[Server-devel] easy backup solution for Linux?

[Aaron Huslage]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this party, but it seems to me that restoring the server and
restoring the data on it are two different problems. I've done lots of
backup work in my career, and I never back up the OS because it is easily
retrieved in a hurry.

In the case of XS, it would seem particularly easy to have a couple of USB
keys with the OS ready to install and a simple script to grab the
configuration files and data off of a server on the Internet or another USB
key (Mondo may do this, I'm not sure). This would reduce both bandwidth and
storage requirements significantly since you won't have redundant data
stored all over the place.

On Tue, Mar 18, 2008 at 6:16 AM, Bryan Berry <bryan at olenepal.org> wrote:

> thanks Greg,
>
> I think rsync is the way to go to back up the data but we need a nice
> tool to totally restore the boot image. To do that we are using Mondo
> because it is super easy, however I doubt it supports restoring the boot
> image to totally different hardware. We may later consider LiveBackup
> for that reason
>
> On Mon, 2008-03-17 at 11:07 -0400, Greg Smith (gregmsmi) wrote:
> > Hi Bryan,
> >
> > Tony is the one who wrote the book on storage! :-) I think he is
> > traveling lately so not sure if he is keeping up with the flow.
> >
> > He did write some scripts for you on this in the past:
> > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Az990tony/backup
> >
> > I think the idea was to backup from one server to another via rsynch.
> > You probably need a boot image/CD too and you may want to archive
> > backups at some interval to tertiary storage (tape or CD) just to cover
> > a dual failure case.
> >
> > The on lesson I have learned is to try a restore every now and then.
> > Make sure you have a restore procedure and test it on occasion. There's
> > nothing worse than thinking you are backed up when you aren't...
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Greg S
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Bryan Berry [mailto:bryan at ole.org] On Behalf Of Bryan Berry
> > Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2008 12:38 AM
> > To: Ananta Manandhar; Tony Pearson; Greg Smith (gregmsmi)
> > Cc: sulochan acharya
> > Subject: easy backup solution for Linux?
> >
> > Ananta ji and Tony ji,
> >
> > Can you guys recommend an easy backup solution for the school server?
> > Right now we intend to use LiveISO (can't find URL, am off-line). But
> > since you guys are storage experts can you think of an easy backup and
> > restore solution for the School Server off the top of your heads?
> >
> > I encourage you guys to join the new Nepal mailing list at
> > nepal at lists.laptop.org
> >
> > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/Nepal
> >
> > You should know that there are two groups working on OLPC in Nepal:
> > OLE Nepal (Sulo, Ram Singh, myself and others) and OLPC Nepal
> >
> > Rabi Karmacharya, Mahabir Pun, and myself helped found OLPC Nepal back
> > in November 2006 together w/ 2 recent college graduates Shankar Pokharel
> > and Ankur Sharma. Mid-2007, there was a dispute over who would lead the
> > group, Shankar or Rabi. Most of the group sided w/ Rabi but the
> > organization was legally registered to Shankar, so we had to create a
> > new legal entity OLE Nepal. Long story short the two organizations
> > co-exist but the relationship is not always friendly. It is unfortunate.
> >
> > We aren't really sure what OLPC Nepal (basically Shankar and Ankur) is
> > up to, what their activities are. But we hope they contribute to the
> > larger project.
> >
> > The Nepal mailing list is for anyone interested in OLPC for Nepal and
> > not tied to a specific organization. I want to see it as a forum for
> > moving this project forward in Nepal. Hope this clears things up.
> >
> > Best Regards,
> >
> > --
> > Bryan W. Berry
> > Systems Engineer
> > OLE Nepal, http://www.olenepal.org
> >
> --
> Bryan W. Berry
> Systems Engineer
> OLE Nepal, http://www.olenepal.org
>
> _______________________________________________
> Server-devel mailing list
> Server-devel at lists.laptop.org
> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/server-devel
>



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Aaron Huslage - 503.860.1634
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