Re: [cobalt-users] Disaster recovery

["Jason Vaughan" <cobaltlist@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I am currently running a cron script which tars  /home/sites /var and 
/etc. If disaster strikes, I will be able to recover from this but 
God will it be painful! This is very much a last resort backup as it 
will not correctly set file permissions / passwords etc. It will at 
least have the sites and the log files saved and it will be possible 
to re-construct the sites.

As far as the built in Backup and Restore are concerned - forget they 
even exist. Do not use them because they do not work and cobalt are 
aware of this. You can backup but the restore process does not work. 
DO NOT RELY ON THIS.

If you want to know the most effective method, go to:

http://emea.cobalt.com/support/download/migration.html

Download the migration utility, read the manual and use this to do 
your backups. this does work and it is easy. You then run the CMU 
(Cobalt Migration Utility) Export on the source machine which creates 
a directory called CMU which you then tar and ftp to the new box. On 
the new box, you run the CMU Import and the whole box is now a clone 
of the old. You can also do individual sites, if you prefer. I do 
this every couple of weeks because it does involve shutting down 
various services.

The other advice I have is to always check for patches. I had a 
client recently who got hacked. They had never installed any patches 
and their machine was therefor a security risk. I could not install 
the CMU due to the mess their machine was in, so I had to just wipe 
it all and give it a fresh restore. Whilst this was being done they 
had to ftp, to a second box, all the sites and all all the user 
accounts.

When the first box was sorted, we ran the CMU to put everything back 
onto the restored machine. This part could not have been easier. If 
they had backed it up using the CMU in the first place, it would have 
been a great deal easier.

The backup is being worked on and will be fixed soon (I am promised) 
but please do not use it fro the time being.

While I am on the subject, does anyone fancy writing a PKG to 
automate the following processes:

WeeklyExport.pkg
1. Prepare the system (shut down various services)
2. Run CMU Export
3. Tar CMU directory
4. FTP CMU.tar to backup machine 2

On second thoughts, if I was to get this written, who would like to 
pay me $50 towards my costs, for a copy of the PKG?

Does anyone think that Cobalt should provide this as a freebie whilst 
we await their working Backup / Restore?

Jason Vaughan



> I was thinking of making a tar backup as someone suggested on the list a
> little while ago. Has anyone tested full restores using this type of method?
> I was wondering if it is best to tar specific areas separately and restore
> them in a certain order or just tar the whole thing as a disaster recovery
> proc. I am unsure of what I should do for disaster recovery as I'm bringing
> my first Cobalt appliance online soon. I am investing into a 2nd RaQ3 that
> will be used solely for disaster recovery. My plan is to make tar files of
> the whole active machine and have the 2nd one waiting with a fresh OS
> Restore loaded. Maybe test it each month.
>
> If anyone has tried this type of disaster recovery, I would appreciate some
> insight. I was also wondering how much I can rely on the RaQ backup (.raq),
> or should I just do it all using tar. Once backed up using tar, the plan it
> to ftp it off to another machine.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Robert
>
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