Hi,
Thanks Roger for your vote (in bold) of support. Which reminds me:
A paper backup is actually quite good.
yes - just
print out your addressbook in your email program and send the printout
offsite.
True, a bit tedious to copy into the next email program, but it has a
certain KISS principle about it..
Derek.
On Mon, 17 Nov 2008, Roger Searle wrote:
I'd like to do one of those "+1" responses to the 2 points mentioned by
Derek, however given it's importance, I'll do:
+2. bold, larger font, upper case etc.
I practice what is preached at work but can't claim the same at home - with
regards to the frequency with which I test those backups. Plus, since that
backup goes about a metre away, if my house burns down, I'm stuffed...
And don't be like me and think it can't / won't happen to you - it's only
because I woke up extra early one Sunday morning earlier in the year that my
house didn't. Still, not enough to get me checking my ability to restore
fully and keep copies off-site! Perhaps I'll read this when I get home and
actually do something.
Cheers,
Roger
Derek Smithies wrote:
Hi,
Backup is the thing that everyone says you have to do, but few do it
right.
The key part of doing backups is the sentence:
There are two times to test the quality of your backup
a)before disaster hits
b)after disaster hits.
To test your backup - you need to run this scenario and see what happens:
1)the machine you have regularly backed up has now disappeared completely.
2)you need to recover your data to a second machine
3)does the data recover correctly to a second machine, and can the second
machine now be used instead of the first machine?
The key thing - can you recover to a different machine?
I know one person (not me) who at their business backed up every day. It
was a novel 4 machine. Then things died, and they could only get a novel 5
machine. The backup would not recover to a novel 5 machine.
So he had to completely install and setup a novel 4 machine, recover the
backup, and proceed.
As you can imagine - this was a longer than hoped for process. It did not
make for many happy campers.
Derek.
On Mon, 17 Nov 2008, Roy Britten wrote:
I'm setting up a backup regime (database dump and file structure) from
a server in the states. rsync seems a sensible tool, and I have a
little experience with it. I've just come across rdiff-backup. It
sounds useful, but I'd like to hear some war stories from folks who
have used it before I go wandering into unknown territory.
Anyone care to comment on rdiff-backup's ease of use (backing up *and*
recovery), robustness, and the like?
Thanks,
Roy.
--
Derek Smithies Ph.D.
IndraNet Technologies Ltd.
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
ph +64 3 365 6485
Web: http://www.indranet-technologies.com/
