> Currently, we back up a bunch of windows machines in the office to a Linux
> backup server via shell scripts which smbmounts the windows machines, zips
> the directories and files and then deposits it on our backup server. This is
> robust, works very well, not too secure, sucks up a little too much network
> bandwidth, but is very effective and simple to maintain.
>
> However, we are migrating over to new offices and I would like to come up
> with a better way to do this. Amanda seems to have a lot going for it.
You could checkout BackupPC that I just released on sourceforge.net.
It does backup-to-disk for WinXX and linux clients using Samba. See:
http://backuppc.sourceforge.net
It doesn't have all the features you ask for, but it probably will have
some of them in the next few months.
Instead of compression, it pools identical files, so that multiple copies
of the same file are stored only once. This provides about a 3-4x savings
in disk usage. A future version will support compression, which will
provide additional savings, and I'll probably support binary diffs using
xdelta or similar so that only differences in files need to be stored.
There is a cgi script that allows users to restore their own files,
start/stop backups etc. BackupPC doesn't support encryption since
that would break the ability to pool identical files between different
machines. But that could be an option...
At our installation we use it to backup around 100 laptops to disk.
I've attached the feature list. BackupPC makes a nice complement
to Amanda. While Amanda can also backup WinXX machines to tape
using samba, BackupPC is particularly well suited to environments
where machines (eg: laptops) are only intermittently connected to
the network and have dynamic IP addresses.
Craig
BackupPC features:
- A clever pooling scheme minimizes disk storage. Identical files
across multiple backups of the same or different PCs are stored only
once resulting in substantial savings in disk storage.
- One example of disk use: 65 latops with average 3.2GB each.
Storing one full backup and two incremental backups per laptop
is around 240GB of raw data. But pooling of identical files
requires only 87GB.
- No client-side software is needed on WinXX machines. The standard smb
protocol is used to extract backup data. On linux clients, the
industry-standard Samba package is used to provide smb shares
that are used for backup.
- A powerful http/cgi user interface allows administrators to view log
files, configuration, current status and allows users to initiate and
cancel backups and browse and restore files from backups.
- Supports mobile environments where laptops are only
intermittently connected to the network and have dynamic IP
addresses (DHCP).
- Flexible configuration parameters allow multiple backups to be performed
in parallel, specification of which shares to backup, which directories
to backup or not backup, various schedules for full and incremental
backups, schedules for email reminders to users and so on. Configuration
parameters can be set system-wide or also on a per-PC basis.
- Users are sent periodic email reminders if their PC has not
recently been backed up. Email content, timing and policies
are configurable.
- Tested on Linux and Solaris hosts, and Linux, Win95, Win98 and
Win2000 clients.
- Detailed documentation.
- Open Source hosted by SourceForge and freely available under GPL.
