I have read with interest various threads on this list concerning methods of how to back up a backuppc server to a remote file system over the internet. My impression from reading the threads is that there is no *good* way - that rsync is a poor choice if you have many hardlinks, and methods like copying a "snapshot" of a block-level device are inefficient if only a relatively small proportion of the data changes. I have tried both methods, and am not satisfied with the performance and efficiency of either. In addition, BackupPC is not compatible with 'cloud' storage systems - at least the ones I have looked at do not seem to support hardlinks.
As a Linux newbie, I have only a partial understanding of the technology underlying Linux and BackupPC, but I get the impression that the problem with a rsync-like solution is that processing hardlinks is very expensive in terms of cpu time and memory resources. This may be a stupid question, but, if hardlinks are the problem, has any thought been given to adding to BackupPC an option to use some form of database (text, SQL or otherwise) to associate hashes to files, instead? It seems to me that using hardlinks is in fact using that feature of the file system *as* a database, a use that does not appear to be optimal ... if I have misunderstood, please educate me :-) Peter ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ OpenSolaris 2009.06 is a cutting edge operating system for enterprises looking to deploy the next generation of Solaris that includes the latest innovations from Sun and the OpenSource community. Download a copy and enjoy capabilities such as Networking, Storage and Virtualization. Go to: http://p.sf.net/sfu/opensolaris-get _______________________________________________ BackupPC-users mailing list BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net List: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users Wiki: http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/
