[CentOS] Can anyone suggest a decent backup system?

Thu Sep 16 20:10:05 UTC 2010
John R Pierce <pierce at hogranch.com>

  On 09/16/10 1:34 AM, Kevin Thorpe wrote:
> Can anyone suggest a simple backup package for us? Essentially a single
> server, full backup to tape every day. We don't need tape management as
> we're fully capable of reading the written label on the tape ourselves.
>
>

ummmm, reading your requirements again, and cogitating.....  and...

     tar

a simple script that tars each file system appending it to the same tape 
(assuming your backup fits on one tape)....
maybe something like...

     mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind
     for fs in / /var /usr /home /opt /data ...; do
         tar clf /dev/nst0 $fs
         done
     mt -f /dev/nst0 offline


If you do your backups this way, its important to keep track of the 
order you write the file systems to the tape, as the tape position is 
the only way to distinguish them

I'd probably add some logging to that script, and basic error 
trapping.   the following mess is totally untested and probably full of 
errors. caveat emptor.

     #!/bin/bash
     d=${date -I}
     lf=/var/log/mybackups-$d.log
     df=/var/log/mybackups-$d.detail.log
     dt=${date +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S%z"}
     echo "$dt ******* Starting Daily Backup **********" >>$lf
     mt -f /dev/nst0 rewind
     for fs in / /var /usr /home /opt /data ...; do
         echo "$dt Starting Backup $fs" >>$lf
         tar clvf /dev/nst0 $fs 2>>$lf 1>>$df
         if [ $? != 0 ]; then
         {
             echo "$dt Error in tar $fs.  backups aborted" >>$lf
             mail -s "***DAILY BACKUP ERROR****" user at mydomain.com < $lf
             exit 1
         } fi
         echo "$dt Completed Backup $fs" >>$lf
         done
     echo "$dt Ejecting Tape" >>$lf
     mt -f /dev/nst0 offline
     echo "$dt ******* Daily Backup Complete **********" >>$lf