Re: [BackupPC-users] Fwd: Re: Woe is me
Interestingwhat tests in bonnie++ did you run? DB access to a single file? Create/write/delete small files? Others? Just curious, so you beat the disk senseless with bonnie++ for a day, and if the drive does not fail, when put into service, how long does it last (based on your experience)? How was this one day duration arrived? (The implication is that if the drive survived the test for one day, you can rule out infant mortality, and expect the disk to last to meet the mfg MTTF?) I have read several anecdotal articles that concluded USB and FW disks in their own enclosure have a higher probability of infant mortalityunfortunately they weren't tested in a scientific manner thanks -J On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 2:15 PM, Carl Wilhelm Soderstrom chr...@real-time.com wrote: On 05/03 10:52 , Josh Malone wrote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve :) I've taken to hitting my disks for a few hours with either the IBM/hitachi disk-fitness test or seatools before deploying them. I had a period of time where I bought a bunch of external USB/Firewire drives, of all different brands; and I found that fully half of them would die after having bonnie++ run on them for a day or less. this included a really expensive shock-mounted ultra-high-speed drive. -- Carl Soderstrom Systems Administrator Real-Time Enterprises www.real-time.com -- ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/ -- ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
Re: [BackupPC-users] Bare Metal Restore for Microsoft Windows XP
Perhaps I missed something in reading this, or my interpretation of a 'bare metal restore' is different from yours. My definition of 'bare metal restore' is taking essentially an image of the current disk, copying it to some media, and then using that image to do a bit-by-bit (sector-by-sector, track-by-track) copy from the backup medium to the target medium. For me, the bit by bit copy is primary for the OS, and possibly including the application programs (word, ppoint, etc.) I don't buy into the M$ organization of files and disks. I partition my hd for OS, Applications, and User Data. I baremetal restore the OS partition and usually the Application partition using Acronis True Image. (True Image is more or less functionally equivalent to Norton Ghost-the enterprise version, not the butched commercial version they have sold in stores since V9 (I think)). I store the images on a NAS that is backed up. I do restores in one of two ways: Use the restore CD that Acronis allows you to make-bareboot the machine, the pull the image from a server, or, netboot the machine, and using an image loader, pull the restore image from the server and put it on the HD. Once the target machine is capable of booting the newly restored image, you can run backup pc (which I gave up on some time ago) or whatever your favorite backup program is, and copy the backed up user data area to the target HD. In your writeup, you talk about reinstalling windows just to get a working copy of the OS if anything’s installed or working, you’re going to wipe it all out anyway so why essentially do the install twice? Your method does allow for the most recent (more or less) snapshot of most of the relevant windoz files but doing an image every so often would essentially do the same thing. In many cases, it may actually be better to install a clean load image of the OS and apps, rather than restore something that may be corrupted/virus infected. In systems where I have this concern, I have an image of a clean xp + backup program restore that I use. It is all done over the net, minimal (if any) manual intervention at the target machine. If need be, I can also remove the target HD, connect it to the NAS, then copy the image directly via the SATA/IDE interface, then put the disk back in the target machine. Sorry, but I don't see how this method is a baremetal restore with a manual step in installing windoz. Your still screwing around with loading via CD a copy of XP, and then cgwin, and then 'manually copying' files in the XP subdirectories. Seems like a lot of places for things to fall through the cracks with file contents not being 'in synch' and I also wonder about registry consistency and backup. It may, however, work fine in your environment. -J On Sat, Mar 6, 2010 at 1:08 AM, Michael Stowe mst...@chicago.us.mensa.orgwrote: Out of necessity, I had an opportunity to try out restoring a system from scratch with nothing but BackupPC backups. I'm happy to report that the process works, with a few limitations and quirks. I've documented it here: http://www.goodjobsucking.com/?p=219 -- Download Intel#174; Parallel Studio Eval Try the new software tools for yourself. Speed compiling, find bugs proactively, and fine-tune applications for parallel performance. See why Intel Parallel Studio got high marks during beta. http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-sw-dev ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/ -- Download Intel#174; Parallel Studio Eval Try the new software tools for yourself. Speed compiling, find bugs proactively, and fine-tune applications for parallel performance. See why Intel Parallel Studio got high marks during beta. http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-sw-dev___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
[BackupPC-users] Mac Client Setup?
