backup the entire server

[Claude Jones]

On Thursday April 14 2005 12:46 pm, Matthew Miller wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 14, 2005 at 10:20:37AM -0600, Kevin Fries wrote:
> > We use BackupPC for all backup chores... Only wish there was a Fedora
> > RPM for it at one of the repositories.  We use it to backup both Linux
> > and Windows machines to a central backup server.
>
> Sounds like a good candidate for Fedora Extras.
>
Contrary to the subject line, BackupPC doesn't NOT back up the entire server, 
at least in WindowsLand. All files that are locked, which include things like 
your Outlook .pst file, and many operating system files, will NOT be backed 
up. I am too new to Linux to know how this issue plays out in the Linux 
world. I hope some one with greater programming skills than I, gets motivated 
to write some code to challenge Acronis; Acronis uses some form of 
'drive-sector' technology to get around this problem, and they can do entire 
server backups of Windows machines while the server is live and running; one 
caveat here is servers that run databases, and in this case, there was a 
requirement to stop the db while a 'snapshot' was taken - in the latest 
versions of their server version there is supposed to be scripting included 
that will allow you to automate stop/starts of db's to allow the snapshots. 
In any event, I wanted to add these comments to this discussion, lest anyone 
get the idea that these sorts of backups will allow a complete restoration to 
a working system by a simple 'restore' - they won't. 
-- 
Claude Jones
Bluemont, VA, USA