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cozmo_troll

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Full system Backup

I need to set up a full system backup for our server (RedHat 8) Please give me any ideas regarding hardware options, & configuration.

I want something removable (in case of fire or other natural disaster).

Thank you.
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jlevie

Tape is usually the preferred backup media. What type of tape device is a function of how much data the system contains,
how much time can be spent doing backups, and whether an operator is available to change tapes. At one end of the
spectrum you have things like a DDS-4 DAT tape (20Gb native, 40Gb compressed) for around $900/US and at the other
you'll find SDLT-320 devices (160Gb native, 320Gb compressed) for around $3800/US.  And then there are tape libraries
of varying capacity and drive types.
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ASKER

The hardware itself costs $900-$3800?? Does that get installed into the machine? or is it a free standing piece of equipment? How fast do they usually go, and can you set them up to automatically backup every day?
Also, are there any other kinds of backup media?
Yep, tape devices aren't cheap.

Tape devices can be as small as slightly larder than a floppy device to as large as a full height 5-1/4 disk drive and if
there's room in the case one can install the device inside the system case. For most tapes of decent capacity (and
supported by Linux) you will also need a SCSI controller. Tapes are also available in external enclosures, which can be
a bit more convient.

Writing speeds can range from 3-79Gb/hr. And yes there are packages that will automate your backups allowing full's
at specified intervals and incrementals in between the full backups.

There are other possibilities including:

CDRW (only 600Mb/disk)
DVD (~ 4Gb/disk)
Disk Drive

The disadvantage of CD/DVD is the limited capacity, requiring a number of disks for most systems. Also the writing
speed is pretty low. A disk drive has much better writing speed (exceeding that of tape) and good capacity. But unless
you are using SCSI disks (very pricey compared to IDE) or have an IDE controller that supports hot-swap drives a
system reboot is required to change media. Which is something of a problem in general and a major problem if your
backup will span disks. And you really want backup history (more than one full and associated incrementals) in the
event that a problem requiring a restore isn't noticed immediately of if there's something wrong with the last
backup.
cozmo_troll,

try to read this https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/20656366/Attempting-to-backup-a-dual-boot-win-linux-system.html

it's about if you have 2 identical HDD, you can make a copy of the other one.

just wanted to give u another idea, hope it's help:)
Hi,

If you don't know what software to use, you may be interested into Mondo Rescue (http://www.microwerks.net/~hugo ), which does disaster recovery backups, whatever the device you use to save your data (cd-rw, tapes,disks or network share...)

I use it @ work and @home without any problem, under Gentoo Linux and RedHat Linux (sources and binaries provided).

The drawbacks of this software is that it consumes many CPU cycles during the backup process.

Regards from FRANCE.
Hello,

you should also make a regular test of your backup media, if they are readable and if you can recover your complete system in the worst case. A regular disaster recovery plan and test also on another machine is very helpful!

Tape backup: For recovery of a tape backup, you should have a look which size of data packages you used to write it to the tape, because if you are using another machine for recovery, it could be, that your backup tape is not readable.

The idea from paullamhkg is also an alternative. Depending of your LAN (network speed), maybe a backup of your complete system to another server in another DataCenter room/ building is a possibility. You can tar and zip your whole data in "small" packages and transfer it to another server. There you can untar it. The whole process can run automatical during night, started from e.g. a cron job.

braschke
Hello,

you should also make a regular test of your backup media, if they are readable and if you can recover your complete system in the worst case. A regular disaster recovery plan and test also on another machine is very helpful!

Tape backup: For recovery of a tape backup, you should have a look which size of data packages you used to write it to the tape, because if you are using another machine for recovery, it could be, that your backup tape is not readable.

The idea from paullamhkg is also an alternative. Depending of your LAN (network speed), maybe a backup of your complete system to another server in another DataCenter room/ building is a possibility. You can tar and zip your whole data in "small" packages and transfer it to another server. There you can untar it. The whole process can run automatical during night, started from e.g. a cron job.

braschke
Sorry, that was a mistake
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wskoczen

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