Re: [cobalt-users] ARKEIA Back up software

[<elmer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 19 Apr 2001, Jonathan Nichols wrote:

} ...but a real bummer when your building burns down/gets
} robbed/floods/whatever and you don't have offsite backups.... ;)

	I've set up many a remote backup using rsync. The beauty of
rsync is that it determines what exists on the backup server and
what does not then only transfers the differences while deleting
that which is no longer needed.

	The first transfer can be quite spectacular but from then on
the load/bandwidth requirements are surprisingly low. We backup six
production servers to a dedicated rsync server every day and it all
happens so transparently that I've come to sticking files here and
there on the production servers just so I can root around on the
rsync server after the next backup just to see if I can find the
files I added - though I look at the logs every day, this is the
only way I've been able to figure out how to be absolutely certain
that the backups are running as they should be.

	I'd never go back to tape... having to play stupid games
(well, let's put something in _____ and see if it ends up on the
rsync server... ) just to convince myself that the backups are
actually being done is a whole lot more fun and considerably less
trouble than using tapes ever was. Though the drives cost a bit more
upfront, they've also proven to be cheaper than tape. They're used
so little they seldom fail. It's pretty much a set it up and forget
it exists solution.

	When it comes to backups, rsync is the cat's meow...

	brent