From the current Backup PC doc: *MacOSX* In general this should be similar to Linux/Unix machines. In versions 10.4 and later, the native MacOSX tar works, and also supports resource forks. xtar is another option, and rsync works too (although the MacOSX-supplied rsync has an extension for extended attributes that is not compatible with standard rsync). Can someone explain what the parenthetical expression is suppose to mean? I can interpret it in the following ways: 1. The Mac OSX supplied rsync has an extension for extended attributes (what attributes specifically???) that is (should be 'are') not compatable with standard rsynch'.and hence mac os 10.4 and greater will not work with backup pc? 2. The Mac OSX supplied rsync has an extension for extended attributes (what attributes specifically???) that is (should be 'are') not compatable with standard rsynch'.and hence mac os 10.4 and greater will work correctly when used with backup pc 3. The Mac OSX supplied rsync has an extension for extended attributes (what attributes specifically???) that is (should be 'are') not compatable with standard rsynch'.and hence mac os 10.4 and greater will work correctly when used with backup pc but will produce the following side effects...etc... Which interpretation, if any, is correct? Since I am not very 'Mac OS savvy' can someone annotate this description a bit by describing how to check is rsync is installed and running correctly on the Mac. It is implied that the service is installed and running by default but not clear at all. Thanks for the clarification. ** -- SOLARIS 10 is the OS for Data Centers - provides features such as DTrace, Predictive Self Healing and Award Winning ZFS. Get Solaris 10 NOW http://p.sf.net/sfu/solaris-dev2dev___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
Re: [BackupPC-users] How do I use an external USB drive as backup target?
my comments are interspersed below... On Sat, Feb 13, 2010 at 6:40 PM, Jeffrey J. Kosowsky backu...@kosowsky.orgwrote: John Hudak wrote at about 12:06:29 -0500 on Saturday, February 13, 2010: Hello: I am considering using an external USB drive as the storage for my backups. I am running backup pc under Debian 5.0. External USB drives are a *BAD* idea for multiple reasons: - Slow - Unreliable - Subject to being disconnected etc. Yes, I know 1, and 2 is 'it depends', and 3 is exactly the reason why I want to use usb drives Part 1 What do I need to do to configure the USB disk as the target? (e.g. how do I do it?) The USB disk is currently formatted as a NTFS file system. Do I *need* to reformat it to ext3? or other? - NTFS is not usually used - need to check whether it supports the types of hard links required for BackupPC Part 2 Assume I am crazy paranoid about preserving backup data and I get a second USB drive to serve as a backup to the first USB drive. Also assume that I am not concerned about the bandwidth across the network or the various buses. From a data reliability standpoint, is it better to run a backup session to USB drive 1, and then repeat the backup to USB drive 2? OR run a backup session to USB drive 1, and then copy the backup directories to USB drive 2??? Look at the archives and FAQ - this has been discussed *many* times so no point in wasting peoples time in rehashing. I did a quick search of the archives before asking - I did not find a definitive answer... The first approach could have errors in different backed up files on disk 1 or 2 but given the odds, very unlikely that the same exact error would show up in the same exact way in the same file across both USB disks. OTOH, the second approach would allow the exact error in the backup on USB disk 1 to be copied to USB disk 2. I am leaning towards repeating the backup on two drives. My understanding is that files that are backed up (using either rsync or smb) are 'encrypted' (for lack of a better word), and to view them I need to use zcat.-True? There is a better word -- *compressed* So that is the word that is not clearly used in the documentation. There are many ways that backups can be manipulated: stored in a completely nonstandard/proprietary file system and protocol such as z-san, they can be encrypted, and they can be compressed. The backup PC doc talks about using compression, but does not state if any compression is used in the default configuration. Compression is often configuration parameter. It does not make sense to compress many audio and video formats. If the data to be backed up consists predominantly of these types of files, then it makes no sense to waste CPU cycles applying compression to get 5% compression. Also, can the backup profile be specified to perform complete data copies periodically, as opposed to a baseline and then periodic incrementals? Read the documentation and FAQ. I have read the doc, (where IMHO) this should have been clearly stated. Instead the doc frequently introduces a topic with 