On 13.1.2010 12:04, Sorin Srbu wrote:

Hi all,

I've built a new backup server for our linux-clients.

Is Amanda the way to go for a backup-solution?

It seems to be pretty powerful, if a bit finickety to set up initially.

The way we currently do backups is to use rsync from the clients to two folders on an older server that rolls over every other week. This worked fine for a while, but the rsync is cumulative and the users generate a tremendous amount of data every day after having had a client upgrade with newer and hilariously fast computers for calculation. The previous *nix-admin set it up this way with rsync, meaning that we in the long run have data that is way obsolete and get increasingly difficult to maintain.

As the backup solution must be next to free, ie "free beer", Amanda looks suitable.

What do you use for backing up data?

I think nobody has yet mentioned rdiff-backup. I have very good experiences with it. Easy to setup and control (only remember first to install the required packages, and I think rsync-devel was not mentioned but is required).

Rdiff-backup keeps up an exact copy of the source director(ies), plus it maintains a separate directory for deleted/changed items. With an appropriate command you can restore the source directory as it was at a given point of time. Very neat, and space-saving.

http://rdiff-backup.nongnu.org/

- Jussi