[PLUG] best strategy for backing up small server

[Nikhil Karkare]

On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 7:55 AM, Manas Alekar <manas_alekar at yahoo.com>wrote:

> >    I have a small ubuntu server running for our development needs  as
>
> > well as file server. We are now considering to upgrade it with  ubuntu
> > 10.04 LTS.
>
> The first tenet of system administration is: if it ain't broken don't fix
> it.
>
> > We do not have any automatic backup system for now. I want  to
> > add something like RAID 1 for backing up data.
>

RAID is *not* for backing up data. It is to provide redundancy. You need to
take backup on some other disk (which can be a RAID system itself).



> Can anyone suggest  best
> > practices? Should I use and extra internal hard disk or external  hard
> > disk?
>
Using external or internal drive depends on whether you want to automate
backup or not. I have not automated backup, so I use an external disk, so
that I can turn off the disk once the backup is done. That way, my disk
lives longer.


> Is is possible to use fallback hard drive of bigger size and  use
> > extra space for other purposes, such as storing non critical data?
> > Any  pointers to good information?
>
That's not a good idea because your backup disk should ideally be separate
and not used for anything else. In case of File system corruption or disk
failure, your backup is at risk.



>
> RAID1 improves robustness. It is not a substitute for backup. Why you say?
> Because hardware failure is not the only cause of losing data.
>
> Thumb rules? Slower disks are more reliable and that is why they are
> preferred for backup. In places where access to server rooms cannot be
> controlled, access to drawers can still be.
>
+1 for this!


>
> Hope that helps.
>
> Manas
>
>
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