ago@lsc.hu wrote:

...

What are the users here opinions on enteriprise grade opensource software for doing backups, as an alternative to bakbone or veritas. We just have basic requirements, i.e backing up nfs servers.

Try Bacula.

www.bacula.org.

Prebuilt binaries for CentOS4/i386 are available at http://centos.karan.org/el4/misc/stable/i386/RPMS/repodata/repoview/B.group....

Instructions on how to get the "Misc" repository setup for yum, are at http://centos.karan.org/

- KB

***Chris wrote... -} -}I've found that backing up to another disk to be both faster and more -}practical. We've got a number of multi-terabyte RAID arrays to store -}uncompressed video. Backing all that data up to tape just isn't a -}tenable solution. So we've bitten the bullet and built an extra larger -}multi-terabyte array to do online backups. Periodically we do snapshots -}of the data on that backup array (like you do on a netapp filer). That -}system works well for us. It wouldn't cover us if the building burned -}down so the next step is an offsite mirrored array. -}Cheers, -}C

Chris,

for the list...

and since i believe that you have implemented this solution with CentOS boxen... when you get a moment or five...

...would you mind detailing the "*simple* step by step basics" of what you have done... detailing the processors, cards, and pertinent hardware names, sizes, and speeds involved please?

and of course any special tricks you have done with your CentOS install(s)... ;->

thanks

- rh

On Fri, 2005-06-03 at 10:01, Chris Mauritz wrote:

...

...

We just have basic requirements, i.e backing up nfs servers.

If an online disk-based solution will work, with the ability to to manually archive a copy to tape, look at backuppc: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/

I've found that backing up to another disk to be both faster and more practical. We've got a number of multi-terabyte RAID arrays to store uncompressed video. Backing all that data up to tape just isn't a tenable solution. So we've bitten the bullet and built an extra larger multi-terabyte array to do online backups. Periodically we do snapshots of the data on that backup array (like you do on a netapp filer). That system works well for us. It wouldn't cover us if the building burned down so the next step is an offsite mirrored array.

Note that backuppc uses a clever scheme of compression and linking duplicate files (whether from the same machine or not) and will typically cram about 8x what you'd expect to fit on the archive disk. I store mine on a software RAID mirror where one member is an external firewire drive that is periodically rotated offsite. I'm currently having problems with firewire (worked great in FC1 but didn't autodetect, FC3 autodetects on hotplug but either crashes or gets errors on the external drive if I leave the raid running long) but otherwise the concept seems good and I can restore instantly from one of the external drives and my laptop. You'll need something bigger for all that video, but if I were starting now I'd look at those 400gig SATA drives in an external cases,