Haven't been here for a while but yep once again linuxquestions.org is my source of wisdom . I'm building this Backup Server running Slackware-current(almost current since the Brazilian mirror is kinda slow and Patrick needs some time to rest from the IT universe for a while because of health reasons). Anyways so yep it's a Slackware machine with:

Device: CERTANCE STT3401A-SST TRAVAN 40GB ATAPI/IDE TAPE DRIVE INTERNAL
Software: TapeWare 7.0 (which bundle with it)

I'm planning to back up not more than 7 Windows XP machines. I was skimming through the HOWTOS but now there is one dilemma that bothers me. I'm facing two options and since this is the first time i'm building something like this i don't know from experience which one would be better.

Option 1: I could configure SAMBA and make a shared network folder(/home/user1; /home/user2; etc.) for each user and backup everything locally which would i suppose be definitely faster however i need to use some tool on the client machine to transfer the files from say My Documents to the network share everyday, before the tape on the linux box starts backing up.

OR

Option 2: I could configure SAMBA and see if i'll be able to browse through the network with the TapeWare Software and eventually backup "My Documents" over the network which would be kinda slow even though it's a small LAN. I suppose that there would be some permission problems since it's not a secret how nicely Windows XP handles network shares and permissions .

OR

Option 3: I'm open to suggestions WWYGD in other words What Would You Guys/Girls Do?

Let's don't forget the fact that in a long run the Windows network shares might go of limit(there is not quota on the clients anyways) which is to my knowledge impossible to be controlled by the Linux box where as if it's on a Linux share i could configure quota or something. If i should go with the option 2 that would lead to shortage of free tape space on the tape and i'm not sure what kind of backups will my Linux Box produce .

option 4 -- similar to option 1, but inform your users about the network drive set aside for them... go so far as to map it for them... and let them know that's what'll get backed-up.

if they MUST use the my docs windows-ness, they can suffer the consequences of any data-loss

Option 5

Setup the samba share, then map a network drive, then setup my documents to be the network drive (right click my docs and goto properties). Tada!!!!

So far i'm sticking to Option 1 although secesh Option is what i was thinking for but still waiting for a better solution. RandomLinuxNewb that would be just basic sharing what about backup, network overload, quota on the client machines.

thanks for the replays so far

laterz

Vaworx,

My solution is exactly the same as your option one except that my documents is linked to a networked drive. Therefore you have all the files in 1 place, so backup is a snap, you can easily setup quotas on the server, and network overload should not be an issue unless everyone is using large files.