I'm running BackupPC under Centos-5.2.
1. Will BackupPC backup files in NFS-mounted directories? If so, is there any simple way of preventing this?
2. I have seen it suggested that it is not a good idea to backup onto a partition on the same drive as the BackupPC server? Is that true? If so, is a partition on a separate drive on the same machine also bad?
Ps Apologies if this has been posted before; I have had some problems communicating with mailing lists.
On Sun, 2008-12-21 at 14:02 +0000, Timothy Murphy wrote:
I'm running BackupPC under Centos-5.2.
- Will BackupPC backup files in NFS-mounted directories?
If so, is there any simple way of preventing this?
Not sure I understand the question, but I assume you are talking about backing up a remote system that has a nfs mount. Have not tried it, but would guess that the answer is Yes It Could.
Using the rsync or rsyncd modes, you have the options to include and/or exclude whatever you want. Very simple to do.
- I have seen it suggested that it is not a good idea
to backup onto a partition on the same drive as the BackupPC server? Is that true? If so, is a partition on a separate drive on the same machine also bad?
Sidestepping your question a little, are you planning to Not use some form of redundant storage? Given that you are making backups, single drive or nonredundant storage would be a bad idea.
In general, it is true that using a storage system for data/files physically separate from the os/utilities is typically faster, but that does not sound like the gist of your question. What I do is to mount a logical volume at the storage location (/var/lib/backuppc) so that it can grow or be otherwise modified as needed.
If the problem you expect is congestion, then you can limit the number of concurrent backups to less than the default of 4 (see MaxBackups and MaxUserBackups). I find that even modest single core systems can handle 1 backup without a lot of trouble.
As a first approximation, start up a manual rsync of something big (e.g., /usr, iso image, etc.) from the remote system and see how that impacts the proposed BackupPC server. Once the BackupPC server is put into service, it is easy to figure out what the number should be.
HTH
Steve
S.Tindall wrote:
- Will BackupPC backup files in NFS-mounted directories?
If so, is there any simple way of preventing this?
Not sure I understand the question, but I assume you are talking about backing up a remote system that has a nfs mount. Have not tried it, but would guess that the answer is Yes It Could.
Using the rsync or rsyncd modes, you have the options to include and/or exclude whatever you want. Very simple to do.
First of all, thanks for the suggestions. I should say, I'm just backing up machines on my home system. It's not Fort Knox.
But I have a directory /common on one machine ("alfred") which I NFS-mount on the other machines. I don't want to back this up more than once.
- I have seen it suggested that it is not a good idea
to backup onto a partition on the same drive as the BackupPC server? Is that true? If so, is a partition on a separate drive on the same machine also bad?
Sidestepping your question a little, are you planning to Not use some form of redundant storage? Given that you are making backups, single drive or nonredundant storage would be a bad idea.
As I said, this is not Fort Knox. I haven't backed up anything for the last 10 years, and have been very lucky, I guess. A couple of disks have died in that time, but fortunately they passed on their secrets before dying.
In general, it is true that using a storage system for data/files physically separate from the os/utilities is typically faster, but that does not sound like the gist of your question. What I do is to mount a logical volume at the storage location (/var/lib/backuppc) so that it can grow or be otherwise modified as needed.
I've had bad experiences with LVM, so will avoid that if possible.
I'm running BackupPC on machine 1 ("helen") and would like to back up onto machine 2 ("alfred"). As far as I can see, that means NFS-mounting alfred:/backup on helen:/var/lib/backup . I want to backup /home on machines 3,4,5 (various laptops). All are running Linux, though later I'd like to add a Windows machine - but that can wait.
As a first approximation, start up a manual rsync of something big (e.g., /usr, iso image, etc.) from the remote system and see how that impacts the proposed BackupPC server. Once the BackupPC server is put into service, it is easy to figure out what the number should be.
That sounds like a good idea. Though I wasn't very clear whether one could widen the list of directories to backup after setting things up. I don't foresee any problem with congestion on my small system.
On Sun, 2008-12-21 at 22:04 +0000, Timothy Murphy wrote:
S.Tindall wrote:
- I have seen it suggested that it is not a good idea
to backup onto a partition on the same drive as the BackupPC server? Is that true? If so, is a partition on a separate drive on the same machine also bad?
... What I do is to mount a logical volume at the storage location (/var/lib/backuppc) so that it can grow or be otherwise modified as needed.
I've had bad experiences with LVM, so will avoid that if possible.
LVM is an acquired taste, but one worth developing.
I'm running BackupPC on machine 1 ("helen") and would like to back up onto machine 2 ("alfred"). As far as I can see, that means NFS-mounting alfred:/backup on helen:/var/lib/backup .
But doesn't that mean alfred's backups will be on alfred? Hard drives are cheap and BackupPC is very frugal with using disk space.
Hope it all works out.
Steve
S.Tindall wrote:
I'm running BackupPC on machine 1 ("helen") and would like to back up onto machine 2 ("alfred"). As far as I can see, that means NFS-mounting alfred:/backup on helen:/var/lib/backup .
But doesn't that mean alfred's backups will be on alfred? Hard drives are cheap and BackupPC is very frugal with using disk space.
Yes, now you point that out it may be unwise. I suppose I should backup onto the BackupPC (and httpd) server, "helen".
Actually, "alfred" was my old - very old, maybe 10 years old - server, which has a number of SCSI and IDE disks attached. So it has lots of spare space.
But I'll follow your implicit advice, and use /var/lib/BackupPC/ as is for backups, and maybe get a second disk on the server later.
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S.Tindall -
Timothy Murphy -
Timothy Murphy