[linux] backup and storage

[Helen Petropoulos]

Thanks Donald.  I just have one more question -

I've tried to set up a cron job to rsync across two machines, but it 
won't automatically do it because I need to able to specify
the other machine's root password, so the cronjob fails.  I'm sure 
there's a way to configure this to work, I'm just not sure
which file I need to edit.

Thanks again,

Helen

On Feb 14, 2007, at 2:42 PM, Donald J. Ankney wrote:

> It doesn't take a lot of processing power to set up a software raid 
> and sync the files. You can use pretty much anything in the P4 class. 
> 512 megs of ram is plenty.
>
> Since the University has a site license for RHEL, why not just use the 
> current version? If you're using this for a personal project, you can 
> use CentOS, which originated as a free (as in beer as well as speech) 
> alternative to RHEL. Personally, I just use tar piped across ssh 
> (rsync doesn't work for me as I'm interested in multiple backups with 
> so that I can restore to a specific date).
>
> On Feb 14, 2007, at 2:28 PM, Helen Petropoulos wrote:
>
>> Hi Alan,
>>
>> That sounds like just the advice that I was looking for, but I was 
>> wondering,
>> when you say barebones system, what's the minimum processor that I 
>> should
>> look at?  What's the minimum version number of RHLE that I should use?
>>
>> I've worked on Unix systems, but I'm new to Linux and I'm not sure 
>> where to look
>> for this kind of information.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Helen
>>
>> On Feb 14, 2007, at 1:37 PM, Alan Gibson wrote:
>>
>>> the best solution depends somewhat on what you are trying to achieve.
>>> if you want to archive stuff, dvd may be best. if you just want
>>> redundant backups, i would set up a NAS.
>>>
>>> take a cheap barebones system, add a 4 port sata card and 4 250GB
>>> drives. use mdadm to turn the drives into a 1TB raid. then set up an
>>> hourly cron job that backs the whole thing up with rsync. the great
>>> thing about rsync is that it only transfers what has actually 
>>> changed.
>>>
>>> this solution would be cheap, easier to maintain than tape or dvd, 
>>> not
>>> to mention it would be a whole lot faster. if you need more storage,
>>> just put in another sata card and some drives and add them to the 
>>> raid
>>> (you might want to pay a little extra for a big power supply).
>>>
>>> backing up multiple systems would be trivial; just give the backup
>>> server an account on every system you want to back up and let it go
>>> out and fetch the files.
>>>
>>> now if your data is irreplaceable, you should really have multiple
>>> copies, at least one being off site.  there is always a chance that
>>> the building will burn down. in this case i would say either add
>>> weekly dvd backups and take them home with you, or sign up for one of
>>> the new remote backup services that are coming online.
>>>
>>> alan
>>>
>>> On 2/14/07, Helen Petropoulos <elenip at u.washington.edu> wrote:
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> I have a DELL PowerEdge 700 running linux and I was wondering what 
>>>> kind
>>>> of backup system I should obtain for it.  I
>>>> would like at least 1 T of storage.  Is there something that someone
>>>> out there recommends?  Should I get an external
>>>> jukebox?  I would also like to be able to back up other machines 
>>>> onto
>>>> this one.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks in advance,
>>>>
>>>> Helen - Dept of Radiology
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>