Backing up server to Tape drive.

wdalessi

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Hello,

I am trying to find the best way to back up my server. It's a datacenter server which I had them install DirectAdmin on Fedora 3.

I do not know how old the equipment is and that part is their problem, but I have to protect all my data.

I have never used tape drives, but I was thinking that it may be the best way to save everything (Ghost) the server in case the hard drive fails. It does not have "Raid".

Does anyone use this method, and or know if it will work with DirectAdmin?

I have seem some cheap tape drives that are say 20 Gigs which is plenty for my use, and that come with backup software such as Yosemite TapeWare XE server/desktop backup software.

Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated.

I want to host a lot of websites, and full server backups are critical to me.
 
There are several issues with tape backup/restore.

The most important one is how are you going to fit the tape drives into the data center? Are you going to pay to colocate them?

And then of course how are you going to change the tapes?

Jeff
 
Hello,

Well I have to find a 100% backup solution to use with DirectAdmin that is as easy as possible to use.

Well I may be able to put a Tape Backup in the server or use an external if that is a solution.

I can go down there and do the backup if needed once or twice a month, and then use another type of backup whatever that would be in between.

My major concern is to 100% protect the data from loss, and to be able to put it back within 24 hours maximum when there is a failure.

It's not a question of if there will be a need to restore from backup, it's just a question of when.

If it happens next month or in (5) five years I will need to be able to restore 100% as of the last backup I was able to make.

In the future I hope to have a better solution, but right now I am stuck with equipment in a colocation Datacenter in Downtown Los Angeles.
 
wdalessi said:
Well I have to find a 100% backup solution to use with DirectAdmin that is as easy as possible to use.
We have a 100% solution that works for us, based on the sysbk program supplied as part of DA. The key is learning how to use it to do a restore.

No matter what backup system you're going to use, you have to know how to do the restore.

We've successfully used sysbk several times; it does work, but you have to do the restores yourself.
Well I may be able to put a Tape Backup in the server or use an external if that is a solution.
Again, it depends on how you're going to get tapes changed.
I can go down there and do the backup if needed once or twice a month, and then use another type of backup whatever that would be in between.

My major concern is to 100% protect the data from loss, and to be able to put it back within 24 hours maximum when there is a failure.
I'm not sure how you see being able to restore in 24 hours a backup created fifteen days ago as a 100% solution. It takes us significantly less than 24 hours to restore sysbk backups. And if the data center staff can restore the OS for us, we don't even need to visit the data center for that.
In the future I hope to have a better solution, but right now I am stuck with equipment in a colocation Datacenter in Downtown Los Angeles.
Which one :) ?

The issue is still what yo're going to pay to place the tape unit, and to swap tapes. You might be able to find someone at the datacenter to host your sysbk backup images for you, and then if you have remote hands in LA to rebuild the server you won't even need to make a trip.

We've always provided backup service for the systems we host in Tustin, and we've just installed (working on it tonight) our first Terrabyte backup server.

A terrabyte backup server cost us less than a good tape backup unit.

And we're fully automated with it as far as backups and backup rotation are concerned.

Jeff
 
Well I am now more confused than befor.

It sounds like you are a professional Linux Administrator, and so it seems like things are working for you.

My problem is I am not a professional Administrator, and am a "C-" at best Linux user.

I am trying to use DirectAdmin, because well it seems pretty easy to use, for the things that it does do. Part of my problem is the things that it does not do.

The DirectAdmin "Backup" features are a little bit like "Greek" to me because of my limited working knowledge of Linux.

DirectAdmin may very well have the ability to do what is needed to backup and restore a server, but I am not able to see it, understand it, or even worse probably could not make it work for me.

I have looked, but I can not find any DirectAdmin manual coverage of the Backup and Restore functions, so I could only guess how to use them properly. That is a large part of my problem.

I am not able to go guessing thing are ok, untill things crash, and only then do I find out that I did not do things the right way or what ever.

That is why I was thinking of a tape backup system, as I think that even I can swap out a tape.

I am looking for ideas to backup my server, and need some real ideas of what other "regular" users are using.

I do not expect to ever be a real great Linux administrator, or anything like that. Thats why I need business solutions to real business problems.

So if anybody has used tape for backups, would you please post how it is working out for you, and any suggestions you have.

Thanks,

Bill D.
 
Bill, if you're familiar with using tape BU for a linux or unix server, I'd say go for it.

Obviously no one else has responded to the thread; I don't think you're going to get too much help from these forums.

You'll be on your own (with perhaps help from the tape bu unit manufacturer) as far as how to backup and how to restore to get to a working system.

Jeff
 
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