On Thu, May 06, 2010 at 10:06:58AM -0400, jasonswett wrote: > > I read through a good portion of W.Curtis Preston's book but I'm afraid I'm > too much of a beginner to know where to start with my solution. I think I > want to use Amanda but everything I've read on the Amanda site is too narrow > and specific. > > Here's what I have: > > I have two Linux boxes. One is a development server and one is a production > server. Each is running a database instance that I want to back up. > > I also have two Macs and one PC that are just workstations. > > I've looked into Amanda a little bit but just came out confused. I don't have > any storage media but I'm willing to buy some. > > Can anyone help point me in the right direction?
The amanda chapter may be out of date with respect to amanda current feature set. There have been a lot of changes (enhancements) over the last several years. Most of the conceptual material in the chapter should still be valid. I.e. the way amanda divides your data into "DiskList Entries" (DLEs), how amanda tries to spread the full backups over an entended period rather than just one full backups of all DLEs at the same time. Some things to consider early on don't even involve the database manager choice. You will want to determine what you want to back up and just as importantly, why. The "why" might be simply archive for legal reasons, or to restore a complete system after a major crash, or to recover that file you stupidly deleted. There is the question of immediacy also. Are you sending your backups to some remote site or keeping them local? Should the backups always be "online", i.e. a set of dedicated disks or backup to network cloud vs stored on removable media that must be retrieve and remounted? Your choice of storage media has a cost component too. Tape is the traditional backup medium and has many advantages over other media. But for large datasets high capacity, fast drives (and libraries) are expensive. The tapes for those drive are similarly expensive and the computer driving them, plus the interface need to be high quality. While considering the above, you should also gather information about what you plan to back up. How much data, how much does it change, how frequently do you want to run backups, how many complete backup cycles do you want to retain? Will all data be treated the same? As you consider these parameters hopefully you will find that amanda is a good choice as your backup manager. Be sure to ask more questions as they arise. HTH, Jon -- Jon H. LaBadie j...@jgcomp.com JG Computing 12027 Creekbend Drive (703) 787-0884 Reston, VA 20194 (703) 787-0922 (fax)
