backup systems. (Use Amanda!!)

[warlord at MIT.EDU (Derek Atkins)]

Hi,

I run Red Hat systems..  I don't feel like I need to back up data that
hasn't changed from the installed RPMs (RPM's are readily
re-installable).  However I do want to back up (changed)
configurations.  E.g., I want to backup /etc/sysconfig ... but I don't
want to back up files that haven't been modified from the standard RPM
versions..

Can Amanda be set up so it only backs up _changed_ files?  Why should
I waste 2GB of backup on files that I can easily restore by
re-installing my machine?  I want to backup my _data_ and
_configuration_, not my installation....

-derek

"Rich Braun" <richb at pioneer.ci.net> writes:

> What I like about Amanda mainly is the set & forget aspect of it.  Once
> everything's up and running, you really don't have to think about backups
> anymore.  It's real PEACE OF MIND.  Once a day you'll get an email showing
> which filesystems were backed up, and any errors encountered.  If the tape
> drive breaks down, you can relax and just let things go to hard disk for a
> week or two if that's how long it takes until you can get it fixed.
> 
> A couple of things Amanda doesn't do well:  it can't back up directories that
> are larger than a single tape; it won't alert you if you create a new
> filesystem and forget to include it in the backup config; it doesn't have a
> snazzy Legato-like GUI; it doesn't generate an emergency-recovery root disk;
> it doesn't back up your Windows C: drives (maybe they added support for that
> recently, I haven't checked); and you have to come up with a separate
> configuration if you want to keep long-term archival copies.  So you have to
> pay attention to what you're doing when you make certain changes to your
> configuration, and you have to lay out your directories so they won't overflow
> a tape (and/or keep buying bigger tape drives, like I do).
> 
> I give a very strong recommendation to buy a decent-sized tape drive and set
> up Amanda rather than most any of the other choices out there.  If you keep a
> lot of data on Windows PCs, move it to Linux, set up a Samba server (with
> RAID, the "I" stands for inexpensive), and add it to your Amanda backup
> configuration.  No data of any value deserves to be left lying on a Windows C:
> drive.
> 
> There is a rival utility out there (afbackup) which seems to be getting more
> developer attention (Amanda is mature and in maintenance-only developer mode).
>  If I were experimenting with backup software for the first time, I would take
> a look at afbackup, Amanda, and perhaps one or two of the commercial packages.
>  (Especially if you're responsible for a corporate database installation, you
> might require features which go beyond what the freeware packages have.)
> 
> -rich
> 
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-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available