2006/05/22

Cross-Platform Network Backup Solution

I'm looking for a cross-platform network backup solution to replace Retrospect. If you post a suggestion that I end up using (even in part), you could be the recipient of free stuff. Read on for details.

Without going into to much detail, Retrospect can't seem to consistently maintain a backup file set that exceeds ~600 GB using it's Backup Server function. Faced with sporadic "chunk checksum" errors, the backup set has to be frequently repaired or replaced. This has only wasted my time, served to degrade the currency of each backup, and furthered my distrust of the whole system.

The following is a required list of criteria for a replacement solution:

- Backs up to a network location.
- Covers both Macs and PCs. Note that it doesn't have to be the same software on each platform. I'm looking for a comprehensive solution, not necessarily just one software package.
- Backs up a specific list of directories.
- Updates the backup set instead of overwriting (e.g. sync vs. overwrite).
- Runs invisible to the user.

List of optional, but preferential criteria:

- Searchable.
- Supports an exclude list
- Smart checkpointing (e.g. keeps as many previous states as room allows).
- Configurable from a central location

Possible solutions I've found:
- rsync on both the Mac and PC to a Mac hosting an rsync server.
- SuperDuper on the Macs, x on the PC.

So what do I do? rsync could work but it might be time consuming to setup and troublesome to maintain. SuperDuper might work for the Mac, but that doesn't help the PC's.

Please submit your suggestions as comments to this post. If I use any of the posted suggestions I'll buy the person who submitted the solution an iTMS or Amazon.com gift card. Please use a valid e-mail address when making your suggestions in order to be eligible. Links to viable solutions are permissible.

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10 Comments:

Anonymous Thomas said...

I have some ideas for rsync minus the remote rsync daemon, however, please elaborate on the free stuff first...

5/23/2006 12:53 AM  
Anonymous Thomas said...

I'm an idiot, I should have something in a little bit.

5/23/2006 12:54 AM  
Blogger Scott said...

$20 iTMS gift card

5/23/2006 9:58 AM  
Blogger Scott said...

I'm currently trying to subdivide the Retrospect backup set to see if I can somehow salvage the solution that is currently in place. Though I would still like to replace it with something more trusted.

5/23/2006 7:25 PM  
Anonymous Thomas said...

I'm not sure you are going to get a very customizable/robust solution via rsync, though it is my backup utility of choice...

Primaily because it will compress during transmission to shorten the duration of the transfer, and it is simple to use over an ssh connection to a remote host.

Inherently it will update a file based on checks it performs against the remote copy/system, however when you bring a Microsoft system into the equation you remove efficiency (and open source) from the equation :P

I wish you luck in your search. Internally we rely on rsync across NAS platforms and the bash scripts are usually no longer than 10-15 lines. If you really want to get fancy you can incorporate a shell based frontend with bash or python/perl, but that's really up to how much time you want to invest on customization.

5/23/2006 10:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A quick search on Google yielded this interesting project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/info.html

Of course, I've not tried it, but it sounds like it might be relevant to your situation.

5/25/2006 4:14 PM  
Blogger Scott said...

BackupPc seems like a decent solution, I'll have to give it a try. Remember you need to post with an e-mail address or some means of contact in order to qualify for the gift card.

5/25/2006 11:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have been collecting links for backup solutions to replace Retrospect, but I have not had time to test any of these solutions:

http://www.bacula.org/
http://amanda.zmanda.com/
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/
http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/info.html
http://www.nongnu.org/rdiff-backup/index.html
http://www.rsnapshot.org/

5/30/2006 8:39 AM  
Blogger Scott said...

The subdivision of the Retrospect backup sets isn't working very well. Retrospect keeps getting an error that requires it to be quit when trying to append to one of the backup files. I'm in the process of rebuilding the sets again. It's not looking good for our friend.

Also, please leave a name, e-mail or some method of contact so you can be eligible to with that gift card. I'm serious about actually giving one out.

6/01/2006 8:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't have the same Retrospect problem as you, but I prefer to use open software on our network and I'm in need of backup. I've spent a few hours looking at the options and I've written something up about them which I'll be posting on our company blog real soon now - aka 3 months. In the meantime send me an email if you'd like the prepress version. It might help you. Mail me: jeff guess-what-goes-here backup at tanasity guess-what-goes-here com.

Jeff

8/04/2006 7:09 AM  

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