1-2 sentences, then goes off on a tangent for 1-3 paragraphs about how things were done in a previous verson (completely irrevelant), or talks about what will be comming (again, irrelevant), or points one to another section of the doc, in the middle of some other thread that is related to the topic but does not address the topic at hand, or, introduces a topic, then talks about 3-4 other ways to accomplish the same thing, without telling the reader exactly how to do the initial topic to begin with. So my fault...I need to also read FAQs. Lastly, does anyone have a statistical number that represents the probability of a backup file (e.g. on the target backup disk) containing an error introduced by the backup procedure? I know there are error probabilities for both disk and tape reads/writes failures, but am wondering if anything like that exists for the backup software. (A group I used to work with did this sort of testing, and actually had some statistics on the reliability of backup programs, wrt types of files, sizes, w/wo compression, and the types of compression. Not sure the open source community would go through this type of assessment - but thought I'd ask. The probability is either 0 if no bugs in the software (or your configuration of it) or 100% if bugs in the software and your dataset triggers the bug. Your question is not very well-framed and pretty meaningless. I suggest you learn a bit more about backup in general and backuppc in particular. There is a lot of good documentation on BackupPC in the Wikki and in the archives, I suggest you reference it... Well, in the extremely simplistic and ideal case, it is 0 or 1. In the real world, where algorithms are badly designed, or implemented, or both
[BackupPC-users] How do I use an external USB drive as backup target?
Hello: I am considering using an external USB drive as the storage for my backups. I am running backup pc under Debian 5.0. Part 1 What do I need to do to configure the USB disk as the target? (e.g. how do I do it?) The USB disk is currently formatted as a NTFS file system. Do I *need* to reformat it to ext3? or other? Part 2 Assume I am crazy paranoid about preserving backup data and I get a second USB drive to serve as a backup to the first USB drive. Also assume that I am not concerned about the bandwidth across the network or the various buses. From a data reliability standpoint, is it better to run a backup session to USB drive 1, and then repeat the backup to USB drive 2? OR run a backup session to USB drive 1, and then copy the backup directories to USB drive 2??? The first approach could have errors in different backed up files on disk 1 or 2 but given the odds, very unlikely that the same exact error would show up in the same exact way in the same file across both USB disks. OTOH, the second approach would allow the exact error in the backup on USB disk 1 to be copied to USB disk 2. I am leaning towards repeating the backup on two drives. My understanding is that files that are backed up (using either rsync or smb) are 'encrypted' (for lack of a better word), and to view them I need to use zcat.-True? Also, can the backup profile be specified to perform complete data copies periodically, as opposed to a baseline and then periodic incrementals? Lastly, does anyone have a statistical number that represents the probability of a backup file (e.g. on the target backup disk) containing an error introduced by the backup procedure? I know there are error probabilities for both disk and tape reads/writes failures, but am wondering if anything like that exists for the backup software. (A group I used to work with did this sort of testing, and actually had some statistics on the reliability of backup programs, wrt types of files, sizes, w/wo compression, and the types of compression. Not sure the open source community would go through this type of assessment - but thought I'd ask. Thanks for your help -John -- SOLARIS 10 is the OS for Data Centers - provides features such as DTrace, Predictive Self Healing and Award Winning ZFS. Get Solaris 10 NOW http://p.sf.net/sfu/solaris-dev2dev___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
[BackupPC-users] File format for BackupPC
Before I install backuppc and rsyncd client on my windoz boxes, I have some questions about file recovery using Backuppc. 1. After files are backed up to my linux server (Debian 5.0), assuming no compression, on the Linux box, can I look at the file directories and open say a backed up.pdf file using file browser in Debian 5? 1a - If I can do '1' then presumably I can ssh into the Debian box and navigate to the backed up file directory and open up file. True? 1b. If I can do '1a' then there would be no problem copying a subset of the files to a memory stick, and then copy the files to another windoze machine? 2. If I can't view files using the file browser as described in '1' above, how can I accomplish this? 3. If the files are compressed, how can I view the backed up directories and files? 4. Are there any words of advice/tricks to know about when installing rsyncd on windoz boxes and having the backuppc app easily find it? Thanks for the input... John -- SOLARIS 10 is the OS for Data Centers - provides features such as DTrace, Predictive Self Healing and Award Winning ZFS. Get Solaris 10 NOW http://p.sf.net/sfu/solaris-dev2dev___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
