Open Source backup solutions, your experiences?

Howdy,
It's that time of year again where we look at our license
renewals for the
backup software we use here in the SSCL.  Currently we use
Legato
Networker for our small network of staff, faculty, and lab
users.

However, I've been eyeing other software packages such as
AMANDA and
BACULA, both are Open Source projects and seem to be quite
active.

I'm wondering if any of you have worked with these and
whether you would
give a thumbs-up to either of them, or perhaps something
else.

Obviously just because something is Open Source doesn't
mean it's free, of
hassles.  So I'm hoping to gather your ideas and
suggestions and make a
decision sometime soon.  Also, I will try and share what I
discover along
the way.

Thanks,
       Jack Burris
       Social Science Computing Lab
       Barrows Hall


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Hi Jack,

We use AMANDA running on a Linux box to perform about half
of the  
nightly backups in the Astronomy Department.  It works well,
but  
there is a learning curve associated with startup.


Bill Boyd
Astronomy Department
Campbell Hall


On Mar 7, 2006, at 12:02 PM, jackspaceberkeley.edu wrote:

> Howdy,
> It's that time of year again where we look at our
license renewals  
> for the
> backup software we use here in the SSCL.  Currently we
use Legato
> Networker for our small network of staff, faculty, and
lab users.
>
> However, I've been eyeing other software packages such
as AMANDA and
> BACULA, both are Open Source projects and seem to be
quite active.
>
> I'm wondering if any of you have worked with these and
whether you  
> would
> give a thumbs-up to either of them, or perhaps
something else.
>
> Obviously just because something is Open Source
doesn't mean it's  
> free, of
> hassles.  So I'm hoping to gather your ideas and
suggestions and  
> make a
> decision sometime soon.  Also, I will try and share
what I discover  
> along
> the way.
>
> Thanks,
>        Jack Burris
>        Social Science Computing Lab
>        Barrows Hall
>
>
>
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> The following was automatically added to this message
by the list  
> server:
>
> For information about Micronet, including subscribing
to
> or unsubscribing from its mailing list and finding out
> about upcoming meetings, please visit the Micronet Web
site:
> <http://micronet.be
rkeley.edu/>.


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We use Networker here as SSL for most of our large scale
backups.  It is
expensive and not perfect for sure, but given the size of
our backup set
(12 TB/month) it seems to work well and reliably. 

For my home network, I use Bacula.  The user interface is of
course very
primitive compared to Networker, but it works very well. 
There is a
learning curve, but it's not to bad if you are computer
literate.  Now a
days, it can be installed via RPM's, if you use a Linux
server.  At
first I backed up to an old DLT juke box I got on EBay, but
now I just
back everything up to USB drives.  I even keep an off site
copy on a
spare drive.  I guess it depends upon how big your network
is, and how
much you are willing to fiddle.  Set up right, the Bacula
solution is
very reliable, and easy to maintain.

One other comment: when I was looking for open source back
software a
few years ago, I considered Amanda.  but at the time, when I
was using
tape, Amanda couldn't have a backup volume span across
multiple tapes. 
But perhaps that's been fixed by now.

Good luck,

Jon

jackspaceberkeley.edu wrote:

>Howdy,
>It's that time of year again where we look at our
license renewals for the
>backup software we use here in the SSCL.  Currently we
use Legato
>Networker for our small network of staff, faculty, and
lab users.
>
>However, I've been eyeing other software packages such
as AMANDA and
>BACULA, both are Open Source projects and seem to be
quite active.
>
>I'm wondering if any of you have worked with these and
whether you would
>give a thumbs-up to either of them, or perhaps something
else.
>
>Obviously just because something is Open Source doesn't
mean it's free, of
>hassles.  So I'm hoping to gather your ideas and
suggestions and make a
>decision sometime soon.  Also, I will try and share what
I discover along
>the way.
>
>Thanks,
>       Jack Burris
>       Social Science Computing Lab
>       Barrows Hall
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------
----------------
>The following was automatically added to this message by
the list server:
>
>For information about Micronet, including subscribing to
>or unsubscribing from its mailing list and finding out
>about upcoming meetings, please visit the Micronet Web
site:
><http://micronet.be
rkeley.edu/>.
>  
>

-- 


-     _____/     _____/      /           - Jonathan Loran - 
         -
-    /          /           /                IT Manager     
         -
-  _____  /   _____  /     /         Space Physics Research
Group     -
-        /          /     /      Space Sciences Laboratory,
UC Berkeley
- ______/    ______/    ______/  (510) 643-5146 jloranssl.berkeley.edu
                                          AST:7731^29u18e3



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Jonathan Loran wrote:
> We use Networker here as SSL for most of our large
scale backups.  It is
> expensive and not perfect for sure, but given the size
of our backup set
> (12 TB/month) it seems to work well and reliably. 
> 
> For my home network, I use Bacula.  The user interface
is of course very
> primitive compared to Networker, but it works very
well.  There is a
> learning curve, but it's not to bad if you are
computer literate.  Now a
> days, it can be installed via RPM's, if you use a
Linux server.  At
> first I backed up to an old DLT juke box I got on EBay,
but now I just
> back everything up to USB drives.  I even keep an off
site copy on a
> spare drive.  I guess it depends upon how big your
network is, and how
> much you are willing to fiddle.  Set up right, the
Bacula solution is
> very reliable, and easy to maintain.
> 
> One other comment: when I was looking for open source
back software a
> few years ago, I considered Amanda.  but at the time,
when I was using
> tape, Amanda couldn't have a backup volume span across
multiple tapes. 
> But perhaps that's been fixed by now.

I have heard good things about Bacula as well, and I
understand that it 
will now encrypt traffic over the network.  There used to be
an stunnel 
kludge to get it to do this, but it now looks like there's
SSL support 
built-in.  It looks like the next project for Bacula is to
get it to 
encrypt on the backup media.

michael

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