Backing up across the network...
Ryan Kirkpatrick (rkirkpat@nag.cs.colorado.edu)
Wed, 15 Jan 1997 08:54:00 -0700 (MST)
I have a rather annoying problem/situation that I have been unable
to resolve to my satisfaction and I was hoping someone out there may have
a better idea.
The problem is this: How to backup Linux boxes on a network, with
the only avaible tape drive being on an NT box.
Now my current solution is
to on the linux boxes, afio the entire hard disk up and stream it across
the network to the NT box via ftp. Then backup the NT system to tape,
taking the afio archives with it. This works pretty well, as I have afio
kick out its archive on STDOUT, and then have ftp send what is coming in
on the STDIN to a predefined file on the ftp server (the NT box). I get
good transfer rates (around 400-500kbs per second). The main problem is
that I have to have a lot of disk space on NT. I currently have one 50mb,
two 170mb, and one 340mb hard disks to backup. This is doable, since the
NT box has about 800mb of free space.
Now the crux of the problem... I plan to soon get another linux
box (DEC alpha) with a 1..6gig disk. Now to back up that disk when it
starts getting full (>800mb) will be impossible with my current scheme. I
will not have enough disk space (actually less as I will be stealing the
1.6gig from the NT box reducing it space from 4.1gb to 2.5gb, and I still
need room for the normal bloated M$ apps) to do this any more.
I see a couple of possible solutions, but I was hoping someone out
there could give me some more, elaborate on doable the ones below are,
etc..
1) Buy a DAT drive for the Linux box. Problem: I don't have the
money for such an expenditure.
2) Get a larger hard disk for the NT box. Problem: This does
nothing but stall the problem, not solve it. Also money is once again a
problem.
3) Move the tape drive from the NT box to a linux box. Problem, I
don't think Linux supports a Seagate TapeStore 8000, TR4 tapedrive.
4) Some method of streaming data onto the tape from the network.
This idea sounds the best, but also is the most complicated. One ways to
do this is to write a special program for NT that takes data coming in on
a TCP/IP socket and write it to tape. Doable, but a real pain and lots of
hacking to figure out the tape drive. The other way is to mount the linux
drive via NFS or something comparable and back up the linux drive like it
was a local NT drive. Will this work? Or will it really mess things up,
especially if I ever try to restore a linux drive after it has crashed?
Sorry about the long post, but this not exactly a simple problem
to solve or explain. I have been knocking this around for sometime,
finding makeshift solutions, but nothing that will really work. So any of
you Linux hackers out there have any ideas? Thanks in advance for any
help!
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| "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." |
| --- Philippians 1:21 (KJV) |
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| Ryan Kirkpatrick | Boulder, Colorado | rkirkpat@nag.cs.colorado.edu |
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| http://www-ugrad.cs.colorado.edu/~rkirkpat/ |
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