[CentOS] Backup server

[Brian Mathis]

On Thu, Jan 14, 2010 at 9:37 AM, Sorin Srbu <sorin.srbu at orgfarm.uu.se> wrote:
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: centos-bounces at centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces at centos.org] On Behalf
>>Of Benjamin Franz
>>Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2010 2:12 PM
>>To: CentOS mailing list
>>Subject: Re: [CentOS] Backup server
>>
>>If you have any budget at all, invest in bigger drives. 7200 RPM 1 TB
>>RAID rated drives can be bought for $160 each. Desktop rated 5900 RPM
>>1.5 TB drives (which you can probably get away with in a dedicated
>>backup server since you don't care a lot about speed and can tolerate
>>long pauses for sector repair) can be bought for $110 each. Check Newegg.
>
> I haven't got a budget really. Today I asked for a new group-printer today and
> the boss looked pained... 8-}
>
> I opted for the proven 500GB-sized disks and got more of those instead. I've
> had a handful of 750GB-drives die on me recently. Somehow it feels the
> technology isn't quite there yet for the bigger drive-sizes. Anybody remember
> the IBM Deskstars in the early 00's...?
>
> Also, my experience is the more smaller disks you have, the faster they get.
> Less to write to each I guess.
>
>
>>Second, to maximize 'depth' of backups you should use a 'Tower of
>>Hanoi'-like backup system.
>
> Good advice, thanks!
> --
> /Sorin


There seems to be a persistent conception among managers that anything
"IT related" is a huge capital expenditure (as it used to be), and
there's all sorts of resistance to buying anything new.  However, you
probably spend more on printer paper in 1 week than it costs to buy a
1TB drive.  This kind of equipment is a disposable commodity, even
though the accounting department still prefers to write it off over 7
years.

However, IT also has a reputation of always wanting to buy new toys.
Many times these toys are not needed, even though the IT person
insists that they are.  So you need to be able to walk the fine line
between these two.

To put it into perspective, ask the manager how much it would cost the
business if this data was unrecoverable?  After that, if they still
don't want to spend a few hundred $$s on the insurance, get it in
writing that your manager understands the risk and print it out and
post it on your office wall.