What should be backed up?

[Paul Schmehl]

--On Friday, August 21, 2009 16:14:22 -0500 John Almberg <jalmberg at identry.com> 
wrote:
>
> That raises another question... How feasible is it to restore a server
> from these backups? Is it really possible to install 7.2 on a new machine
> and then just copy the backed up data onto the new machine?
>
> I guess I should really verify the value of my backups by trying to do
> exactly that!
>

I once had a 5.4 machine that lost its primary hard drive.  (Was supposed to be 
RAID mirrored, but this was the only boot drive.)  We got a new drive, 
installed a fresh copy of 5.4 and copied back all the data files.  Those were 
"backed up" using rsync to a USB drive I keep at work.  This was a standalone 
internet addressable server running http, imaps, dns and a pot full of other 
things - the only server for this domain.  (It now has two.)

Everything worked as expected, and no data was found to be missing or 
unrecoverable.  We were down for a while, but we lost nothing.

And yes, you should test your recovery procedures to make sure your backups are 
actually working.  There's nothing like trying to restore from backup only to 
discover your backups were never really working.

-- 
Paul Schmehl, Senior Infosec Analyst
As if it wasn't already obvious, my opinions
are my own and not those of my employer.
*******************************************
"It is as useless to argue with those who have
renounced the use of reason as to administer
medication to the dead." Thomas Jefferson