backup strategies

Csaba Henk csaba-ml at creo.hu
Sun Oct 30 05:50:23 PST 2005


Hi!

We plan to set up a backup server.

While the basic backup procedure is clear -- use some archiving utility
like dump, tar, or cpio and send data to the backup server via ssh or a
network mount -- there are many details which are unclear for me.

The two biggest problems are:

1) What parts are to be backed up? If I backup the whole system, the
backup disk will get full soon. You could say it's not necessary, and
that only the valueable data should be backed up (and not those parts
which are easy to re-create by means of a new installation). But, say,
someone breaks into the machince. How could I reliably find out the
Achilles heel she used to get in if I don't have a complete system
backup? Or if she has a backdoor left behind?

2) How to schedule backups? I guess services should stop for the backup
period as the backup could be unreliable or inconsistent if disk/file
writes were going on during backup. It sounds as if I should drop to
single user mode. Or is there a less drastic approach? And if I dropped
to single user mode, I would lose control over the box for that period,
as the box is accessed via ssh and sshd is also stopped in single user
mode -- this sounds scary...

TYA.

-- 
Csaba Henk

My sense of humour is often too subtle to cope with getting smileyd.
Please don't take it personal.


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