{"id":937,"date":"2008-01-27T12:58:24","date_gmt":"2008-01-27T16:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theforcefield.net\/podcast\/backups-in-a-linux-environment-823\/"},"modified":"2008-01-27T12:58:24","modified_gmt":"2008-01-27T16:58:24","slug":"backups-in-a-linux-environment-823","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theforcefield.net\/podcast\/backups-in-a-linux-environment-823\/","title":{"rendered":"Backups in a Linux Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Backups are an important task within any environment. While there are multiple options for performing backups on a Windows network, you may not be aware of the\u00a0 <\/span>options available for a Linux environment. Given the fact that I work strictly in the Linux world, both at home and at the office, I can offer some suggestions as to what options are available. We’ll stick with open source (free) solutions here, although there are many commercial products available.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Bacula (<\/span>http:\/\/www.bacula.org\/<\/span><\/a><\/span>) is the big player in the enterprise level network backup game. Setup and configuration of Bacula is a job for intermediate\/advanced Linux users, although once installed and configured there is a very easy-to-use web GUI for administration. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Another good product is Mondo Rescue (<\/span>http:\/\/www.mondorescue.org\/<\/span><\/a><\/span>). While this application can be used for backup, it is designed more as a disaster recovery tool. Mondo Rescue creates bootable CD\/DVD’s that contain snapshots of a complete system (ala Ghost or True Image) which can be used to restore a system from bare metal.\u00a0 <\/span>It’s administered from a simple text-based GUI and packages are available for most Linux distributions. Installation and use is simple enough for the average Linux user.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Next up is Amanda (<\/span>http:\/\/www.amanda.org\/<\/span><\/a><\/span>). The source code is available at the Amanda web site, but a quick Google search will net you a package in the proper format for your particular flavor of Linux. This is strictly a command line tool, so it’s best left to those power users that are comfortable working without a GUI. This is a very powerful and flexible backup application.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Of course if you are not looking for a network type solution and just want something to backup your own machine, almost all Linux distributions come prepackaged with some type of easy-to-use GUI based software. The KDat application included with the KDE desktop is one example. Several folks have written their own and made it freely available to us all.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>http:\/\/simplelinuxbkup.sourceforge.net\/ f<\/span><\/a><\/span>or example.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>While I am by no means a code-monkey, I have learned enough basic shell scripting to write my own backup software. It works equally well for stand alone machines or as a network solution. You can find it here (you’ll have to be a registered member):<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.theforcefield.net\/joomla\/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=911&Itemid=53<\/a> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>My backup software consists of a simple script that runs as a scheduled job and uses ‘tar’ to create compressed backup files. The default is to backup the \/home directory daily and perform a full backup weekly. A copy of the backup is stored on the local machine (so that you may manually burn it to CD\/DVD, archive it to a tape drive, copy to a USB stick, FTP it somewhere, etc.). This software can optionally use ‘rsync’ to automatically push a copy of the backup to a network storage device. I use an old server with a multiple scsi disk array, but you could use an external enclosure with a large hard drive attached to another Linux machine or even push the backup across the WAN to an off-site storage device running Linux. Another option would be to automatically FTP the tar files to any local or remote FTP server (although you will have to learn a bit of shell scripting and write this code yourself).\u00a0 <\/span>*NOTE: If you choose the preceding FTP option, PLEASE consider security and use SFTP or tunnel through a VPN! Full restores can be done simply by partitioning and formatting a new hard drive and then extracting the compressed tar file onto the disk. If you delete something important from your home directory, you can simply extract the \/home tar file stored on the local machine back into your existing \/home directory. Basic instructions are in the README, and the scripts are liberally commented.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>As always, if you have any questions, comments, problems, or want to erect a statue in my likeness, please feel free to contact me at <\/span>thughes@fwpm.com<\/span><\/a><\/span> .<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Copyright 2008 Todd Hughes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Backups are an important task within any environment. While there are multiple options for performing backups on a Windows network, you may not be aware of the\u00a0 options available for a Linux environment. Given the fact that I work strictly in the Linux world, both at home and at the office, I can offer some … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":347,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[596,210,475],"class_list":["post-937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tutorials","tag-backups-in-a-linux-environment","tag-publications","tag-tutorials"],"yoast_head":"\nBackups in a Linux Environment - The Force Field Podcast<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theforcefield.net\/podcast\/backups-in-a-linux-environment-823\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Backups in a Linux Environment - The Force Field Podcast\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Backups are an important task within any environment. 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