[BackupPC-users] Request for pointer
I am trying to configure backuppc to back up a windows machine (XP) over a small LAN and am having quite a bit of difficulty. When I run the backup, Backuppc says it cant find the client. (My firewalls are removed, my Netgear router is functioning using DHCP, and has statically mapped the IP address of both the linux machine and XP machine) In the debian machine I can ping the XP machine, and visa versa. Backuppc is running under Debian 5, and the latest stable version of Samba. I am attempting to use SMB protocol to talk to the XP machine. I do not want to use rsync, (so please don't try and send me off in that direction.) I suspect that my problem relates to the config of Samba and that documentation in Backuppc makes an undocumented assumption of how Samba is configured. I would very much like: 1) some clarification of both backuppc settings and Samba setting from someone who has backuppc backing up xp clients over a small LAN. e.g. show me relevant sections of your config and .pl files. 2) a pointer to a Samba-xp how towhere Samba is NOT a domain controller 3) a clarification to: When using backuppc and SMB, is the assumption that Samba is acting/configured as a domain controller or not? For backuppc to work, what is the easiest way to configure Samba (not as a domain controller?) Thanks very much for your help John -- The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
Re: [BackupPC-users] Request for pointer
Hi Les: thanks for the reply...like I said in the my post, the Samba install is 'right out of the box'..i did not change anything in the smb.config file, except what was documented in the backuppc doc (as best I understood it). I agree 100% with your conjecture that it is some setting in the smb config file, but what? My premise is this: something in the smb.config file is *different* than what the backuppc configuration discusses, which is causing the communicaition problem, but what is it? I guess that is why I am looking for something a bit more comprehensive on the samba server setup discussion. John On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 11:48 AM, Les Mikesell lesmikes...@gmail.comwrote: On 1/29/2010 10:10 AM, John Hudak wrote: I am trying to configure backuppc to back up a windows machine (XP) over a small LAN and am having quite a bit of difficulty. When I run the backup, Backuppc says it cant find the client. (My firewalls are removed, my Netgear router is functioning using DHCP, and has statically mapped the IP address of both the linux machine and XP machine) In the debian machine I can ping the XP machine, and visa versa. Backuppc is running under Debian 5, and the latest stable version of Samba. I am attempting to use SMB protocol to talk to the XP machine. I do not want to use rsync, (so please don't try and send me off in that direction.) I suspect that my problem relates to the config of Samba and that documentation in Backuppc makes an undocumented assumption of how Samba is configured. I would very much like: 1) some clarification of both backuppc settings and Samba setting from someone who has backuppc backing up xp clients over a small LAN. e.g. show me relevant sections of your config and .pl files. 2) a pointer to a Samba-xp how towhere Samba is NOT a domain controller 3) a clarification to: When using backuppc and SMB, is the assumption that Samba is acting/configured as a domain controller or not? For backuppc to work, what is the easiest way to configure Samba (not as a domain controller?) I can't help very much with this, but you should be able to debug your samba setup by trying to connect manually with smbclient. One thing that might not be obvious is that your /etc/samba/smb.conf file is used for some settings. If you've changed things like workgroup or password server there for server side settings that shouldn't apply to client connections you might need to add a -s/path/to/different/smb.conf to the SmbClient*Cmd settings. -- Les Mikesell lesmikes...@gmail.com -- The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/ -- The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
Re: [BackupPC-users] Request for pointer
