Could anyone make a recommendation on a hardware decide that I could use to backup data on my server?

I would like to backup a lot of data (200GB or so) daily. I have an additional internal/external scsi channel available for use and was thinking about either getting a scsi tape drive or an internal or external hard drive to do the job, but I am not knowledgeable enough to make a good choice or where to begin to look since there are so many devices out there. Cost is definitely an object so I need to keep it as low as possible, but I also realize that it will not be cheap.

The server (Supermicro 6033R) is running Fedora Core 4 with a RAID1/RAID5 configuration on scsi channel 0. The o/s and system files are on the RAID1 (2x 36GB drives) and all data and website files are on the RAID5 (3x76GB scsi drives). I hope to get a backup device large enough for expansion.

I have considered backing up to a dedicated backup computer (Dell Dimension 8200 with a large hd) via the network using BackupPC , Amanda, or Bacula, but I am concerned about the time involved in running the backup.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Pleas let me know of any additional info that you may need.

If you're wanting to do it on the cheap, and are concerned about speed too, you might want to get a couple of big SCSI hard drives. A 300GB, 10K RPM drive from CDW is about $500.

Back your server up to that drive during your backup window, then migrate the data off to tape for long-term storage, with whatever tape-backup software you'd like. Since the data on your backup drive is 'cold', and not being changed/accessed by users, you'll get a consistent snapshot on tape. A bonus is that you can instantly 'restore' a file with a copy command, if someone just needs something from the previous day.

I'd also take periodic snapshots of my server with Mondo http://www.mondorescue.org/, since that's saved my bacon on numerous occasions. If you're going to identical hardware (or close), you can go from bare-metal to recovered-server in under an hour. YMMV, though, since it'll depend on what you put on those images, and how many CD's you burn.

For what it's worth, I wouldn't skimp on a backup solution. Spend the money..it's the only piece of mind you'll be able to buy.

What method would be best for this?

Hate to be obtuse, but it depends on what you're trying to do. If the 200GB of data you have is always changing in the same directory/partition/drive, you can just copy the data over, using CP or TAR, if you want a low-tech solution.

If things change all over the system, all day, you might want to use RSYNC to keep the primary and 'backup' drives sync'ed up.

I'm not sure what you're doing, but if you have enough traffic and data to generate 200 GB of changes/new data per day, you'd be well served to look into a robust backup system. Amanda, Bacula, and Arkeia make some good products. Network backups are used often in medium-to-large enterprises, and if you're running at least 100MB/s (even most small home networking routers are gigabit these days), 200GB should back up fairly quickly. It's best to stick a second NIC into your systems, though, so all your backup traffic is totally away from your production traffic, so one won't impact the other. This will also let you get away without configuring QOS on your switches, to throttle network traffic during your production window, if things run long.

I would be sure to do several things:

- Dedicated NIC and network segment/VLAN just for backup traffic
- Multiple tape devices, of good quality.
- Brand-name tapes and cleaning supplies (off brands are usually cheaper here for a reason)
- Dedicated backup server to host the tape devices
- Use Mondo to generate some 'bare-metal' restore ISO's, (and fling some $$$ their way, too, if you use their awesome software).

If you really want to be anal, and be sure things work, get another system (can be low-end, too, since you're not testing speed, but functionality), and see how long it takes to restore your primary environment, and what you need to do, to do it.. Document the crap out of everything, since the problem you deal with during a restore won't be fresh in your head in a year. This way, when you have a failure, and you're REALLY under the gun, you'll know what to do, when, and with what. And be sure to UPDATE those docs as your environment changes.

Is all that a pain in the rear? You bet....but wasting a day or two every six months is cheap insurance.