Topic: Need backup advice-resolved

[tviles]

Running a Dell PowerEdge 2500 SME 7.3 Nope I don't know SME that well. What backup device either USB external drive or scsi tape device is the most easy to get working on SME server? Using the SME software raid with 6 scsi drives and I have a total of about 130 gb of available space. But right now the users only have about 26 gb of data on the server.
Thanks, Tracy
PS I'm actually looking for brand / model info of what to buy either new or used. You may email me if you do not wish to post that kind of info on this forum. 

[NoTo]

I'm using several non-branding external USB hard disks (2.5" 200Gb laptop drives in each) and a Western Digital 'MyBook' 250Gb USB. All work perfectly well with the built-in backup and I've not experienced any problems with them. I rotate the 2.5" externals for off-site backup, but additionally backup to a Linux-based NAS box (NASLite 2.x installed on an upgraded Netgear ND508 with 250Gb drive) in the adjacent building across 100Mbps LAN.

As an aside, the Disk Manager contrib http://wiki.contribs.org/Disk_Manager is useful for setting mount points for USB disks, and I also added the Backup with DAR contrib http://wiki.contribs.org/Backup_with_dar to get the backup to disk/NAS functionality.

Hope that's of help.

Graham

[tviles]

Thank you. I am working on it. We do have an external USB drive about 140 gb available in this dept. I did get the Disk Manager installed last night but was unaware that it will show a USB drive. I will know more tomorrow. I can remotely do about anything with a VPN network connection into the server using Putty but I have a hard time plugging a USB drive in from home.

[tviles]

I get this:

Online drive:
DEV Mount fstab file UUID Label Filesystem Interface Action
/dev/sda1  no no 9f13f9fe-4ccb-4c61-a35c-a568705d0be1 unknown ext3 SCSI_SATA   
/dev/sdb1  no no 9f13f9fe-4ccb-4c61-a35c-a568705d0be1 unknown ext3 SCSI_SATA   
/dev/sdc1  no no 9f13f9fe-4ccb-4c61-a35c-a568705d0be1 unknown ext3 SCSI_SATA   
/dev/sdd1  no no 9f13f9fe-4ccb-4c61-a35c-a568705d0be1 unknown ext3 SCSI_SATA   
/dev/sde1  no no 9f13f9fe-4ccb-4c61-a35c-a568705d0be1 unknown ext3 SCSI_SATA   
/dev/md1  no yes 9f13f9fe-4ccb-4c61-a35c-a568705d0be1 unknown ext3 unknown   
/dev/dm-0  no no 2ff79d80-b32b-457c-82ec-0fa96c016f0e unknown ext3 unknown   
/dev/dm-1  no no unknown unknown swap unknown   
/dev/sdg1  no yes unknown unknown ntfs USB Add Mount 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mount points known:
UUID Interface auto mount to auto media MountTo plugged Mounted_to Action

Am I ready or what is my next step? Also I cannot see backup to USB device from the server manager webpage I have to login to the actual server to get this?

[tviles]

I'm stuck.
Online drive:
DEV Mount fstab file UUID Label Filesystem Interface Action
/dev/sda1  no no 9f13f9fe-4ccb-4c61-a35c-a568705d0be1 unknown ext3 SCSI_SATA   
/dev/sdb1  no no 9f13f9fe-4ccb-4c61-a35c-a568705d0be1 unknown ext3 SCSI_SATA   
/dev/sdc1  no no 9f13f9fe-4ccb-4c61-a35c-a568705d0be1 unknown ext3 SCSI_SATA   
/dev/sdd1  no no 9f13f9fe-4ccb-4c61-a35c-a568705d0be1 unknown ext3 SCSI_SATA   
/dev/sde1  no no 9f13f9fe-4ccb-4c61-a35c-a568705d0be1 unknown ext3 SCSI_SATA   
/dev/md1  no yes 9f13f9fe-4ccb-4c61-a35c-a568705d0be1 unknown ext3 unknown   
/dev/dm-0  no no 2ff79d80-b32b-457c-82ec-0fa96c016f0e unknown ext3 unknown   
/dev/dm-1  no no unknown unknown swap unknown   
/dev/sdg1  no yes unknown unknown ntfs USB Mount 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mount points known:
UUID Interface auto mount to auto media MountTo plugged Mounted_to Action
unknown none enabled disabled  no no Remove 

[tviles]

Switching to DAR2 this looks more promising.
I can move the USB drive over to a desktop and share it out.

[janet]

tviles

Is the drive using a compatible format ?
From
http://wiki.contribs.org/USBDisks
NTFS partitions are not supported, please use either fat32/vfat or ext2/ext3

[tviles]

Oh OK I was wondering about that. I will change tomorrow. Thanks
Yes currently it is NTFS.

[Gert]

It doesn't get better than this:

http://wiki.contribs.org/Affa

[tviles]

Affa is easy to use? Humm.... Dar2 is already doing a backup for me as I type. Took about 5 minutes to setup. But thanks for the info, maybe someday for me it will be easy.

[Gert]

No prob. whatever works for you. I have used both and find affa extreamly effective and easy to use.
I have used it to restore a cleanly installed server with ALL settings and data to the exact way it was before the hard drive crash.  or you can recover only selective files. It also keeps multiple versions of the backup so you can choose wich date you would like to restore from.

Cheers

[tviles]

I understand, point taken. That would be nice to restore a server back exactly. The clients would appreciate it I'm sure.

[janet]

tviles

That would be nice to restore a server back exactly.

None of the existing backup contribs do that, they all require the install or reinstall of any add on contribs.
See
http://wiki.contribs.org/Backup_server_config
and
http://wiki.contribs.org/Backup_server_config#Backup_and_Restore_concepts.2C_issues_and_other_information

[Gert]

ALL settings and data to the exact way it was before the hard drive crash

I did not say contribs, I said all settings and data, including contrib settings. you just need to install the contrib rpms.

[tviles]

I understand. We're good. I'm moving on to shared calendar problems over on the contribs now.