thank you Koen! some clarification questions below: On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 11:28 AM, koen.lind...@koca.be wrote: 1) some clarification of both backuppc settings and Samba setting from someone who has backuppc backing up xp clients over a small LAN. e.g. show me relevant sections of your config and .pl files. First: backuppc wiki : http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/backuppc/index.php?title=Tips_and_Tricks I don't use it anymore but this is what i remember: The user you fill in in the config.pl e.g. user: backupuser passw: password You add that user to every PC to the administrator group (and backup operators?) Assume I have 3 xp machines, each machine has one user, with admin privilidges, and a password. Are you saying that in my config.pl, I need to add, for every machine I want to back up, the user name and password? What do I do if the machine I want to back up, has only one user with no password but admin privlidges? 2) a pointer to a Samba-xp how towhere Samba is NOT a domain controller When your clients are statically mapped, use that as client name. .use *that* as client name.What is *that* referring to? the clients IP address (xx.xx.xx.xx)? The client PCs 'name'? Then you don't need nmblookup to find the clients and don't need a WINS server for netbios name lookups 3) a clarification to: When using backuppc and SMB, is the assumption that Samba is acting/configured as a domain controller or not? For backuppc to work, what is the easiest way to configure Samba (not as a domain controller?) backuppc and smb just have to do with how you access the clients. It has nothing to do with DC's etc. You only need the package installed to have the smbclient program +- So you are saying that I do not need to configure SMB as a domain controller...? I'm not at work so I can't check info from the backup servers. I hope this helps a bit. Koen Linders -- The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/ -- The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
Re: [BackupPC-users] Request for pointer
As I reviewed the 200+ pages of the smb documentation, it occured to me to try thatIf I figure out how to do it, i will Thanks for the suggestion John On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 2:56 PM, Les Mikesell lesmikes...@gmail.com wrote: On 1/29/2010 1:38 PM, John Hudak wrote: Hi Les: thanks for the reply...like I said in the my post, the Samba install is 'right out of the box'..i did not change anything in the smb.config file, except what was documented in the backuppc doc (as best I understood it). I agree 100% with your conjecture that it is some setting in the smb config file, but what? My premise is this: something in the smb.config file is *different* than what the backuppc configuration discusses, which is causing the communicaition problem, but what is it? I guess that is why I am looking for something a bit more comprehensive on the samba server setup discussion. Have you tried using smbclient manually to connect to the share? You may be able to get better error messages there. Most of smb.conf relates to server settings but a few, like workgroup and password server would affect client connections. -- Les Mikesell lesmikes...@gmail.com -- The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/ -- The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
Re: [BackupPC-users] Request for pointer
thank you...where do I put my local dns entries? -John On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 3:36 PM, Les Mikesell lesmikes...@gmail.com wrote: On 1/29/2010 1:48 PM, John Hudak wrote: First: backuppc wiki : http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/backuppc/index.php?title=Tips_and_Tricks I don't use it anymore but this is what i remember: The user you fill in in the config.pl http://config.pl e.g. user: backupuser passw: password You add that user to every PC to the administrator group (and backup operators?) Assume I have 3 xp machines, each machine has one user, with admin privilidges, and a password. Are you saying that in my config.pl http://config.pl, I need to add, for every machine I want to back up, the user name and password? You can do that in the web interface in the 'edit config' link for each host. What do I do if the machine I want to back up, has only one user with no password but admin privlidges? Your other option - and probably what most people do - is to add a backup user on each machine (if they aren't in a domain who is in the administrator and backup user groups so the login/password stays the same. When your clients are statically mapped, use that as client name. .use *that* as client name.What is *that* referring to? the clients IP address (xx.xx.xx.xx)? The client PCs 'name'? The cleanest way to do this is to have local dns with entries for each name. That way normal (not just windows/netbios) network connections will work with the names. Next best for a small set is to put them in the hosts files. backuppc and smb just have to do with how you access the clients. It has nothing to do with DC's etc. You only need the package installed to have the smbclient program +- So you are saying that I do not need to configure SMB as a domain controller...? No, if you have local passwords on each machine you don't need any domain controller. -- Les Mikesell lesmikes...@gmail.com -- The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/ -- The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
