On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 9:46 AM, Edward Ned Harvey <b...@nedharvey.com>wrote:
> > There are different requirements for laptops and servers. > > Laptops: > Run frequently (minimum once daily), silently, in the background, low > enough > priority that users don't generally notice or care. Does not need to scan > the entire filesystem to see which files have changed. It may seem obvious > now, but must run while the OS is running. Must be able to exclude files > and directories (even filetypes, etc)... Backup to remote server. The > remote server must have sufficient security as to prevent Jane from reading > Tarzan's backups. And ability to do baremetal restore. Ability to browse > the backup to retrieve a specific file or subset of files. Compression > goes > without saying. Simple for users to restore their own stuff without IT > help. > Sorry if this has been mentioned already. I'm coming late to this thread. But I've found BackupPC to be an excellent solution for laptop backup over the network. BackupPC is free, runs on a server, and works by "reaching out" to workstations over the network once a day (or however often you like) for full and incremental backups. I particularly like it because it requires no client software (works via SAMBA, rsync over SSH, or rsyncd), and it is very resilient to laptops coming and going on the network. If a laptop disappears, it simply tries again later. It has a web interface with separate authentication for administrators and users so users can restore their own files. It will email you and/or the PC owner if something consistently goes wrong (e.g. a PC doesn't get backed up for X number of days). Files get backed up to the server file system and it's smart about disk usage such that if the same file appears in multiple backups, it is only stored once. I started using it years ago and it has been quietly chugging along every since. Highly recommended. http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/ _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@blu.org http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
