Best Backup Solutions for Desktop Linux

Despite common misconceptions, there are more solid backup solutions for desktop Linux than most people might suspect. Best of all, many of them are completely free with the code being open source. Some of them however, are not.

In this piece, I will give you a break down of each of them. How they can work in your specific situation, where you will find the applications, and I'll provide the needed details so that you can better decide what option is best for you.

gmirror - recovering from a failed HDD

I like RAID. On my development server, I use both hardware and software RAID. For hardware RAID on FreeBSD, I like 3Ware. For software RAID, I tend to use gmirror, because I don't need more than RAID-1.

Some time ago I added two 120GB HDD to this system. One was SATA, one was PATA. They were joined together via gmirror. Tonight I received some errors that one of the drives was failing. I replaced the drive, and recovered the mirror. I'll show you what I did, mostly so I know what to do the next time it happens, but also so you can see what to do as well.

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How to sync data between 2 servers automatically

Have you ever wanted to know how to easily synchronize the data between multiple servers automatically?

In this article I’ll explain how to setup 2 Linux servers to automatically synchronize data between a specific directory on each server. To do this we will use rsync, ssh key authentication, and a cron job.

Unable to Use mysqldump on a Shared Host? Here’s an Alternative

I have used many shared hosts throughout my years as a webmaster. Shared hosts have many great points, namely, price, and then they have their major drawbacks. For me, one of the major drawbacks is the limited use of the machine on which your site is hosted.

For instance, I love phpMyAdmin for maintaining and managing my databases, but I am not a fan of the need to log in to backup the databases. The easiest way around that of course would be to execute the mysqldump command that comes bundled with MySQL. Unfortunately, most shared hosts, all that I have dealt with, disable the ability to use exec() or system() with PHP to execute the MySQL native command.

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SystemRescueCd

SystemRescueCd is a Gentoo-based Linux distribution that specializes in repairing unbootable computer systems and recovering data after a system crash. Since it is loaded with system utilities, its main aim is to provide a handy tool to anyone that needs to perform computer admin tasks.

I already have micro distros like SliTaz and DSL that I may someday use in case of emergency. However, I needed a more powerful and more complete rescue tool. SystemRescueCd is the answer.

Remote Backups for Linux and BSD

Backups are an important element of system maintenance on any system, and should be, at least in my opinion, mandatory for all users to perform regularly. Without doing backups, you could find yourself in a world of hurt.should something bad happen. But there are some things that even the best backup system in the world can't protect you against. One of those is nature. Given that this year has seen major earthquakes, a record tornado season, a planned record hurricane season, and other natural disasters of types we can't even begin to imagine, keeping copies of your backups in a remote location, or away from your home or business (aka offsite backups) is an idea that will save you should the worst ever happen. So let's look at a few possibilities that will provide you with simple piece of mind and security for your data.

Secure Backups

A fast Easy way to setup a Remote Backup system using OpenSSH, cron and rsync.

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Backups using Rsync, Bash & Cron

I wanted to backup my home directory using rsync to a separate drive, and to make it happen automatically.

I spent ages doing research into the various commands, and found everything I needed to know, but not all in the same place. While it was fun for me, others may just want to know how to do it immediately. So here goes!

Backup an entire hard disk using 'dd' command

"The 'dd' command is one of the original Unix utilities and should be in everyone's tool box. It can strip headers, extract parts of binary files and write into the middle of floppy disks; it is used by the Linux kernel Makefiles to make boot images. It can be used to copy and convert magnetic tape formats, convert between ASCII and EBCDIC, swap bytes, and force to upper and lowercase."

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Scheduled Backups With Rsyncbackup On Debian Etch

This document describes how to set up and configure rsyncbackup on Debian Etch. Rsyncbackup is a Perl script that cooperates with rsync. It's easy to configure and able to create scheduled backups (partial and incremental backups).

