literally DAYS in the past.

Actually, the ibays are easy to do manually, so it would be nice to just backup Users, Passwords, user emails, user homedrives.

[NickCritten]

Oooh!

Scheduled Backup to USB Device.

So for example at 11:30 every night:

mount USB device
Copy Backup2Desktop style (Or Complete Disk Image) backup file to USB device
umount USB device

Then you can just have someone swap the backup drive every morning with one that is in a firesafe or off-site.

I know you can get the same functionality from Tape Backup, but tapedrives with any kind of decent capacity are Mega £€$¥!!

USB Hard Drives are peanuts by comparison.

[CharlieBrady]

USB Hard Drives are peanuts by comparison.

Perhaps you should buy a few and donate them to developers.

[NickCritten]

Perhaps you should buy a few and donate them to developers.

Er, If I was asking for some bizarre piece of hardware to be supported, then your sarcastic comment might have been warranted.

The fact is that USB hard disks are hardly thin on the ground, and they use the same drivers as USB Keyfobs.. And who works in IT and doesn't at least have one of them?

If I had any spare, I hapily donate some cash to those who are developing SME.  But as it happens I have dificulty paying my electricity bills!

If I had the skills to develop this feature myself, I would. But my skills lie in other areas, and I've produced a couple of howtos.  I'm also in the process of developing several more, and a full contrib once I've got my head around the way the server-manager panels work.  I am NOT one of those people who ask and never give anything back in return.

SME servers are frequently installed in places where money is scarce, so in this day and age, with the amounts of data that regularly needs to be backed up, tape drives are just too expensive to be an option.

The fact is that a 160GiB USB2.0 hard disk costs about £65, wheras a Tape Drive capable of that kind of storage is £1,500, and the tapes for it are about £45. You do the maths.

[cljunkie]

There has been much talk about how tape backups should be handled and still remain within the design goals of the distribution.

I understand there is alot that can be done at the command line level with flexback and scheduling cron jobs. Still, I think a few additional (very basic) options should be offered in the configuration panel.

I would like to see added:

1) Check boxes for days of the week to avoid the holiday and weekend double backup issue.

2) An option to unload tape at end of back up for those who insist on having a fresh tape vers. overwriting a previous backup.

3) Extend backup over mutliple tapes for those enjoy the pain of babysitting single tape devices or cannot/should not set up options in a script ran from cron. (I would have a resonable time-out).

The last item would be pushing it as far as the design goals, but would it easier on some in that grey area between getting some sort of a full backup vs. the cost of investing in another solution.

I do agree that the incremental backup request gets beyond the design goals. Do you pick a date in time since the last backup or maintain a database? Which file to restore and in which backup. Yep, beyond design goal. Full backups, just pick the time, the day of the week, and how to handle the tape when finished with the backup or when it becomes full is what I would like to see.

Thanks in advance.

Ray

(Keeping an eye on SME since 5.x, dabbled during 6.x, going to install 7.x in favor of OS X Server in our graphics department.)

[gordonr]

Perhaps you should buy a few and donate them to developers.

Er, If I was asking for some bizarre piece of hardware to be supported, then your sarcastic comment might have been warranted.

[/quote]
No, I think Charlie was quite serious. USB disks are quite common, but that doesn't mean that the developers have spare ones lying around.

[NickCritten]

Yeah, and I kind of jumped down Charlies throat too.

Sorry Charlie  


I still think my suggestion is valid though... this *IS* the suggestions forum!  

[gordonr]

I still think my suggestion is valid though... this *IS* the suggestions forum!  

Sure, and I am looking at rdiff-backup to local and remote USB disks as one of the options. One of my customers is funding part of that work, and I am doing the rest in time I make available. I, too, have to eat

[icpix]

gordonr----

Well, did you get to eat enough back then? ;~)

Possibilities - it's always their make/install bit that throws me;~/

DAR differential backup...
http://dar.sourceforge.net/doc/mini-howto/dar-differential-backup-mini-howto.en.html

Bacula® - The Network Backup Solution (not just for tapes)...
http://www.bacula.org/

NasBackup...
http://www.nasbackup.com/

Box Backup - completely automatic on-line backup system for UNIX...
http://www.fluffy.co.uk/boxbackup/

----best wishes, Robert