Re: [BackupPC-users] Configure TopDir per pc
Hi, Mark Adams wrote on 2008-12-03 16:39:35 -0700 [[BackupPC-users] Configure TopDir per pc]: > I need to backup each client machine to a different hard drive on the > server. as everyone is saying: you can't and you don't want to. > I have one client configured and it tries to backup my 16 GB of > data, but fails because TopDir is configured for /var/lib/bacuppc in my > /etc/backuppc/config.pl file and there simply isn't enough room for the > data there. The first thing to understand is that you can mount any file system on /var/lib/backuppc - that does not have to be (and probably should not be) on your /var or even / partition. See the wiki or ask for more details. If you've got a single partition of sufficient size on one disk (for all your backups), that's fine. Just use it (but be aware that you cannot grow it if you end up needing more space for backups). If you don't, then you can create a device of sufficient size with LVM (or RAID) and mount that on /var/lib/backuppc. Jeffrey J. Kosowsky wrote on 2008-12-03 18:48:42 -0500 [Re: [BackupPC-users] Configure TopDir per pc]: > Alternatively, you might want to look into LVM which will allow you to > have a single filesystem spread across multiple disks. Nils Breunese (Lemonbit) wrote on 2008-12-04 00:56:39 +0100 [Re: [BackupPC-users] Configure TopDir per pc]: > Another option: use LVM to make one volume spanning your drives. Les Mikesell wrote on 2008-12-03 17:59:18 -0600 [Re: [BackupPC-users] Configure TopDir per pc]: > The best approach is to mount a big drive (or raid or lvm set...) where it > expects the data to live. The thing to be aware of when creating a file system spanning multiple disks is that the risk of losing your file system due to the failure of a disk (any disk!) significantly increases with growing number of disks. You can counteract this by using a redundant RAID mode (5, 6, 10) below LVM or by itself, but your situation sounds like you don't have much space to spare for redundancy. My recommendation would be either: - live with the risk and combine your disks (or individual partitions on them) into one LVM volume group, if you are doing backups of a home network where losing the backups is more a nuissance than a real problem or - buy a new disk (or even two for a RAID level 1 array) for your backups, if you are serious about it. Disk space is cheap. Your data may not be. In particular, be aware that keeping data and backups on the same (physical) disk means that if the disk dies, both data and backups will be gone. In general, you are doing backups to avoid just that. Mark Adams wrote on 2008-12-03 16:59:59 -0700 [Re: [BackupPC-users] Configure TopDir per pc]: > I'm starting to get the impression that I _can't_ set a per-pc TopDir. > > Does anybody have any experience with anything like this? Yes, I have experience with not setting a per-PC TopDir ;-). As explained, it would defeat pooling across PCs, so BackupPC does not offer this option, even if it might not make much difference in some scenarios. Setting up several instances of BackupPC (which would make it possible) seems like more of a hassle than it is worth. Again, if you are serious about it, you should be getting independent disks, and if you are not, you don't want to set up and administrate one instance of BackupPC per client PC :). But, as always, your mileage may vary. Regards, Holger - This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ ___ 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] Configure TopDir per pc
Okay, I revisited the top of the docs and found this: > Therefore BackupPC's data store (__TOPDIR__) must point to a single > file system that supports hardlinks. You cannot split this file system > with multiple mount points or using symbolic links to point a > sub-directory to a different file system I'm starting to get the impression that I _can't_ set a per-pc TopDir. Does anybody have any experience with anything like this? Thanks. Mark Mark Adams wrote: > Hi there, me again. > > I have several machines I would like to backup with BackupPC, but the > server is a humble box with several installed hard discs -- nothing fancy. > > I need to backup each client machine to a different hard drive on the > server. I have one client configured and it tries to backup my 16 GB of > data, but fails because TopDir is configured for /var/lib/bacuppc in my > /etc/backuppc/config.pl file and there simply isn't enough room for the > data there. My reading of the docs says that I should be able to > configure TopDir in the client.pl file under > /var/lib/backuppc/pc//.pl. I have done this: > > # cat /var/lib/backuppc/pc//.pl > $Conf{TopDir} = '/mnt/attic/spike_images'; > $Conf{XferMethod} = 'rsync'; > $Conf{BackupFilesExclude} = ['/floppy']; > $Conf{BackupFilesOnly} = ['/mnt/spike/images', '/mnt/spike/photos']; > $Conf{ClientNameAlias} = '192.168.xxx.xxx'; > > But it doesn't seem to make any difference. How can I set a TopDir per pc? > > Thanks. > > -- Mark E. Adams Random Musing: I never expected to see the day when girls would get sunburned in the places they do today. -- Will Rogers - This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ ___ 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] Configure TopDir per pc
