Topic: SME as backup-server

[Klaus Eckert]

i want to use my SME-server as a backup-server.
it should do the following jobs:
- backup itself to a DLT-Tape every night
- backup my windows-clients to the tape when requested (leave the win-PCs running over night when they should be in the backup)
- backup another linux-box (SuSE 8.2) every second night
- provide a restore for every machines

the DLT-tape has 70 GB capacity and i connected via a adapted SCSI-controller in the SME-server.
the tape has to be changed every day, so that i get a backup-history of one week.

which software do i need?
is this possible with the built-in software or any contrib?

cheers klaus

[Jeff C]

I'm not aware of any gpl solutions to your needs but it's relatively easy with a small budget.

My choice would be Tapeware which will install easily on your SME box and backup all of your clients.  

http://www.tapeware.com

Don't get confused by the different versions.  All you need is the Linux Desktop version and some extra client licenses.

You could also use Arkeia which has a contrib written for it to integrate it with the Server-manager panels.  You will not be able to backup everything you want with the freeware version.

http://www.arkeia.com

One possibility of avoiding the client purchases with either product would be to mount the drives you want to backup in /etc/fstab to your clients.  Not incredibly reliable but workable for a small solution.

Hope this helps....

-jeff

[Bob Meyers]

While I haven't specifically tried backing up across the network, I use Microlite BackupEdge on all commercial Unix and Linux installations with superb success and excellent disaster recovery tools. It also has how-to's for backing up other PC's over the network. You can download a free, full-version, 60-day evaluation at www.microlite.com. Be sure to download the appropriate version for your version of Linux. Cost of the full package is around $200-300, dirt cheap for the performance it does.

BackupEdge also does backups to all types of DVD burners! ON customers with small servers, less than 4.7GB per backup, it beats *any* tape system by a mile!