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On Wed, 7 Sep 2011, Martin Gautier wrote:
Hi allI was wonder if anyone had any suggestions for backing up a server to remote storage (via rsync or similar).I have about 500Gb currently but would want to support up to 1Tb.I want to just dump the data offsite and so want to avoid the likes of Dropbox that support file syncing. In fact, Dropbox linux cli is currently in use but the Dropbox servers suffer from randomly deleting files from it's archive and then syncing the changes back to the local server effectively deleting them there too!Most VPS solutions don't do large amounts of diskspace so that's out...
They can do - what's the budget? e.g. Bytemark want about £90 a month for a dedicated server with 2 x 1TB drives in it...
The down-side of using something remote is that it's ... remote.So if you have to ever do a full restore, then getting 1TB back via ADSL (or even say 100Mb leased line) is going to take a very long time indeed... 1TB at 100Mb/sec (10MB/sec) will take 28 hours - probably over 10 times that via ADSL.
So while remote backups are nice in theory and can make you feel nice and smug ;-) then sometimes it might not be that good.
Saying that, if you're in a situation where you do need to get all the data back, then it's better than noting - and a road-trip the to DC might not be out of order. (If they allow you on-site that is)
I have considered Amanda community edition hooked up to Amazon S3 but that seems expensive.What do others do?
I use rsync to/from servers in my office, data centre (Sheffield) and from client sites. The few clients I do backups for, I bring their data back to a server in my office - the theory being that I can then take that server (or a copy of their data) back to their site relatively quickly (well, under a day - they're all in Devon, I won't do this for someone outside Devon)
Copying 500GB-1TB via rsync is relatively easy over ADSL - once the first backups image has happened - however budget on more more then 1-2GB of on-site changes per DAY - else copying that over ADSL will take more than "overnight".
My usual strategy is to provide a "live" backup on-site if possible as well as one off-site. The on-site one isn't a backup in the proper sense of disaster recovery, but it can help in the case of catastrophic server failure. (and eedjits accidentally deleting files) In the event of loss of premises (fire, asteroid, etc.) then most businesses will have more to worry about than getting their data back that same day.
Have you considered tapes? But I have to admit, I've not looked at the prices of tapes nor their capacitys for a while... I suspect "reassuringly expensive" is still the key phrase...
However, it's an intersting situation as I've a client who're just about to take delivery of 2 new servers with 3TB of usable space each.. And I'm scratching my head about backups. They'll initially be provisioned as having 2 x 1.5TB partitions and will backup to each other overnight, but I suspect we might use Stinga's method of a luggable server (or 2), or a set of eSata drives to be taken off-site and rotated on a regular basis - basically treating disks as tapes.
(I have on my workbench 4 x 3TB drives. I'm still amazed at how capacities have spiralled over the years!)
Gordon
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