<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Team,</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I have researched "backup methods"
today.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">There is a GPL tool that combines Rsync
and SSH together called "rsnapshot". I did a </font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">"yum install rsnapshot" and
it is the latest version 1.3.0 release.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">It is hosted on Sourceforge and here
is their webpage: http://www.rsnapshot.org/</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Rsnaphot looks like it has everything
we need:</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Can be used to backup local directories
to a second disk on the local host</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Can be used to backup remote directories
to the local host</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Backups are "pulled" (the
backup server goes out and gets the updates from everyone)</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Backups can be scheduled using cron</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Handles rotation for hourly, daily,
weekly and monthly versions</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Handles backing up MySQL databases from
Moodle</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Can invoke a script before and/or after
the backup on each client machine.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">The rotation is standard, the default
is:</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif"> hourly
backups taken every 4 hours </font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">
hourly.0 always represents the most
recent</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">
hourly.1 the version before that</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">
etc.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif"> daily
backups taken every day for 5 days</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">
daily.0 always represents the most recent</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">
daily.1 yesterday's</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">
etc.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif"> weekly
backups taken once a week (say Monday) for 4 weeks</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">
weekly.0 represents the most recent</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">
weekly.1 represents the one before that</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">
etc.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif"> monthly
backups taken once a month (say 1st of each month) for 3 months</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">
monthly.0 represents the most recent</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">
monthly.1 the month before that</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">
etc.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">The scheme is all done with hard-link
pointers, so if a file hasn't changed</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">there will only be one copy of it, and
the rest of the versions will merely point</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">to that. Each time rsync is run,
only the changed files since last time are sent.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">If there are three machines (squid,
school, and backup) here is the scheme.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Level 1 -- The "backup" server
will schedule backups and collect updates from</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">the squid and school servers. We
can decide which particular directories we want</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">from each machine. We may choose
every four hours, for example.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Level 2 -- The "school" server
will schedule backups and collect updates from</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">each XO laptop. Here I suggest
no more than once a day. The school server</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">can also schedule a backup of the "backup
server's" configuration.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Backups will be stored under /library/.snapshot/machine-id/
directory.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">For test purposes. I have only
two machines, not three, so I will test the following:</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Level 1 - The "squid" box
will backup the "school" server every hour hours.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Level 2 - The "school" box
will backup the "squid" server and my XO laptop once daily.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">The two levels are uniquely different,
so if you want me to focus on one over the other, please advise.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Otherwise, I will proceed working on
each level, and try to determine the right directories, </font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">frequency, and configuration.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Thanks</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif"><br>
</font>
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<td><font size=1 color=#0060a0 face="Microsoft Sans Serif"><b>Tony Pearson</b></font><font size=1 face="Microsoft Sans Serif"><br>
Senior Storage Consultant, IBM System Storage™<br>
Telephone: +1 520-799-4309 | tie 321-4309 | Cell: +1 520 990-8669<br>
email: tpearson@us.ibm.com | GSA: http://tucgsa.ibm.com/~tpearson<br>
Blog: </font><a href=http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/InsideSystemStorage><font size=1 color=blue face="Microsoft Sans Serif"><u>http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/InsideSystemStorage</u></font></a><font size=1 face="Microsoft Sans Serif"><br>
AKA: 990tony Paravane, eightbar specialist </font>
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