Re: [cobalt-users] Backup solutions for Qube3

[Q3 <q3@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Malcolm McLeary wrote:

> Hi Aidan,
>
> 14/6/02 11:37 PM, Aidan Beggan wrote:
>
> > I'm looking for a good, easy to use (tape!) backup solution for a Qube3. I
> > guess a combination of Tar and Cron would work but the users are not the
> > Linux type.
>
> This is a typical request from a typical Qube3 owner and the typical answer
> you'll get will be to add some under development Linux solution and then be
> tied to doing things via a command line interface, else you'll be directed
> to use the built-in backup capability.
>
> Neither of these solutions are ideal or appropriate.
>
> My preferred solution is to control backups from a standard desktop machine
> ... either a Mac or a Windows PC.  The product I use and recommend is Dantz
> Retrospect <http://www.dantz.com/>.  With this product you can automate
> backups to almost any media you like, including CD, Tape, local disks,
> firewire disks, etc, etc.
>
> To perform backups you mount the SMB or Appleshare volumes and simply back
> them up.  This can be fully automated and scheduled.  The only down side
> here is that you can only backup the SMB and Appleshare volumes ... you
> can't (at this point in time ... but watch this space) backup the entire
> Qube3.  IMHO the critical data on a Qube3 is the user created data.  The OS
> can be restored, and the configuration can be re-done.  User created data is
> much harder to recreate.
>
> I recommend this strategy because Retrospect is easy to use ... both backup
> and restore.
>

We use the method described by Malcolm above, for backups on Qube 2's and Qube
3's at client locations throughout our service region. After trying many
alternative methods over the years - using Retrospect's automated backup volumes
- via FTP to our SAN or to customers' local hard drive storage on their LAN
(depending on the client's hardware setup) SMB or AFS automount volumes have
proven the most reliable on the backside under RESTORE conditions. Retrospect's
user interface is easy to use - no need to be an expert - if you can read and
follow step by step directions, anyone can use it.

--cg