Re: [BackupPC-users] Distro choice
Hello: One thing that needs to be considered is the number of machines and the amount of data to be backed up. The robustness of the file system then becomes and issue, as pointed out earlier. This to me seems like the biggest artifact to consider. From the perspective of 'working out of the box' and administration, I found Debian 5 to be very easy to install/troubleshoot and package management is easy. Getting and installing backuppc was easy and trouble free. Plus, a large userbase ensures good forum activity, so looking for and finding information is greatly enhanced - not to mention, IMHO, the existing documentation and how-tos are pretty good. I run Debian on a 1GHZ workstation with 512KB and, to be honest, it is pretty snappy. If the machine is used primarly as a backup server the performance limiting factor is generally network bandwidth, unless sw compression is done. Pet peve: One issue that I have found quite annoying is that the Debian/Ubuntu branches have their own structure of where to put applications and utilities in the file structure. I came from a Bell Labs/ATT/BDS UNIX background and have used Slackware extensively in the past. For me, that was the 'standard' and routing around the guts of Debian and finding out (and still learning) were system files, application files etc are located has been a little frustrating. So was the concept of sudo in Ubuntu (Why is there no easily identifiable root state (e.g. root terminal)...At least Debian will launch a root terminal So, I guess it just depends what one is accustom to.. -John On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 9:21 AM, Huw Wyn Jones huw.jo...@meirion-dwyfor.ac.uk wrote: Me again! :-) Is there much difference between Linux distros when it comes to building a new Backuppc server from scratch? I'm thinking of going for either CentOS or Debian but I was curious if anyone had any comments or insight on the matter. TIA Huw -- Huw Wyn Jones Systems Administrator Coleg Meirion Dwyfor huw.jo...@meirion-dwyfor.ac.uk -- The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/ -- The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
Re: [BackupPC-users] Distro choice
Hi Max: Thanks for posting the pointer. After reading thorough it, I strongly disagree with the statement Easiest choice for WinXXEasiest is a matter of perspective, and trying to figure out XP/Win7 file protection protocols so that it will play nice with Samba, is more than a little challenging. Finding out the file protection mechanisms is one thing, and then figuring out how in Windoz to modify them is another. From my perspective the problems I've been having could be mitigated with stronger documentation in the BackupPC doc about how Samba and XP should be configured. In retrospect, what is implied in the BackupPC doc is 'if you already are running a samba server and talking to Xp machines, then using SMB protocol is quite easy' Your mileage may vary John On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 9:52 AM, Max Hetrick maxhetr...@verizon.net wrote: Huw Wyn Jones wrote: Is there much difference between Linux distros when it comes to building a new Backuppc server from scratch? I'm thinking of going for either CentOS or Debian but I was curious if anyone had any comments or insight on the matter. When it comes to this kind of thing, it's personal preference really. I use CentOS, but that's what my company has chosen, and what I now prefer since it's what I know. If you choose CentOS, I have a guide here to get you started: http://www.maxsworld.org/index.php/how-tos/backuppc-on-centos Regards, Max -- The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/ -- The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
Re: [BackupPC-users] Distro choice
thanks, I didn't know about sudo su - -John On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 1:16 PM, Les Mikesell lesmikes...@gmail.com wrote: On 1/27/2010 10:04 AM, John Hudak wrote: Pet peve: One issue that I have found quite annoying is that the Debian/Ubuntu branches have their own structure of where to put applications and utilities in the file structure. I came from a Bell Labs/ATT/BDS UNIX background and have used Slackware extensively in the past. For me, that was the 'standard' and routing around the guts of Debian and finding out (and still learning) were system files, application files etc are located has been a little frustrating. Most linux distros make some attempt to follow the LSB/FHS standards (basically some committee shuffling things around without quite enough thought to make 3rd party packages portable). So was the concept of sudo in Ubuntu (Why is there no easily identifiable root state (e.g. root terminal)...At least Debian will launch a root terminal So, I guess it just depends what one is accustom to.. You can 'sudo su -' to get a root terminal if you want. That even works on a Mac, which they seem to want to emulate. -- Les Mikesell lesmikes...@gmail.com -- The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/ -- The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