Mark Adams wrote: > Hi there, me again. > > I have several machines I would like to backup with BackupPC, but the > server is a humble box with several installed hard discs -- nothing fancy. > > I need to backup each client machine to a different hard drive on the > server. I have one client configured and it tries to backup my 16 GB of > data, but fails because TopDir is configured for /var/lib/bacuppc in my > /etc/backuppc/config.pl file and there simply isn't enough room for the > data there. My reading of the docs says that I should be able to > configure TopDir in the client.pl file under > /var/lib/backuppc/pc//.pl. I have done this: > > # cat /var/lib/backuppc/pc//.pl > $Conf{TopDir} = '/mnt/attic/spike_images'; > $Conf{XferMethod} = 'rsync'; > $Conf{BackupFilesExclude} = ['/floppy']; > $Conf{BackupFilesOnly} = ['/mnt/spike/images', '/mnt/spike/photos']; > $Conf{ClientNameAlias} = '192.168.xxx.xxx'; > > But it doesn't seem to make any difference. How can I set a TopDir per pc? The main advantage of backuppc is the way it pools duplicate files and it can only do that when everything is on the same filesystem. The best approach is to mount a big drive (or raid or lvm set...) where it expects the data to live. -- Les Mikesell [EMAIL PROTECTED] - This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ ___ 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] Configure TopDir per pc
Mark Adams wrote: > I have several machines I would like to backup with BackupPC, but the > server is a humble box with several installed hard discs -- nothing > fancy. > > I need to backup each client machine to a different hard drive on the > server. I have one client configured and it tries to backup my 16 > GB of > data, but fails because TopDir is configured for /var/lib/bacuppc in > my > /etc/backuppc/config.pl file and there simply isn't enough room for > the > data there. My reading of the docs says that I should be able to > configure TopDir in the client.pl file under > /var/lib/backuppc/pc//.pl. I have done this: > > # cat /var/lib/backuppc/pc//.pl > $Conf{TopDir} = '/mnt/attic/spike_images'; > $Conf{XferMethod} = 'rsync'; > $Conf{BackupFilesExclude} = ['/floppy']; > $Conf{BackupFilesOnly} = ['/mnt/spike/images', '/mnt/spike/photos']; > $Conf{ClientNameAlias} = '192.168.xxx.xxx'; > > But it doesn't seem to make any difference. How can I set a TopDir > per pc? You can't. BackupPC stores the files for the backed up hosts in a pool that needs to be on one filesystem, because of the use of hardlinks. The only way to use multiple pools (and have multiple TopDirs) is to run multiple installations of BackupPC. Another option: use LVM to make one volume spanning your drives. Nils Breunese. - This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ ___ 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] Configure TopDir per pc
Mark Adams wrote at about 16:39:35 -0700 on Wednesday, December 3, 2008: > Hi there, me again. > > I have several machines I would like to backup with BackupPC, but the > server is a humble box with several installed hard discs -- nothing fancy. > > I need to backup each client machine to a different hard drive on the > server. I have one client configured and it tries to backup my 16 GB of > data, but fails because TopDir is configured for /var/lib/bacuppc in my > /etc/backuppc/config.pl file and there simply isn't enough room for the > data there. My reading of the docs says that I should be able to > configure TopDir in the client.pl file under > /var/lib/backuppc/pc//.pl. I have done this: > > # cat /var/lib/backuppc/pc//.pl > $Conf{TopDir} = '/mnt/attic/spike_images'; > $Conf{XferMethod} = 'rsync'; > $Conf{BackupFilesExclude} = ['/floppy']; > $Conf{BackupFilesOnly} = ['/mnt/spike/images', '/mnt/spike/photos']; > $Conf{ClientNameAlias} = '192.168.xxx.xxx'; > > But it doesn't seem to make any difference. How can I set a TopDir per pc? > I don't believe it is possible. Also, since you say you are doing this because you are short of space, I assume you would like to split TopDir among different disks/partitions. But then you would be defeating the ability to pool common files across machines. If you really want completely separate and independent TopDirs (including independent pool) then you might as well run separate setups & copies of BackupPC. Alternatively, you might want to look into LVM which will allow you to have a single filesystem spread across multiple disks. - This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ ___ 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] Configure TopDir per pc
Hi there, me again. I have several machines I would like to backup with BackupPC, but the server is a humble box with several installed hard discs -- nothing fancy. I need to backup each client machine to a different hard drive on the server. I have one client configured and it tries to backup my 16 GB of data, but fails because TopDir is configured for /var/lib/bacuppc in my /etc/backuppc/config.pl file and there simply isn't enough room for the data there. My reading of the docs says that I should be able to configure TopDir in the client.pl file under /var/lib/backuppc/pc//.pl. I have done this: # cat /var/lib/backuppc/pc//.pl $Conf{TopDir} = '/mnt/attic/spike_images'; $Conf{XferMethod} = 'rsync'; $Conf{BackupFilesExclude} = ['/floppy']; $Conf{BackupFilesOnly} = ['/mnt/spike/images', '/mnt/spike/photos']; $Conf{ClientNameAlias} = '192.168.xxx.xxx'; But it doesn't seem to make any difference. How can I set a TopDir per pc? Thanks. -- Mark E. Adams Random Musing: What I want to find out is -- do parrots know much about Astro-Turf? - This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ ___ 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/