Topic: Tape Backup usiing Amanda

[Ray Mitchell]

Has anyone used Amanda tape backup on a sme 5.5 server.
 
I would like to utilise a small 2Gb (4Gb compressed) tape drive to backup more data than that, using multiple tapes to do a Full backup weekly, and then use a single tape to do Incremental backups daily.

This is for a charity group who cannot afford a big tape drive.

Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated or alternatives for that matter.

Regards
Ray Mitchell

[Craig Bursey]

Hi Ray,

This is another option,  I have it running on SME and it does the trick for me.

http://www.arkeia.com/arkeiafree.html

Good luck,

Craig

[Bill]

FYI,
I tried ARKEIA 4.2 Backup and got the 'NULL' TapeDrive to function 100% on my SME 5.1.2, but I could not get it to work with a real drive, a seagate DDS3 12/24 . I finally read the support Tape Drives from thier website but my tape was not listed. So Craig, verify your tape drive is listed as a supported drive or else you may be disappointed.
Try  http://linux.made-to-order.net/article69.html for a how-to.
IF ANYONE WAS ABLE TO USE A SEAGATE DDS3 with ARKEIA 4.2 , Please let myself and the group know.

LOCATION of SUPPORTED DRIVES is:

  http://www.arkeia.com/resources/refs.html?f=tapes&m=1&ss=2&exclude=5,6,7,10&nbs=3,4&t=a

BTW: Look at the transfer rate at the above link. They seem quite slow!!

Bill

[Bill]

I sent U to the wrong place for support drives. It should read:
http://www.arkeia.com/resources/refs.html?f=drives&m=1&ss=2&exclude=3,4,5,6,7,9,10,11&nbs=2,8&c=supported_sg.html&t=a

Like my company said when they STOLE all of my 401K money, "sorry about that"

Bill

[Tom Keiser]

I've used Sony and Seagate DDS3 interchangeably with Arkeia. Unlike many / most of the other drives on the list, DDS 1, 2, 3, and 4 drives are all built to an industry standard, so one vendor's drives work the same as another.

You must have another problem.

HTH,

Tom

[Ray Mitchell]

Thanks Craig

When you say "it does the trick for me", can it be used for, and are you using it to do, full backups scanning multiple tapes and incremental backups on a single tape ?

I had a quick look at the site you mentioned, will take a longer look later. Is the arkeiafree version the one you are using and I assume this does not have a time limit.
I am running sme v5.5, could you suggest which are the correct rpms to download and instal.

Thanks
Ray Mitchell

[Craig Bursey]

Yes Bill,

I agree, we've all run into that.........the first thing you check is compatibility of the SCSI card and Tape Unit.  They both have to work.

Ray,

I've only tried full's with my install.  For the amount of data I'm backing up, that's all I need, I have not tried any other methods.

The Arkeia software is "free" as long as you use follow the guidelines.

The Arkeia installation tool a while, if I remember correctly it took a couple of days of fiddling before i got it working.   But like Ray said.....make sure your hardware is compatible.

Over the next 3 or 4 weeks I'm going to try to install a tape unit on a SME 5.5 at home. (If the drive is compatible of course! I know the card is)   I'll keep this thread updated to how it goes.

Good luck,

Craig

[Bill]

Hi Craig,
The tape drive works with flexbackup and it also worked with Microlite Backupedge (for the 90day trial) and it again worked with flexbackup after the Backupedge trial expired.

BTW - If you have $300 to throw around, BACKUPEDGE was the best backup solution I found for SME. It comes with a Disaster Recovery Feature (create three floppies and load lastest BU) and it restored my entire system( 8GB) . The only problem I had after bootup of new harddrive was to edit /etc/fstab. Also my SME 5.1.2 Server is far from the virgin it was a year ago which started as 5.0. I will try Arkeia again sometime with a fresh 5.1.2/5.5 install.

The error I get with Arkeia Backup was:
2002/10/12 09:20:41 E080006 S1034428841 Can't find any available tape for drive 'Tape Drive'

Bill

[Shad Lords]

Check out http://lordsfam.net/downloads/beta/arkeia-4.2/

I have integrated arkeia free into the existing backup routine and it manages the tapes and everything for you.  The only thing that it doesn't do it restore functionality.  (I use the java client to do all my restores.)  This is the only reason that it is still beta.  I have been using this for over a year now and have never had a problem with it.

Feedback is welcome.

-Shad

[Ray Mitchell]

Thanks everyone for the feedback
Shad, I will have a look at the rpms you suggested.
Any reason you know of why they would not be compatible with sme v5.5 update2
Can Arkeia Free span multiple tapes ?

Thanks
Ray Mitchell