Just because your organization has gone to backups on multi-petabit NAS devices
doesn't mean you don't have a use for AMANDA. You still need something to drive that
NAS system and, I see nothing wrong with AMANDA for that purpose.
Yes, the NAS vendor (EMC?) is going to have a full blown software solution for you,
complete with remote access administrative tools and a whole fleet of tech support
genies to save your sorry keister when you do something stupid but,... if you have
network access to storage space, so does AMANDA. Just do a tapeless configure that
writes backups to the NAS.
Up sides: you can get as broad or fine grained as you want and you have the ability to
impose user quotas. Use a little bit of clever scripting and you have a means of
rotating backup files so you only keep the most recent ### complete backup cycles.
Down sides: I haven't thought of any yet.
D. Keith Higgs <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> x0559
Case Western Reserve University, Webmaster - University Library
Additional Information at http://www.cwru.edu/UL/ and http://keith.cwru.edu/
"Follow the white rabbit."
> -Original Message-
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of barryc
> Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 11:35 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: tapes are doomed
>
>
> While I am more than willing to grant that tapes are a LOT
> more durable than
> powered-down IDE drives, I'd still tend to frown on people
> tossing backups of
> critical information across the room.
>
> Before I decided to go with a DDS-3 system, I looked long and
> hard at going the
> backup-to-disk path. What finally sold me was the fact that
> DDS-3 tapes can be
> had for ~$5/ea if you know where to look. (and buy by the box)
>
> I don't have much data to back up (probably less than 50GB
> atm) and spreading a
> full backup across 5 tapes appeals to me.
>
> A number of companies make removable hard-drive racks with
> IDE-to-USB2.0 bridges
> built-in. One example is
> http://www.enhance-> tech.com/products/ER4610UA.html .
> (NOTE:
> no affiliation.
> That's just the first example I stumbled across via a
> quick google. There's also people selling similar systems on Ebay)
>
> If your backup system supports USB, you can insert the drive
> while your system
> is running, turn the drive on (via the key), mount it, do
> your backup, unmount
> the drive, turn it off, and then remove it and put it in storage.
>
> >Whenever someone at work criticizes me for spending money on
> LTO tapes
> >when IDE drives are "cheaper", I just do the following:
> >
> >- Go grab a chip database archive tape off the shelf in the
> > computer room.
> >
> >- Walk in their office, toss the tape across the office, they
> > catch it (or not!), I ask them to toss it back, then I drop
> > the tape on their desktop from a half-meter up.
> >
> >- Then I ask them if I can grab the hard disk out of their
> > desk top computer and do the same schtick. No takers yet.
> >
> >This kind of (reletive) robustness is an admirable quality for media
> >that are going to be transported back and forth from
> off-site storage.
> >
> >I'm very glad cheap IDE disks are available to use for holdingdisk,
> >though! That's a very good thing.
> >
>
>
