SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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 egcagrac0 on Friday July 11 2014, @03:22PM
I'm cringing at a lot of that. I'm not exactly sure what you're doing, but it doesn't sound like a backup to me. It sounds like a copy. The two are not the same.
A copy might get you "something useful" when SHTF. It's a damn sight better than nothing.
A backup gets RPO, RTO, and some version history. A backup gets tested.
Trying to get there with someone's old desktop and three hard drives... hopefully your customers understand in advance the risks inherent, and their business continuity plan aligns acceptably with what you're doing.
A small business of about that size that I was formerly affiliated with had a consultant who thought up a similar scheme. After a junior executive (with the same last name as the owner) "reorganized"* the file server to "clean up" what were apparently needed documents, we discovered that even though we were paying a third party for a backup, those backups were unrecoverable.
*When we reminded him two weeks later, when he did it again, that we had said "backups aren't working, don't go cleaning up any more files until we say otherwise", his reply was that he had to be able to delete needed files without consequences... backups were a nightmare at that place, since they didn't want to spend any money on what was apparently business critical stuff.