From Fedora Project Wiki

Goals of the Backup Plan

We have a few servers we need to backup some at Duke University, some at the colo facility in Pheonix. Currently there is 34 GB of data backed up.

  • CVS repos, But this will also include what ever VCS that gets implemented in the future.
  • Databases there is some mysql and postgres databases that have scripted backups, we just need to pick up the dumps.
  • wiki, The fedora wiki needs backing up.
  • some other data on various servers.
  • need to ensure that linux ACL support is included.
  • security in the backup. Preferably ssh tunnel, if not stunnel, but not a vpn setup.
  • possibly /home on NetApp but this would need quota limits imposed 5-10MB would be a good starting quota
  • Weekly full backups and daily incrementals, keep 4 weeks worth of backups.


Current Options

amanda

Pros -

  • ssh support
  • Uses standard Unix tools, don't need client to restore can use tar and dump

Cons -

  • Requires client on each machine
  • complex configuration

bacula

Pros -

  • stunnel for security
  • Verification of files previously cataloged, permitting a Tripwire like capability
  • Saves and restores POSIX ACLs
  • Access control lists for Consoles that permit restricting user access to only their data
  • built in email reporting.

Cons -

  • not currently in Fedora
  • requires a daemon to be running on each host (though can be worked around with nfs)
  • needs either postgresql, mysql or sqlite for backup database
  • differentail and incremental backups are done on time stamps only. files moved in to backup tree with older timestamps will not be backed up

backuppc

Pros -

  • Completely web based (for backups and restores)
  • Very easy to use
  • Can create individual configs on a per host basis or one global config for all hosts
  • Stores identical files as hard links on the file system to save space
  • Has ACL support on a per host basis (Would integrate well with our current Account system or a future one)
  • Supports RSYNC over SSH (we won't have to install client software on the machines to get it to work)
  • Perl based

Cons -

  • Perl based :-D
  • Probably slower than other solutions
  • Not currently packaged for Fedora

rdiff-backup

Pros -

  • uses ssh
  • easily does differential backups
  • written in python
  • uses rsync
  • supports ACL's
  • no need for any daemons (
  • command line restores

Cons -

  • no pretty configuration setup
  • command line restores
  • rdiff-backup needs to be installed on all machines

rsync and scripts

Pros -

  • simple to setup
  • currently in place
  • can use ssh

Cons -

  • harder to scale
  • simple to mis-configure and waste disk space