Re: [BackupPC-users] Distro choice
Hmmm would you detail the steps needed to do this?: But, I'm also using autofs to mount across Samba to back up a Windows machine or two on my home network, and I'm NOT running Samba as a domain, I'm simply mounting the file systems as CIFS/SMB using the appropriate local LOCAL_COMPUTER\USERNAME account on the Windows boxes. I had very little effort and trouble doing so myself. On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 12:07 PM, Max Hetrick maxhetr...@verizon.netwrote: John Hudak wrote: Thanks for posting the pointer. After reading thorough it, I strongly disagree with the statement Easiest choice for WinXXEasiest is a matter of perspective, and trying to figure out XP/Win7 file protection protocols so that it will play nice with Samba, is more than a little challenging. Finding out the file protection mechanisms is one thing, and then figuring out how in Windoz to modify them is another. From my perspective the problems I've been having could be mitigated with stronger documentation in the BackupPC doc about how Samba and XP should be configured. In retrospect, what is implied in the BackupPC doc is 'if you already are running a samba server and talking to Xp machines, then using SMB protocol is quite easy' Your mileage may vary John This section actually comes out of the BackupPC documentation, and not my own. This section was just copied and pasted from BackupPC's docs to my doc to explain the various methods. You are correct, this is the easiest method if you are already running a Samba domain, which I am at work. However, I'm not at home. But, I'm also using autofs to mount across Samba to back up a Windows machine or two on my home network, and I'm NOT running Samba as a domain, I'm simply mounting the file systems as CIFS/SMB using the appropriate local LOCAL_COMPUTER\USERNAME account on the Windows boxes. I had very little effort and trouble doing so myself. My autofs line looks something similar to this to pass the correct credentials. -fstype=cifs,ro,username=Administrator,password=mypassword Again, this is all local and I'm not running a domain admin account or anything at home. Max -- The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/ -- The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
Re: [BackupPC-users] help with Error: Can't Find IP address for HP-PC-XP
I can ping HP-PC-XP from any machine on my LAN (debian (debian 5.0_, ubuntuserver (ubutuserver 8.04), the mac (x10.5), and another xp box (xp sp3)). the firewall on the xp box is down (the app is not running, and windoz firewall disabled). the log file is attached. you will notice that the machine name in the log is hp_office_pc (it is the same machine I refer to in the postings as HP-PC-XP. -John On Sun, Jan 24, 2010 at 1:51 PM, Les Mikesell lesmikes...@gmail.com wrote: three_jeeps wrote: [quote=three_jeeps] Les Mikesell wrote: If they have static addresses but aren't in DNS, a quick fix is to configure the ClientAlias setting to the IP address and turn off the dhcp option. Or, if you connect from the web browser on HP-PC-XP and start the backup through the web interface it should work. Well, I connected to the backuppc server from HP-PC-XP and using the web interface to backuppc, run the backup, and got the same error message as above. I understand the ClientAlias config param, but, I don't know where to 'turn off the DHCP' option in backuppc. How is that done? Thanks John Well I think I figured it out but it did not help. In Config.pl I put in the ip address for ClientAlias. In my hosts file, I have the line: hp-pc-xp tab0tabhp_admin I ran the backup and I get: The reply from server was: ok: requested backup of hp-pc-xp, Go back to hp-pc-xp home page and I did, but no evidence of a backup occured...wtf This is really getting on my nerves.If I didn't have to do mac backups, bacula seems a lot more 'intuitively obvious'...gr Do you have log file entries for the attempt? And is the XP firewall blocking everything including pings? -- Les Mikesell lesmikes...