I have used a number of solutions, each with pro's and con's. From my
experience:
1. Custom multi-server cpio scripts
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Very simple and can be used for up to 2-3 small servers. This is usually
setup to run via rmt, but I have tunnelled a backup over ssh and found it
workable.
The primary difficulty is managing to perform backups during the available
backup window. Planning the backups where the amount of data exceeds the
size of the tape (ie - full backup on some servers, incremental on others)
is a pain and tape rotations are manual.
It is very easy to write over the wrong tape (and lose a backup) as there
is nothing to verify the status of a tape, and restores take a while as
the entire tape needs to be read.
Tape libraries are rarely supported. This is also the most common type of
backup I have come across in the real world.
Unix only. (windows is possible via smbclient-tar, restores difficult).
BRU (not BRU 2000)
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It works and isn't all that expensive (for a backup system). The version
I trialled maintained a catalogue of tapes on disk and chekpoints tapes
for a quicker restore time, and used cpio/tar for the backups so there was
a lot of flexibility.
Ubfortunately their idea of a network backup was to backup an NFS share.
Very poor performance and doesn't provide the option for an image backup.
The software was also a little flakey at the time, however I have heard
good things about the more recent version of BRU.
Has anybody got any feedback on the more recent versions ?
Arkeia
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This has been done on this list. Avoid it like the plague. (Actually -
compared to Arkeia the plague isn't all that bad ;)
BTW - Remote root Exploit that hasn't been closed for 6 months.
AFBackup
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It's a joke - too development. I wouldn't use it for production systems
(I belive there was a recent root exploit for this as well).
BackupExec
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Its a windows backup system made for windows - with a linux agent
available. I have experienced problems with file permissions and on a
personal level don't like the package. (Probably due to the proprietry
format and the lack of a command-line interface),
Despite that I believe it is still the number one selling backup solution
for Novelle/Windows.
ADSM (aka Tivoli)
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This one is the ducks nuts of backup systems - but then it is an entirely
different type of backup solution. If you can't afford to spend $100K+ on
an enterprise backup system, forget it. (BTW - I consider it $100K+ well
spent, including the 240 cartridge DLT library and robot).
If you are managing a network with more the 20+ servers you should
consider a real backup system - and the ADSM server will be available on
Linux shortly.
---
Jason Ball
Electronic Commerce Specialist
Corporate Express Australia Ltd
Phone: +61 2 9335 0374 Fax: +61 2 9335 0753
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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