[BUGS] Remote backups, imap too

[Callum Gibson]

On 08 Dec 07:25, Peter Jeremy wrote:
}On Sat, Dec 08, 2007 at 05:29:02AM +1100, Jerahmy Pocott wrote:
}>Just looking for some options/suggestions on remote backup tools,
}>I was thinking of using rsync, but then I was thinking maybe it's not
}>really good for backups?
}I'd say the first thing you need to decide on is what you want from
}your backups.  When I think "backup", I think of keeping a mixture of
}full and incremental backups (probably multiple copies from different
}dates) so that I can recover accidently lost/corrupted files from some
}time in the past as well as recovering from a dead HDD.  OTOH, rsync
}is intended to replicate a directory tree so you have a second copy of
}your directory tree at some point in time.

However, see also the --backup* and --suffix options to rsync. With this
you can backup to separate date-named directories each day, for example,
which is a poor-man's incremental.

}- Do you use any fancy metadata options (ACLs, chflags etc)?
}  These may not be replicated using rsync.

I recently got bitten by this at work moving to a new production machine.
ACLs aren't handled by rsync (this was on Solaris). Another potential
gotcha is that hardlinks aren't preserved by default when using the archive
option (-a), though you might expect it should be. As a result we had a
few files become copies rather than links to the same file. You need to
specify -H for that.

}Of these, FreeBSD can only natively support SMB or FTP, though you can
}probably find an AFP client in ports.  I'm not sure about the other
}*BSD. I've successfully used smbfs (see mount_smbfs) at work, though
}only to read files from a SMB server.  AFAIK, SAMBA does not include a
}filesystem client, only an FTP-like client.

Not sure what you mean by a "filesystem client" since you can just
mount_smbfs and you have access to the filesystem as normal? I'm a big
user of this at work as I need to access a couple of Windows network
drives and it works well. The only issue I've ever noticed with it is
how locking or file access behaves when I file is already open from a
Windows box. In other words, it honours that stupid windows concept of
the file only being able to be opened by one process at a time.

}Note that SMB was designed for use over a LAN and I'm not sure how
}well it behaves across a WAN.

Slowly. But then it does on Windows too, and at least you don't have to
put up with your whole Windows Explorer hanging while it's trying to
draw all the little pictures of every file type.

BTW, for our small network of FreeBSD (and previously Linux) boxes I use
amanda for managing backups which uses dump underneath (can use tar too).
This manages the tape cycles, full/incremental backups and other stuff
like that (we backup to a 8mm Exabyte drive)

    C

-- 

Callum Gibson @ home
http://members.optusnet.com.au/callumgibson/