Backup and recovery

[Gary Hon]

I host web servers for my clients. Does anyone know a reliable tool to back up data on web servers? Some of my servers are Windows-based, some are Linux-based.

[NooNoo]

Welcome to Windrivers Gary

What hardware do you intend to back up to? Tape, DVD, NAS, USB drive?

[Gary Hon]

Backup to USB drive or Hard disk.

[Zonie]

Give EZBack-it-up a try. It is also free.

[WebHead]

Windows = ntbackup.exe (the NT backup tool that comes with it -- this is what I use at work)
or
Symantec BackupExec = Professional solution,.. kinda expensive but more features included.

For Linux: command line utilities that come with it (I recommend trying these on non-production systems before trying them on a production system).

tar = tape archiver utility. You can just create tar files of directories, files or entire file systems.
I.e.
# tar cvf /mydata/mybackup.tar /mywebserverdata
Note: there are all kinds of ways to work with tar files,.. the above is just a quick example

cpio = copy in and out
# cd /mywebserverdata
# find . | cpio -ofB > /mybackupdirectory/mybackupfile.cpio
Note: again, just a quick example. There is much more support for these commands in your man pages and on the web.

There are many other commands too. Of course the dump command (requires the file system to be inactive but is the recommended choice), rsync, etc.

You can even just use the plain vanilla copy command.
cp = copy command
i.e.
archives the data, then verbosely, recursively backs up and only backs up items that are newer than what is currently in the archive.
# cp -a /mywebserver /backup
# cp -uvr /mywebserver /backup

There are lots of ways to do it. Just depends on your exact needs and preferences. I'd say backing up Linux is a peice of cake. Windows on the other hand might take a little more effort to set up properly.

[Ben Tse]

I have the same issue. However, FreeBSD adds to my heterogeneous environment.

[Zach T]

I was sourcing for such a solution earlier. I gathered info from other forums and identified some data backup solutions targeting ISPs and web hosting businesses like ours. Here’s a list which I’ve evaluated:

1. NovaNet (www.novstor.com)
2. Ahsay (www.ahsay.com)
3. Storgrid (www.vembu.com)
4. RBS (www.remote-backup.com)

Only Storegrid and Ahsay are multi-platform. I was lured into NovaNet with its attractive look. However, once I tested it on my server, I was disappointed with its instability. RBS is another piece of crappy software.

In the end I went with Ahsay and was pretty satisfied with it. Back up and restore worked as it says on the tin.