Re: Recommendation: Backup system

From	Jonathan Dowland <jmtd@debian.org>
Newsgroups	linux.debian.user
Subject	Re: Recommendation: Backup system
Date	2016-10-03 11:50 +0200
Message-ID	<so82J-39b-1@gated-at.bofh.it> (permalink)
References	<snoVY-6qp-27@gated-at.bofh.it>
Organization	linux.* mail to news gateway

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On Sat, Oct 01, 2016 at 11:37:31AM +0200, mo wrote:
> Make a long story short:
> Have you guys a recommendation for me?
> Is there a specific application you use for your backups guys?

rdiff-backup[1]. I don't know what your NAS is, whether it's an off-the-shelf
thing or a DIY system, but I tend to initiate the backups on my NAS (which is
a Debian-powered mini itx PC). You can initiate from the clients instead if
you prefer.

rdiff-backup is, conceptually, quite similar to the level of detail you are
working at with your script, so it should be easy to get working. I'd also
consider looking at Obnam[2], and I'd avoid rsnapshot if I were you (it
falls over with large quantities of files, such as mailboxes, and rdiff-backup
basically does the same job but better).

rsync, whilst an awesome piece of software, is not, on its own, a backup
system.

When evaluating or building a backup system, consider all of the points in
"The Tao of Backup"[3]. Finally, remember that RAID is not backup[4]. (JWZ's
advice about a 3rd backup disk here is particularly good. I presently use
rsync for my 3rd backup drive.)

Penultimately, I'll echo what another poster has said, backuppc[5] is very good,
especially if you have windows clients (I realise you don't), although the
backend storage (last time I looked) was a somewhat awkward format that I
think would be painful to extract stuff from in an emergency situation should
the BackupPC software itself fail. As for Bacula, I *think* it's more geared
towards an enterprise-level, perhaps using tape backups, like Amanda. I know
you can use Bacula w/o tapes (Amanda too) but that's kind-of where it came
from and it still "feels" like a tape-oriented system to me (others are welcome
to jump to Bacula's defence here)

Finally, and although Tao of Backup covers this I'll repeat it: test restores.
Test how easy restores are for any tool of choice. Restores, restore performance
and restore UI is infinitely more important than the backup process.

[1] http://rdiff-backup.nongnu.org
[2] http://obnam.org/
[3] http://www.taobackup.com
[4] https://www.jwz.org/doc/backups.html
[5] http://backuppc.sourceforge.net

-- 
Jonathan Dowland
Please do not CC me, I am subscribed to the list.

Thread

Recommendation: Backup system mo <mo777@gmx.net> - 2016-10-01 11:40 +0200
  Re: Recommendation: Backup system Mark Fletcher <mark27q1@gmail.com> - 2016-10-01 14:50 +0200
    Re: Recommendation: Backup system mo <mo777@gmx.net> - 2016-10-01 15:10 +0200
    Re: Recommendation: Backup system Gene Heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2016-10-01 18:30 +0200
      Re: Recommendation: Backup system Clive Menzies <clive@clivemenzies.co.uk> - 2016-10-01 18:50 +0200
        Re: Recommendation: Backup system Gene Heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2016-10-01 19:50 +0200
          Re: Recommendation: Backup system Clive Menzies <clive@clivemenzies.co.uk> - 2016-10-01 20:00 +0200
            Re: Recommendation: Backup system Glenn English <ghe2001@gmail.com> - 2016-10-01 22:10 +0200
            Re: Recommendation: Backup system Gene Heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2016-10-02 06:20 +0200
      Re: Recommendation: Backup system Glenn English <ghe2001@gmail.com> - 2016-10-01 22:00 +0200
        Re: Recommendation: Backup system mo <mo777@gmx.net> - 2016-10-01 22:50 +0200
      Re: Recommendation: Backup system mo <mo777@gmx.net> - 2016-10-01 22:40 +0200
  Re: Recommendation: Backup system Bob Weber <bobrweber@gmail.com> - 2016-10-01 16:50 +0200
    Re: Recommendation: Backup system mo <mo777@gmx.net> - 2016-10-01 17:10 +0200
    Re: Recommendation: Backup system Mark Fletcher <mark27q1@gmail.com> - 2016-10-01 17:40 +0200
  Re: Recommendation: Backup system mo <mo777@gmx.net> - 2016-10-01 17:20 +0200
  Re: Recommendation: Backup system Dan Purgert <dan@djph.net> - 2016-10-01 19:10 +0200
    Re: Recommendation: Backup system mo <mo777@gmx.net> - 2016-10-01 22:50 +0200
  Re: Recommendation: Backup system mo <mo777@gmx.net> - 2016-10-01 22:50 +0200
    Re: Recommendation: Backup system Bob Weber <bobrweber@gmail.com> - 2016-10-01 23:10 +0200
      Re: Recommendation: Backup system mo <mo777@gmx.net> - 2016-10-02 10:50 +0200
        Re: Recommendation: Backup system rhkramer@gmail.com - 2016-10-02 15:00 +0200
          Re: Recommendation: Backup system Bob Weber <bobrweber@gmail.com> - 2016-10-03 01:20 +0200
    Re: Recommendation: Backup system Dan Purgert <dan@djph.net> - 2016-10-02 03:00 +0200
      Re: Recommendation: Backup system mo <mo777@gmx.net> - 2016-10-02 11:00 +0200
        Re: Recommendation: Backup system Dan Purgert <dan@djph.net> - 2016-10-02 13:10 +0200
          Re: Recommendation: Backup system mo <mo777@gmx.net> - 2016-10-02 14:40 +0200
  Re: Recommendation: Backup system Jonathan Dowland <jmtd@debian.org> - 2016-10-03 11:50 +0200
    Re: Recommendation: Backup system Teemu Likonen <tlikonen@iki.fi> - 2016-10-03 14:40 +0200
      Re: Recommendation: Backup system Markus Grunwald <markus@the-grue.de> - 2016-10-03 14:50 +0200
        Re: Recommendation: Backup system Richard Hector <richard@walnut.gen.nz> - 2016-10-05 04:10 +0200
          Re: Recommendation: Backup system Daniel Bareiro <daniel-listas@gmx.net> - 2016-10-05 05:10 +0200
            Re: Recommendation: Backup system Richard Hector <richard@walnut.gen.nz> - 2016-10-05 23:40 +0200
          Re: Recommendation: Backup system Jonathan Dowland <jmtd@debian.org> - 2016-10-07 12:20 +0200
            Re: Recommendation: Backup system Richard Hector <richard@walnut.gen.nz> - 2016-10-12 12:10 +0200
      Re: Recommendation: Backup system Jonathan Dowland <jmtd@debian.org> - 2016-10-03 17:10 +0200
    Re: Recommendation: Backup system Celejar <celejar@gmail.com> - 2016-10-10 19:30 +0200
      Re: Recommendation: Backup system Jonathan Dowland <jmtd@debian.org> - 2016-10-11 00:00 +0200
        Re: Recommendation: Backup system Dave Thayer <debian1628420.dmthayer@recursor.net> - 2016-10-11 05:40 +0200
  Re: Recommendation: Backup system Jarle Aase <jgaa@jgaa.com> - 2016-10-04 20:50 +0200

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