NetBSD - Live Network Backup 156
dvl writes "It is possible but inconvenient to manually clone a hard disk
drive remotely, using dd and netcat. der Mouse, a Montreal-based NetBSD
developer, has developed tools
that allow for automated, remote partition-level cloning to occur
automatically on an opportunistic basis. A high-level description of the system has been posted at KernelTrap. This facility can be used to
maintain complete duplicates of remote client laptop drives to a server
system. This network mirroring facility will be presented at BSDCAN 2005 in Ottawa, ON on May 13-15."
use rsync (Score:2, Informative)
Maybe setup is inconvenient. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:use rsync (Score:5, Informative)
As the article says, this is drive imaging whereas rsync is file copying.
Meh. You can use DRBD on Linux anyway. (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Mac OS X (Score:3, Informative)
I'd suggest either
CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner)
ASR (Apple System Restore)
Rsync
Radmind
Have fun on version tracker....
Re:use rsync (Score:3, Informative)
Our nightly rsync backups have saved us many times from user mistakes (oops, I deleted this 3 months ago and I need it now), but we haven't had a chance to test our backup server in the event of losing one of our main servers. We figure we could have it up and running in a couple hours or less, since it's configured very closely to our other servers, be we won't know until we need it.
Re:Right solution, wrong problem (Score:5, Informative)
I'd like a system library that would modify the rename(2), truncate(2), unlink(2), and write(2) calls to move the deleted stuff to some private directory (/.Trash, /.Recycler, whatever). Obviously the underlying routine would have to do its own garhage collection, deleting trash files by some FIFO or largest-older-first algorithm.
Done. [netcabo.pt]
Re:Wacky idea (Score:1, Informative)
multi/unicasting system images
WTF (Score:5, Informative)
First of all, it means backing up a 40GB with 2 GB of data may actually take 40GB of bandwidth.
Second of all, it means the disk geometries have to be compatible.
Then, I have to wonder if there will be any wackiness with things like journals if you're only restoring a data drive and the kernel versions are different...
I have been using ufsdump / ufsrestore on UNIX for
# ssh user@machine ufsdump 0f -
or
# ufsdump 0f -
So -- WHY are you people so keen on bit-level dumps? Forensics? That doesn't seem to be what the folks above are commenting on.
Is it just that open source UNIX derivative and clones don't have dump/restore utilities?
The Dark Side of Image Backups (Score:5, Informative)
Image backups certainly have their place for people who can understand their limitations. However, a good, automatic, versioning file backup is almost certainly a higher priority for most computer users. And under some circumstances, they might also want to go with RAID for home computers [backupcritic.com].
Re:The Dark Side of Image Backups (Score:3, Informative)
It doesn't get much easier than this. You can have a sane, incremental backup setup in a single line cronjob or even point and click one up.
If that's not simple enough for you then you have no business of storing or working with sensible data.