Backup Software. Which way do I go?
 

I would like some help in choosing the right solution to backup my server.

I am running RH 8.0 on an IBM Netfinity 3000 Server. The server has an Adaptec AHA-2940U/UW/D/AIC-7881U SCSI card and an Archive Python 04106-XXX DAT drive.

Redhat seems to have detected both these devices correctly.

The server will basically be an ftp file repository. I dont see myself making many system changes after the initial setup is complete so I really just want to make 1 full backup and then incremental backups of the ftp data area daily.

Would it be easier to use an off the shelf type product or just mount, tar, unmount using my own scripts ?

I am ok with the linux environment, but havent yet worked with tape drives or backups so any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

I have a HP Surestore dat24e, and I simply use tar to do my backups. (tar = Tape ARchive) Have you tried paging through the man pages for tar, dd, cpio and testing out different ways of backing up? Is there something specifically that the standard stuff doesn't do that you need? Also, in case you haven't, go pick up the mt package.

BTW, the commands I use might not be appropriate for your set up. You mentioned mount and umount, whereas I write straight to /dev/st0 without mounting it. The only way to find out for sure is to read man pages and consult the documentation for your tape drive.

Thanks for the reply.

I havent read up on TAR or other commands yet but it sounds like the most simple way for me to approach it.

/me starts reading......

ok...

To backup the files I use the command tar -cf /dev/st0 /var/ftp/pub/upload

To view the files I use the command tar -tf /dev/st0

What command would I use to restore the files ?

How could I schedule this job for once an evening and perform some sort of check to make sure it ran/worked ?

*bump*

Anyone wanna comment or should I just RTFM ?

"Wimps use tape Real Men upload ther file via FTP for the world to share"

Used "dump" for years. Not sure how easy an incremental backup would be with "tar". You would need to write a script to use it which shouldn't be that hard, but "dump" would eliminate that step.

I don't think "tar" can span tapes either. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks for that pearl of wisdom but it doesnt do anything for me other than spam my thread.

:bash:

Cheers I will do some reading on dump.

I was just making a joke. I'm sorry you feel it's spam. I would use tar, cron & mail for this task.

You can span tapes with tar using the M option