@gmail.com -- Throughout its 18-year history, RSA Conference consistently attracts the world's best and brightest in the field, creating opportunities for Conference attendees to learn about information security's most important issues through interactions with peers, luminaries and emerging and established companies. http://p.sf.net/sfu/rsaconf-dev2dev ___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/ Contents of file /var/lib/backuppc/log/LOG, modified 2010-01-24 14:28:32 2010-01-21 01:00:00 Running 2 BackupPC_nightly jobs from 0..15 (out of 0..15) 2010-01-21 01:00:00 Running BackupPC_nightly -m 0 127 (pid=3567) 2010-01-21 01:00:00 Running BackupPC_nightly 128 255 (pid=3568) 2010-01-21 01:00:00 Next wakeup is 2010-01-21 02:00:00 2010-01-21 01:00:16 BackupPC_nightly now running BackupPC_sendEmail 2010-01-21 01:00:16 Finished admin1 (BackupPC_nightly 128 255) 2010-01-21 01:00:17 Finished admin (BackupPC_nightly -m 0 127) 2010-01-21 01:00:17 Pool nightly clean removed 0 files of size 0.00GB 2010-01-21 01:00:17 Pool is 0.00GB, 0 files (0 repeated, 0 max chain, 0 max links), 1 directories 2010-01-21 01:00:17 Cpool nightly clean removed 0 files of size 0.00GB 2010-01-21 01:00:17 Cpool is 0.01GB, 1748 files (0 repeated, 0 max chain, 15 max links), 1697 directories 2010-01-21 01:58:20 User backuppc requested backup of hp_office_pc (hp_office_pc) 2010-01-21 02:00:00 Next wakeup is 2010-01-21 03:00:00 2010-01-21 02:02:41 User backuppc requested server configuration reload 2010-01-21 02:02:41 Reloading config/host files via CGI request 2010-01-21 02:02:41 Next wakeup is 2010-01-21 03:00:00 2010-01-21 02:13:47 Got signal TERM... cleaning up 2010-01-21 02:13:48 Reading hosts file 2010-01-21 02:13:48 BackupPC started, pid 3802 2010-01-21 02:13:48 Running BackupPC_trashClean (pid=3803) 2010-01-21 02:13:48 Next wakeup is 2010-01-21 03:00:00 2010-01-21 02:45:57 Got signal TERM... cleaning up 2010-01-23 12:04:20 Reading hosts file 2010-01-23 12:04:20 BackupPC started, pid 2100 2010-01-23 12:04:20 Running BackupPC_trashClean (pid=2101) 2010-01-23 12:04:20 Next wakeup is 2010-01-23 13:00:00 2010-01-23 13:00:00 Next wakeup is 2010-01-23 14:00:00 2010-01-23 13:48:50 User backuppc (host=hp_office_pc) got CGI error: Can't find IP address for hp_office_pc 2010-01-23 14:00:00 Next wakeup is 2010-01-23 15:00:00 2010-01-23 14:24:09 Re-read config file because of a SIG_HUP 2010-01-23 14:24:09 Next wakeup is 2010-01-23 15:00:00 2010-01-23 14:31:31 User backuppc (host=hp_office_pc) got CGI error: Can't find IP address for hp_office_pc 2010-01-23 14:52:05 Re-read config file because of a SIG_HUP 2010-01-23 14:52:05 Next wakeup is 2010-01-23 15:00:00 2010-01-23 14:53:11 User backuppc (host=hp_office_pc) got CGI error: Can't find IP address for hp_office_pc 2010-01-23 15:00:00 Next wakeup is 2010-01-23 16:00:00 2010-01-23 16:00:00 Next
Re: [BackupPC-users] help with Error: Can't Find IP address for HP-PC-XP
Thanks for your input Les. I have XP professional. Two accounts on the machine: hp_administrator, and remote_desktop_user (RDT requires a pw, which is why I created it). hp_adminstrator does not have a pw ( I didn't want one for a number of reasons). I am using SMB as the backup mechanism. I am not sure what you are saying with: called 'simple file sharing' that you can't turn off like you can in other versions and which doesn't allow passwords per connection. To make backuppc work with XP, are you saying that 1) Simple File Sharing should be turned off? (It is on mine), and 2) I absolutely need an account with a password??? Thanks again for your input/help. I didn't want to go the rsync way because I didn't want yet another piece of sw to install and run under xp that is effectively used for 2-3 times a week. Unlike Linux, XP develops program rot, and I am trying to avoid that. -John On Sun, Jan 24, 2010 at 5:43 PM, Les Mikesell lesmikes...@gmail.com wrote: John Hudak wrote: I can ping HP-PC-XP from any machine on my LAN (debian (debian 5.0_, ubuntuserver (ubutuserver 8.04), the mac (x10.5), and another xp box (xp sp3)). the firewall on the xp box is down (the app is not running, and windoz firewall disabled). the log file is attached. you will notice that the machine name in the log is hp_office_pc (it is the same machine I refer to in the postings as HP-PC-XP. That's the main log file. You might find more info in the per-host log. Also, is the XP home version? I think it uses something called 'simple file sharing' that you can't turn off like you can in other versions and which doesn't allow passwords per connection. I don't have any experience with that but maybe someone else can help. Can you connect from the linux box with smbclient? It might be easier to install cwrsync or deltacopy (packaged rsysnc programs) than to fight with file sharing authentication. -- Les Mikesell lesmikes...@gmail.com -- Throughout its 18-year history, RSA Conference consistently attracts the world's best and brightest in the field, creating opportunities for Conference attendees to learn about information security's most important issues through interactions with peers, luminaries and emerging and established companies. http://p.sf.net/sfu/rsaconf-dev2dev___ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
