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This is probably one of those topics that gets regurgitated periodically, but it's always good to get some fresh answers.
The small consultancy business I work for wants to set up a new file server with remote backup. In the past we have used a Windows XP file server and plugged in a couple of external USB drives when space runs out. Backups were performed nightly to a USB drive and taken offsite to a trusted employees home.
They are looking to Linux for a new file server (I think more because they found out how much a new Windows file server would be).
I'm not a server guy but I have set up a simple Debian-based web server at work for a specific intranet application, but when I was asked about ideas for the new system the best I could come up with was maybe ssh+rsync (which I have only recently started using myself so I'm no expert by any means). Using Amazon's cloud service has been suggested, as well as the remote being a dedicated machine at a trusted employee's home (probably with a new dedicated line in) or with our local ISP (if they can offer such a service). A new dedicated line out of the office has also been suggested, I think mainly because daily file changes can potentially be quite large (3D CAD models etc). A possible advantage of the remote being nearby is that the initial backup could be using a portable hard drive instead of having to uploading terabytes of data (I guess there is always courier services though).
Anyway, just thought I'd chuck it out there. A lot of you guys probably already set up and/or look after remote backup systems. Even if anyone just has some ideas regarding potential traps/pitfalls would be handy. The company is fairly small (about 20-odd employees) so I don't think they need anything overly elaborate, but all feedback is appreciated.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday July 11 2014, @01:40AM
Are you looking for backup or syncing?
Rsync can be made to look like a backup, but it isn't really.
I've used all of the above. Rsync with remote machine, and also paid services.
We had offices in the US and Australia and Rsync (via the UNISON Package) was just
great for us. We scheduled a sync every two hours during the day and it was perfect
at keeping our code libraries in sync. (That was in the days before Dropbox and paid cloud storage).
There are clients for Dropbox in linux and windows and they work ok as long as you don't
have too much activity to sync. Their business model is sync only, but I have heard of
some people configuring it to backup only.
At my current day job we use SpiderOak (paid account) because it can be configured to
sync some directories and just backup others and you can step back in time on the backups so that you can get the version of a file that changed several weeks ago, ignoring those later ones.
SpiderOak is totally encrypted, even the SpiderOak staff can't decrypt your stuff.
And you can back up several machines.
You can sync some directories between several clients, as well as have a public space where you can put things for others to grab. (That's not encrypted).
There are Windows and Linux clients.
Disclosure: We are a happy paying customer.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1) by richtopia on Friday July 11 2014, @04:01PM
+1 for SpiderOak
The original question was a little vague on details, but if you are looking for backing up anything less than terabytes then go commercial instead of spinning your own. I've done both, and unless you have full time IT available for spinning your own then you just cannot depend on it.
While writing my thesis I had SpiderOak (student discount if you are a student). SpiderOak keeps historical versions of your files, which well paid for the entire subscription when I accidentally saved over a few days of work. It was also very useful for syncing files between my Windows/Linux partions on my laptop and my two workstations; by syncing the same folder it was transparent with a small delay for particularly large files.
Also, SpiderOak keeps making improvements to help compete with Dropbox, for example you can list folders as sharable through a weblink now with a password. By accepting the lower security you can access your data easier and give out the url to others. I recently used this feature to distribute an 800 megabyte archive to ten people without any problems.
Even if you only backup the critical stuff here, it is well worth the peace of mind for offsite reliability. You may want to watch for a discount though, if you read their blog you can see some old sales for example (I'm still kicking myself for not upgrading to unlimited while it was offered).
(Score: 1) by deego on Saturday July 12 2014, @03:32AM
The paranoid in me wants to ask: Does use of SpiderOak entail downloading a proprietary client from them?