MySQL Backups Using ZRM For MySQL 2.0

Zmanda Recovery Manager (ZRM) for MySQL simplifies life of a database administrator who needs an easy to use yet flexible and robust backup and recovery solution for MySQL server. Significant features are:

• Schedule full and incremental logical or raw backups of your MySQL database

• Centralized backup management

• Perform backup that is the best match for your storage engine and your MySQL configuration

• Get e-mail notification about status of your backups

• Monitor and obtain reports about your backups (including RSS feeds)

• Verify your backup images

• Compress and encrypt your backup images

• Implement Site or Application specific backup policies

• Recover database easily to any point in time or to any particular database event

• Custom plugins to tailor MySQL backups to your environment

• MySQL backup using Linux LVM and Solaris ZFS snapshots

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File Synchronization with Unison

Keeping the files on multiple machines synchronized seems to be a recurring problem for many computer users. Until I discovered Unison (http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/) I never really had a completely satisfactory solution.

Tools to access Linux Partitions from Windows

If you dual boot with Windows and Linux, and have data spread across different partitions on Linux and Windows, you should be really in for some issues.

It happens sometimes you need to access your files on Linux partitions from Windows, and you realize it isn’t possible easily. Not really, with these tools in hand - it’s very easy for you to access files on your Linux partitions from Windows...

Linux backup software. The old standby and the scrappy new kid.

Backing up Linux isn’t any different then backing up any of it closed source counterparts. The options range from simply writing a script to copy your most critical files to a CD to making a complete copy of the system with an imaging program such as ghost. These options are great if you are backing up an end user system, such as your laptop but, don’t really meet the requirements of a sound backup strategy when a production server is the concern.

To answer that question I thought I’d compare and contrast the two open source Linux backup software options I use day to day. Amanda and Bacula.

Back Up and Restore Your MySQL Database

Do you need to change your web host or switch your database server? This is probably the only time when you really think of backing up your MySQL data. If you’ve got a website with a database or your custom database running for your applications, it is imperative that you make regular backups of the database. In this article, I will outline two easy ways of backing up and restoring databases in MySQL.

Clonezilla

You're probably familiar with the popular proprietary commercial package Norton Ghost®, and its OpenSource counterpart, Partition Image. The problem with these software packages is that it takes a lot of time to massively clone systems to many computers. You've probably also heard of Symantec's solution to this problem, Symantec Ghost Corporate Edition® with multicasting. Well, now there is an OpenSource clone system (OCS) solution called Clonezilla with unicasting and multicasting!

Automatically backup your mysql databases daily

This script will not only backup all the databases on your server once a day, but it will also optimize/repair them -- and to keep things clean, it gzips the backups and automatically deletes any backups that are more than 3 days old. You must have the root mysql password in order to use this particular script, though.

Create Your Own Cross-Platform Backup Server

Backing up your data on a regular basis is important, and turning a spare computer into a backup server is often the best way to make sure it gets done. But most methods require either a good deal of command-line learning or serve only one operating system. Not with Restore, a free, open-source backup system that can install or run from a live CD, work with any OS, and operate through a simple browser-based interface. Today I'll demonstrate backing up a Windows laptop to an older desktop, but you'll see how Restore can be easily molded to fit just about any home backup needs.

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phpMyBackupPro: No simpler backup for MySQL

Backing up data stored in a MySQL database is an important issue for anyone running a blog, wiki, or any Web-based application that relies on the popular database engine. Many MySQL management solutions allow you to export database data as an SQL query, but if you are looking for a dedicated MySQL backup tool, phpMyBackupPro (pMBP) is your best bet.

The best Linux system repair disk graduates to 1.0

If you need to repair PCs, even if you don't use Linux as a rule, you should have a Linux repair CD. These self-booting Linux distributions give you all the software tools you need to bring all but the deadest computers back to life. The best of these distributions is, hands-down, SystemRescueCd.

I've been using SystemRescueCd for years, and it has saved my rump many times. With every new version, SystemRescueCd has continued to get better.

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