[CentOS] CentOS Server Backup Options
Mark LaPierre
marklapier at aol.com
Mon Mar 12 04:33:19 UTC 2012
On 03/12/2012 12:11 AM, Scott Walker wrote:
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: centos-bounces at centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces at centos.org] On
>> Behalf Of Mark LaPierre
>> Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012 8:37 PM
>> To: CentOS mailing list
>> Subject: Re: [CentOS] CentOS Server Backup Options
>>
>> On 03/11/2012 08:12 PM, Scott Walker wrote:
>>> What do you guys recommend for backing up a small CentOS server in a
>>> business environment. It will have (3) 300gb drives in a raid 5 array
>>> but I don't anticipate more than about 25gb of data that needs to be
>>> backed up each night.
>>> I want a lot of backups with a rotation scheme that included daily,
>>> weekly, and monthly copies. I want the daily copies of the data kept
>>> until the next week, and the weekly copy being kept for four weeks,
>>> and the monthly copies being kept for a year.
>>>
>>> The vendor is recommending a RD1000 Removable Disk device. This looks
>>> like it has great specs. Each cartridge holds 160gb (non-compressed)
>>> and the drive costs about $420 but seems that with each removable
>>> cartridge costing $128, we may be limited to how many cartridges we
>>> could have, thus perhaps not retaining backup instances as long as I
>> like.
>>>
>>> I asked about a HP DAT160 tape drive. Each tape holds 160gb
>>> (non-compressed) and the drive costs about $730, and each tape only
>>> costs about $24, so it would be economical to have lots of backup
>>> instances saved for a long period of time.
>>>
>>> I have been using tape and the backup rotation scheme mentioned above
>>> for over 20 years. The vendor is telling me they don't recommend tape
>>> drives anymore and all of their customers are using removable hard
>>> drive for local backups. Am I missing something? My instincts tell
>>> me the tape drive is the right solution for a system with a small
>>> amount of data, where the system is used only from 8am - 5pm (so
>>> backup speed is not critical) and where we want to save backup
>>> instances for a long time before overwriting them.
>>>
>>> Any input would be welcomed.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> What do you consider to be a "long time" to keep backups on hand?
>>
>
> I like to have an archive copy of the data for each of the last twelve
> months.
>
> I also like to have an archive copy of the data for each of the last 4
> years.
>
> That way if any files get accidently deleted, I still have a backup that is
> old enough to contain them.
>
>
>> Tape, and tape drives, have a bad reputation. They are difficult and time
>> consuming to verify.
>
> Indeed I've had lots of trouble with tape drives over the years. The DAT
> drives worked well when they worked but they always seemed to die after 4 or
> 5 years. With the small amount of data I have to worry about (in the range
> of 25 - 30gb) the time to backup to tape and verify in the middle of the
> night is not a factor.
>
>>
>> I run my backups nightly to a hard drive using rsync. I use a directory
>> named by the day of the week. I cycle through the seven daily directories
>> until the 1st of the month when I run a complete backup to an monthly
>> directory. Then for the next seven days I wipe the daily directories and
>> start the cycle over again.
>>
>> A couple of minor variations to this plan should work for you. I don't
>> know what your network configuration looks like so this may not apply to
>> you.
>>
>> Here's a peek at the logic I use.
>>
>> # BUILD DATE STAMP
>> Date=`date +%Y%m%d`
>> echo "Date= \"$Date\""
>>
>> # Rev. 5.6 start
>> Day=`date +%a`
>> echo "Day= \"$Day\""
>>
>> DayNum=`date +%d` # Rev. 7.0
>>
>> # IF THIS IS A SUNDAY USE THE CALANDAR DATE if [ "$Day" == "Sun" ];then
>> Day="$Date"
>> else
>> # IF THIS IS THE 1ST OF THE MONTH USE THE CALANDAR DATE
>> if [ "$DayNum" == "01" ];then
>> Day="$Date"
>> fi
>> fi
>>
>> # USE THE DAY OF THE WEEK, EXCEPT FOR SUNDAY AND THE 1ST OF THE MONTH
>> WHICH IS HANDLED ABOVE, AS THE DIRECTORY NAME Date="$Day"
>>
>> # Rev. 5.6 end
>>
>> # REMOVE PREVIOUS $Date DIRECTORY IF THIS IS THE FIRST USE THIS MONTH #
>> Rev. 7.0 ENTIRE CASE STATEMENT ADDED case $DayNum in
>> 02)
>> echo "Removing /home/homebu/$Date directory"
>> rm -rf /home/homebu/$Date
>> ;;
>> 03)
>> echo "Removing /home/homebu/$Date directory"
>> rm -rf /home/homebu/$Date
>> ;;
>> 04)
>> echo "Removing /home/homebu/$Date directory"
>> rm -rf /home/homebu/$Date
>> ;;
>> 05)
>> echo "Removing /home/homebu/$Date directory"
>> rm -rf /home/homebu/$Date
>> ;;
>> 06)
>> echo "Removing /home/homebu/$Date directory"
>> rm -rf /home/homebu/$Date
>> ;;
>> 07)
>> echo "Removing /home/homebu/$Date directory"
>> rm -rf /home/homebu/$Date
>> ;;
>> *)
>> echo "Old $Date directory not deleted"
>> ;;
>> esac
>>
>> # TRANSER FILES
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> _
>> °v°
>> /(_)\
>> ^ ^ Mark LaPierre
>> Registerd Linux user No #267004
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>
>
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If each of your backups contains the entire 25gb of data that you
mention then a 1 tb drive will hold +/- 40 said backups. That should be
enough for a years worth of backups. Just get a new 1 tb drive each
year for four years and you're golden for a lot less than a single tape
drive. Install a drive in a remote computer and have off site backups too.
--
_
°v°
/(_)\
^ ^ Mark LaPierre
Registerd Linux user No #267004
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