[CentOS] Simple backup program

[Paul Heinlein]

On Wed, 7 Jun 2006, Bowie Bailey wrote:

> I am looking for a simple backup program that I can use to backup a
> CentOS box to a local tape drive.  Hopefully someone here can give me
> a recommendation.
>
> This is what I need:
>    - Simple launching of manual backups (preferably from the command
>      line)
>    - Ability to span tapes for a large backup
>    - Proper treatment of hardlinked files
>    - Notification via email or similar when it is ready for the next
>      tape.
>
> I tried mondo-rescue, but decided against it after it spent 4 hours
> just trying to index the files (it never actually started the backup).
>
> I am considering Amanda, but the setup is a bit complex and, based on
> the docs, the tape spanning capability isn't the best.
>
> Anyone have any suggestions?  I would think that there would be a
> simple program out there to backup and restore from tape without all
> of the extra scheduling and indexing features.

Bacula (www.bacula.org) will do what you want, though wading through 
the initial configuration process can take a couple hours. Tape 
spanning is well supported; backups can be scheduled or initiated from 
the command line; the cli restore process has an interface similar to 
dump/restore, so it's fairly easy to navigate.

We use it to back up CentOS, Debian, Gentoo, and OS X to tape.

-- 
Paul Heinlein <> heinlein at madboa.com <> www.madboa.com