backing up data

off site server backup solutions suggestions

[IPfreely]

i was thinking about backup solutions for the new server that i have to buy and was wondering - what do you guys use?

note: the server will reside at our hosting company off site.

thanks in advance for the suggestions,
IPfreely

[MattyMoose]

I like to use rsync to transfer data from our off-site systems.

It's reliable and efficient, and can be tuned to copy/backup only data that has changed (note data: not necessarily re-copy the whole file that has changed, but the portions which have changed).

It's an excellent tool, and can be combined with SSH to utilize encryption to protect your data en route.

[IPfreely]

sry for delayed reply - i've been reading alot people mentioning rsync so maybe that's a good way to go. does rsync just backup selected files & folders or will it read the HD bit for bit?

i was thinking maybe to have a backup drive on the server that i could mount/unmount with a script so if 1 HD dies, the other could easily be made the primary drive, and if someone hacks the box they probably won't look for an unmounted drive right?

thanks,
IPfreely

[MattyMoose]

does rsync just backup selected files & folders or will it read the HD bit for bit?

It does selected files & folders. You can also use dump to dump a filesystem to a remote server, to file or tape drive (on remote server as well). You may be running linux or another OS, but this may help you a bit:
Backup Basics (FreeBSD) [freebsd.org]

i was thinking maybe to have a backup drive on the server that i could mount/unmount with a script so if 1 HD dies, the other could easily be made the primary drive, and if someone hacks the box they probably won't look for an unmounted drive right?

True, but the device would still show up if they used something like format, or fdisk, etc. The way I'd set something like that is to not have an entry in /etc/fstab, and not have any mount points that are around at all until you actually use it. (ie: after use, delete /mnt/seconddrive).

Probably the best way to do that would be to have two identical drives (make/model as well just in case), and do a dd.
something like:

dd if=/dev/ad0 of=/dev/ad1

would to a bit-for-bit backup onto the second drive. The only problem lies in what happens if the drive dies half-way through the backup? The way to find out if it's the best solution for you would be to try it... do a dd, power down, swap drives, and see how it goes. :)

Other options include fssnap (Sun Solaris), mksnap_ffs/dump -L (FreeBSD 5.x), and I'm sure there are linux equivalents to a filesystem snapshot that you can use to make backups with. The reason for the snapshots is to "lock" the filesystem in place, so that no files change while the backup is running. typically only used with the dump command.

HTH!
-MM

[IPfreely]

hey MM,
tnanks for your reply, i have been lookin into using rsnapshot- -it evidently uses rsync for making snapshots like you said. yes, if the drive died halfway though that would be bad...
as for the OS, i have a sun cobalt 6 machine running linux (i'd like to upgrade). i'll keep looking into this before making any decisions
thanks for your advice,
IPfreely